Addiction
Drugs, whether they be completely illegal or prescribed and then abused, are a serious problem plaguing our world, and addiction to them can be an incredibly serious issue. Recognizing the signs of an addiction can be the deciding factor that could save your or a loved one’s life.
Facts
- Some of the most common addictions include alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepines, and heroin.
- Long-term use also causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits as well, affecting functions that include:
- Learning
- Judgement
- Decision-Making
- Stress
- Memory
- Behavior
- Drug addiction is a chronic disease characterized by drug seeking and use that is compulsive, or difficult to control, despite harmful consequences.
- Brain changes that occur over time with drug use challenge an addicted person’s self-control and interfere with their ability to resist intense urges to take drugs. This is why drug addiction is also a relapsing disease.
- Relapse is the return to drug use after an attempt to stop. Relapse indicates the need for more or different treatment.
- Most drugs affect the brain’s reward circuit by flooding it with the chemical messenger dopamine. Surges of dopamine in the reward circuit cause the reinforcement of pleasurable but unhealthy activities, leading people to repeat the behavior again and again.
- Over time, the brain adjusts to the excess dopamine, which reduces the high that the person feels compared to the high they felt when first taking the drug—an effect known as tolerance. They might take more of the drug, trying to achieve the same dopamine high.
- No single factor can predict whether a person will become addicted to drugs. A combination of genetic, environmental, and developmental factors influences risk for addiction. The more risk factors a person has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction.
- Drug addiction is treatable and can be successfully managed.
- More good news is that drug use and addiction are preventable. Teachers, parents, and health care providers have crucial roles in educating young people and preventing drug use and addiction.
Statistics
- Almost 21 million Americans have at least one addiction, yet only 10% of them receive treatment.
- Drug overdose deaths have more than tripled since 1990.
- From 1999 to 2017, more than 700,000 Americans died from overdosing on a drug.
- Alcohol and drug addiction cost the U.S. economy over $600 billion every year.
- In 2017, 34.2 million Americans committed DUI, 21.4 million under the influence of alcohol and 12.8 million under the influence of drugs.
- About 20% of Americans who have depression or an anxiety disorder also have a substance use disorder.
- More than 90% of people who have an addiction started to drink alcohol or use drugs before they were 18 years old.
- Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 are most likely to use addictive drugs.
RESOURCES
- https://www.addictionresource.net/
- www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drug-abuse-addiction
- https://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/brain-and-addiction
- https://easyread.drugabuse.gov
- https://recoveringchampions.com/
- https://bedrockrecoverycenter.com/
- https://liveanotherday.org/
- https://www.detoxlocal.com/resources/aapi-addiction-mental-health/
- https://www.addictiongroup.org/treatment/options/inpatient/