Drug Addiction And Drug Abuse In The United States

Addiction is a chronic brain disease that often results in some sort of relapse. Addiction is characterized by inability to control drug use which results in problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships. This disease causes compulsive behaviors such as the need to use drugs despite the many harmful consequences that affect the addicted individual and those around him or her. Although for most people, the initial decision to use drugs is a one time lapse in judgement, the brain is easily affected by these drugs if the person decides to use these drugs multiple times. The changes that occur to the brain over time will cause the addicted person’s ability to resist the intense impulses of drugs to be altered causing the addict to often give into the temptation of these drugs. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death. Drug addiction is an issue that many people deal with whether they are the addict or the addict is their loved one; but with a good source of support anyone can over come the challenges and consequences of addiction.

Without even thinking, your brain teaches us to do these drugs again and again. This is how addiction forms. Eventually, though, your brain will get used to the large amounts of dopamine. Because of this, neurons may begin to make less dopamine or limit the number of receptors. Some neurons may also day as a result of the toxins found in some drugs. This causes the user to not have enough dopamine, resulting in their ability to feel pleasure to reduce. Once this happens in your brain, you will have to start taking more and more drugs to make up for the missing dopamine, causing your body to have a "tolerance" to the drug. Drugs lead to dramatic changes in these neurons and brain circuits overtime. Even if a person has stopped using drugs, the changes in your brain can still

Brain chemistry can affect different addicts more then others. Drugs and alcohol are more of the main addictions that brain chemistry affects. Once taking these addictive substances your internal natural drug dopamine is lowers causing you to seek more external addictive substances. This causes craving and makes it a lot harder for the addict to stop. In Olds and Milner’s later experiments, they allowed the rats to press a particular lever to arouse themselves, to the effect that they would press it as much as seven-hundred times per hour. This region soon came to be known as the "pleasure center". Using drugs and alcohol stimulates the pleasure center in the brain that makes your brain think, “feels good- want more“. This can make it increasingly harder for an addict to stop using, until they hit a point called “rock bottom”. This is where choice comes back into play.

All around the world anyone can find people that are addicted to some form of drug. Drug addiction is a huge issue that has been occurring for about thirty years now and is occurring to this day for many reasons. Some of those reasons may be that something is going on back home and they have had enough, or because of stress, peer pressure, biological reasons and the list goes on. However, there has been law enforcement due to drugs since the mid 1980’s. People have many viewpoints to when it comes to drug use and addiction. There are three perspectives people have that view the use of drugs and drug addiction which are structural functionalism, conflict, and symbolic interactionist.

To understand addiction further, it is important to look at how drugs have neurological effects in a human body. Drugs can be ingested in various ways; while some are taken orally, some are smoked (cannabis) while others are injected directly into the blood stream (Heroin). Once in the body, they mainly affect the reward pathway in the brain, known as the dopaminergic pathway, which in turn gives pleasure. Even though all drugs affect the reward and motivation pathways in the brain, their speed depends on the way the drug has been consumed. Over constant use of drugs, the cognitive functions are impaired as the effects become more prominent in learning, memory

In society, drugs have been the downfall for many people. There are many reasons that a person may use drugs such as: peer pressure, relief of stress, increased energy, to relax, to relieve pain, to escape reality, to feel more self esteem, and for recreation ("Drug addiction and drug abuse," 2011). What is it that causes the obsession and compulsion to use drugs? Why can some people stop and others go on to become addicts? Addiction is often now defined by the continuing, compulsive nature of the drug use despite physical and/or psychological harm to the user and society ("Drug addiction and drug abuse," 2011).

Addicts use drugs to overcome their feelings. If an addict is feeling sad, happy, or angry, they use. This leads to their addictions. After a while, the addict can’t hold a steady job,

Drug addiction is something that everyone is vulnerable to, and that unfortunately is something that many people are going through in today’s society. Everyone is exposed to drug addiction, no matter what, it’s just up to the person to determine if they have a strong enough will power to not take the drugs. However, drugs are available to anyone who is willing to buy them, and many people are willing to spend everything they have in order to buy drugs that might give them temporary relief of a situation that they are currently struggling in; drugs are many people’s escape from the reality they are forced to be in. People have different reasons as to why they start using and abusing drugs; some may choose to do it simply because they like the feeling the drugs causes or occasionally because of the environment or situation the person was or is in, but I mostly think it’s because the person isn’t strong enough to stop taking the drugs or to say no to them.

In 1971, Richard Nixon launched the war on drugs stating, “America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all out offensive” (Sharp, 1994). Since this war was declared 45 years ago the prison population has risen dramatically and has cost tax payers a substantial amount of money, with no end in sight. Nearly sixty five percent of the 2.3 million U.S. prisoners meet the criteria for substance abuse or addiction, yet only eleven percent receives treatment during their incarceration and a large majority of these offenders return to prison within years of being released. Our society needs to become more proactive when fighting this war versus what we have done in the past by being solely reactive. We need to give these nonviolent drug offenders a chance to succeed by offering rehabilitation services instead of sending them to prison (Howard, 2015).

In the United States of America, we, the people value several things, some of which

In and around most large cities in America, the rising substance abuse epidemic has brought about a renewed interested in determining the root cause of substance abuse, the effects of substance abuse on individuals and societies, and the substance abuse treatment modalities that achieve the best outcomes. In reviewing the current research on substance abuse there seems to be no one clear cause of substance abuse disorders, although there is strong evidence that a number of life circumstances may predispose an individual to a substance abuse disorder, as well as a number of protective factors that may reduce an individual’s risk of developing a substance abuse disorder. One important risk factor that is commonly associated with substance

When people start taking drugs, they don't plan to get addicted. They like how the drug makes them feel. They believe they can control how much and how often they take the drug. However, drugs change the brain. Those who use drugs start to need the drug just to feel normal. That is addiction, and it can quickly take over a person's life.

Drug addiction is a complex problem in society today. Addiction is a condition that extremely affects the person’s mind and body. Addiction also has wide sweeping effects on that person’s social connection and functioning. Unfortunately, many addicts don’t realize the social influence of their addiction until much of their functioning has greatly deteriorated.

“The overstimulation of this reward system, which normally responds to natural behaviors linked to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc.), produces euphoric effects in response to psychoactive drugs. This reaction sets in motion a reinforcing pattern that “teaches” people to repeat the rewarding behavior of abusing drugs ”(“Understanding Drug Abuse). Using addictive drugs floods the limbic brain with dopamine, taking it up to as much as five or ten times the normal level. A person with elevated dopamine levels now has a brain that begins to associate the substance with an outside neurochemical reward (“Your Brain on Drugs”). As a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain adapts to the overwhelming surges in dopamine by producing less dopamine or by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. The result is a lessening of dopamine’s impact on the reward circuit, which reduces the abuser’s ability to enjoy the drugs, as well as the events in life that previously brought pleasure. The decrease in normal dopamine levels encourages the addict to keep abusing drugs in an attempt to bring the dopamine function back to normal, except now larger amounts of the drug are required to achieve the same dopamine high, an effect known as tolerance (“Understanding Drug Abuse ). That is what leads to the state of addiction, which leaves the person in a cycle of craving, using, withdrawal, and relapse.

Have you ever dealt with the effects of drug addict? A drug is a person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol, which has a psychological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body. The effects of drug use can vary depending on the person. According to “Causes and types of narcotic addiction: A Psychosocial View” in the Psychiatric Quarterly it says, “The causes of drugs stem from the manner of which you were introduced to it whether it be by abnormal curiosity, chance encounters with addicts and narcotic peddlers, or prolonged illness” (Ausubel). The effects of drugs can be have different effects on everyone differently depending if its for pleasure or for relieving pain Most of the effects of drugs occur in the brain, where it increases the level of dopamine at a specific site possibly giving the addict the pleasure they were feigning for (Robbins). As a child I didn’t know much about drugs except for what your parents and teachers at school tell you which is, “Just Say No.”