Drug addiction

Drug Addiction

What is Drug Addiction?

Drug addiction: refers to A chronic state of seeking and using one or more addictive drugs despite any harmful physical, mental, and social effects. the drug may be causing. Drug addiction is recognized as a physical disease that causes changes in the brain’s anatomy and function. These changes contribute to the compulsive need to keep using the substance, even though the substance begins to cause increasingly harmful effects. Some of these changes in the brain can actually be seen on brain imaging tests (http://www.nida.nih.gov/scienceofaddiction/addiction.html.). Drug addiction is a serious disease that, along with alcohol abuse, contributes to the death of over 100,000 U.S. citizens each year.  Drug abuse can increase the risk of respiratory, liver, heart, and infectious diseases, and mental illness; it also increases risk of criminal activity, violence, and violent or accidental death, and of serious social problems, such as child abuse and homelessness (http://www.nida.nih.gov/scienceofaddiction/health.html; http://www.nida.nih.gov/scienceofaddiction/introduction.html.)

What types of drugs or substances are commonly involved in addictions?

Addiction can occur with numerous types of drugs, some that are legally prescribed for medical reasons, others that are illegal and produced solely for the purpose of “getting high”.

Some of these Addictive drugs include:
Amphetamines Heroin
Prescription pain killers, sedatives, and stimulants
Ecstasy
LSD
Cocaine

In many cases, users may end up abusing a combination of these substances.

Point # 1 – Drug addiction is a physical disease of the brain that results in the seeking/using of an addictive drug, despite the drug’s harmful effects.
Point # 2 – Drug addiction and alcohol abuse contribute to over 100,000 deaths a year in the US alone.Point # 2 – Commonly abused drugs include amphetamines, heroin, prescription pain killers, sedatives or stimulants, ecstasy or LDS, and cocaine.

What causes the addiction?

Drugs that make people “high” act upon different chemicals in the brain to produce their effects. Most drugs act upon a naturally occurring substance called dopamine, which regulates movement, emotions, motivation and feelings of pleasure. The drugs cause a greatly exaggerated increase in dopamine activity in the brain, resulting in feelings of extreme happiness, or euphoria, and an exaggerated sense of well being. When the effects of these drugs begin to wear off, user feels an abrupt loss dopamine activity as well as the “high” sensations. Though the brain is returning to a normal state, the user may experience feelings of withdrawal a crave more.. This can result in a strong desire to achieve the extreme state of euphoria and well being, leading the user to seek more of the drug(s) that led to the extreme “high”. When the user keeps taking the drug or drugs to maintain the “high” state, the brain begins to produce and use less of its own natural chemicals and to depend on the chemical reactions produced by the drugs. Thus, when the effects of the drug begin to wear off, Over time, the brain can no longer produce and use its own natural chemicals to achieve a “normal” state of function, leading to profound cravings and addiction. As use becomes more chronic, the brain becomes less able to function normally, and can no longer produce and use chemicals, such as dopamine, to achieve a normal state of function and well being. This leads to profound and chronic craving for the drug or drugs on the part of the user, or a state of addiction (http://www.nida.nih.gov/scienceofaddiction/brain.html.

Point # 1 – Many drugs greatly increase the release and activity of a substance in the brain called dopamine, causing a euphoric state and exaggerated sense of well-being.
Point # 2 – With repeated drug use, the brain becomes dependent on the drug to produce and use dopamine.
Point # 3 – Because the brain’s dopamine system no longer functions normally, withdrawal from the drug results in intense craving for more, or an addictive state.

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