Drug injection taking drugs, injection is favoured by some people as the full effects of the drug are experienced very quickly, typically in five to ten seconds. It also bypasses first-pass metabolism in the liver, resulting in higher bioavailability and efficiency for many drugs (such as morphine or diacetylmorphine/heroin; roughly two-thirds of which is destroyed in the liver when consumed orally) than oral ingestion would. The effect is that the person gets a stronger (yet shorter-acting) effect from the same amount of the drug. Drug injection is therefore often related to substance dependence. In a recreational context, the shorter, more intense "high"
International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use technical guidelines and requirements for product registration. Harmonisation would lead to a more economical use of human, non-human animal and material resources, and the elimination of unnecessary delay in the global development and availability of new medicines while maintaining safeguards on quality, safety, and efficacy, and regulatory obligations to protect public health. ICH guidelines have been adopted as law in several countries, but are only used as guidance for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In the 1980s, what is today the European Union began harmonising regulatory requirements. In 1989, Europe, Japan, and the United States began creating plans for