Drug Abuse

People use drugs for a variety of reasons – mostly, though, to numb the pain of everyday life so they do not have to face it. Eventually drug use turns to drug abuse and finally to drug addiction. Most men and women use the two terms interchangeably, but the truth is there is a difference between drug abuse and drug addiction.

Drug abuse is the use of illegal drugs or the inappropriate use of legal drugs. Folks who abuse drugs are making use of them to obtain a particular feeling – a “high” – that they can’t get from other substances. Typically drug abuse is recreational with the drugs being employed to loosen a individual up and make them feel like they fit in with the crowd.

Drug addiction, on the other hand, is the uncontrollable use of drugs and the inability to stop utilizing drugs in spite of health or social consequences. Men and women with a drug addiction are physically and emotionally unable to stop making use of drugs. Their bodies have become utilized to having the drug in the system, and stopping the drug use brings about often painful physical and psychological symptoms.

Drug addiction does start with drug abuse when an individual makes a conscious option to use drugs, but addiction is not just “a lot of drug use.” Recent scientific research supplies overwhelming evidence that not only do drugs interfere with typical brain functioning creating powerful feelings of pleasure, but they also have long-term effects on brain metabolism and activity.

At some point, changes happen in the brain that can turn drug abuse into addiction, a chronic, relapsing illness. Those addicted to drugs suffer from a compulsive drug craving and usage and can not quit by themselves. Treatment is needed to end this compulsive behavior.

Many people view drug abuse and addiction as strictly a social dilemma. Parents, teens, older adults, and other members of the community tend to characterize men and women who take drugs as morally weak or as having criminal tendencies. They believe that drug abusers and addicts need to be able to stop taking drugs if they are willing to change their behavior. This just isn’t true.

Men and women from all walks of life abuse drugs and turn out to be addicted. We can start combating these difficulties if we educate ourselves and each other about drug abuse and drug addiction. It is an ever-growing epidemic that doesn’t have to take hold of individuals or society. Drug abuse and drug addiction can be stopped, but only if we begin with education.