These drugs can be divided into three groups
depending on their mental effect - stimulant, sedative or
hallucinogenic - for which the effective dosage is called therapeutic for medicines and active for street drugs.

Each of these three groups consist of many
catagories.

Each category consists of many products or
active ingredients.

In the table opposite, street drugs
appear under their active ingredient.
Medicines, written in bold, are listed
under their specialized name given by the labratory.

When the laboratory’s exclusive rights expire
after approximately ten years,other laboratories can release
the same product under another name or under the name of its
active principle (generic drugs).

No psychotropic drugs' effect is predictable
and the stimulant, sedative and
hallucinogenic effects of these products depend on
the strength of the dose and the sensibility of each person.

They all have multiple physical and mental effects which are
unpredictable and dangerous, , which the manufacturers
call "secondary effects".

Example of classification

GROUP:                  STIMULANT
CATEGORY:             ANTIDEPRESSANT
ACTIVE INGREDIENT:FLUOXETINE
SPECIALIZED NAME: PROZAC