13 Classifications of Drugs

What Are Drug Classifications?

Drug classifications are used to organize types of drugs by specific characteristics and categories in a class of drugs. Drugs are often categorized in groups with other substances with similar chemical makeup, which often share identical health effects and negative impacts on a person’s interactions and day-to-day lifestyles. A person who abuses a certain kind of addictive drug will often engage in similar addictive substances with the same chemical makeup. 

Different addictive substances will classify drugs by the impacts and risk of addiction that they carry. Some drugs are characterized by uppers or downers, depending on the effect on your central nervous system.