Understanding Drug Addiction

Understanding drug addiction can be difficult for those who have never suffered with dependence issues. Many people view drug addiction as strictly a social problem. Parents, teens, older adults, and other members of the community tend to characterize people who take drugs as morally weak or as having criminal tendencies. They believe that drug abusers and addicts should be able to stop taking drugs if they are willing to change their behavior.

These myths have not only stereotyped those with drug-related problems, but also their families, their communities, and the health care professionals who work with them. Understanding drug addiction means acknowledging that drug abuse and addiction comprise a public health problem that affects many people and has wide-ranging social consequences. It is our goal to help the public replace its myths and long-held mistaken beliefs about drug abuse and addiction with scientific evidence that addiction is a chronic, relapsing, and treatable issue.

Why do people use alcohol and other drugs?

Understanding drug addiction and the progression from drug experimentation to addiction is important. Basically, people use substances such as alcohol and other drugs because they like the way these substances make them feel. Pleasure is a powerful force. Your brain is wired in such a way that if you do something that gives you pleasure you will probably want to do it again. Drug addiction is caused by the addictive nature of the drugs taken. The user chooses to re-create these pleasurable feelings over and over again and in turn changes their brain pleasure circuit.

How do I know if I have a drug addiction problem?

You have a drug addiction problem if you continue to use drugs or alcohol even when they cause problems with your health, money, work or school, or with your relationships. You may have a problem if you have developed a tolerance to drugs or alcohol. This means you need to use more and more to get the same effect.

Addiction does begin with drug abuse when an individual makes a conscious choice to use drugs, but addiction is not just "a lot of drug use." Recent scientific research into understanding drug addiction provides overwhelming evidence that not only does drug addiction interfere with normal brain functioning creating powerful feelings of pleasure, but it also has long-term effects on brain metabolism and activity. At some point, changes occur in the brain that can turn drug abuse into addiction, a chronic, relapsing issue for many. Those people with drug addiction problems suffer from a compulsive drug craving and usage and cannot quit by themselves. Treatment for drug addiction is necessary to end this compulsive behavior.

How can I put an end to my drug addiction?

The first step in understanding drug addiction is knowing that it is a serious problem that requires treatment to resolve in most cases. It takes a lot of hard work to quit drugs once and for all. Next, it is vital to understand that you can take control of what you do. You can't control all the things that happen in your life or most of what other people do, but you do have control over how you react. So use that control.

A variety of approaches are used in treatment programs to help patients deal with cravings and possibly avoid drug relapse. NIDA research shows that addiction is clearly treatable. Through treatment that is tailored to individual needs, patients can learn to control their condition and live relatively normal lives.

Treatment can have a profound effect not only on drug abusers, but on society as a whole by significantly improving social and psychological functioning, decreasing related criminality and violence, and reducing the spread of AIDS. It can also dramatically reduce the costs to society of drug abuse.

Understanding drug addiction also helps in understanding how to prevent use in the first place. Results from NIDA-funded prevention research have shown that comprehensive prevention programs that involve the family, schools, communities, and the media are effective in reducing drug abuse. It is necessary to keep sending the message that it is better to not start at all than to enter rehabilitation if addiction occurs.

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