Drug Addiction, Disease or Choice Essay

As we have been demonstrating many times before, drug addiction is a powerful force that controls millions of people’s life. Addiction has never been looked as a good thing, but in recent researches they have found out that addictions like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine are a matter of brain chemistry. Dr. Nora Volkow says that a brain becomes addicted to a drug when the levels of dopamine increases. By this the brain reacts by responding with pleasure, this causes us to want it more. When a person uses addictive drugs the drugs flood the brain with dopamine increasing it much as five to ten times the normal level. Our brain associates the drug as a neurochemical reward, over time by raising the amount of dopamine our brains think its “normal”. Even though the high doses of dopamine are seen as “normal” by the brain, drugs still can “hijack” your brain. For example let’s say your excited to go to McDonald's over time you would know what to expect from McDonald so no more dopamine will be released. However, it's not the same with drugs because you don’t know what to expect (drugs can have extra dopamine).

When a person has a drug addiction, they have a disease that has the ability to affect and hurt the entire family. Everyone in the addict’s immediate family is affected in one way or another. Addiction impacts a family’s finances, physical health as well as psychological wellbeing. It can also cause tension, miscommunication, and more frequent arguments within a household which in turn creates an unhealthy environment for everyone involved. The addict can be very unpredictable which can cause anxiety, emotional pain, stress, and a loss of trust because that person cannot be counted on to follow through with what they say. Frequently, the people who are addicted don’t even realize or believe they are causing these problems within their families. And unfortunately, they don’t view themselves as sick or suffering from a problem, so they don’t reach out for help. When the person finally realizes they may have a problem, they believe the solution is to escape and run away from their addiction.

Drug addiction, a new major phenomenon in our society today. In this paper, we will look at different drugs, the compulsive cravings, the people that have become addicted to them and affects it’s had on their lives. Many people abuse drugs but don’t consider themselves addicts. Addiction is like all behaviors “the business of the brain”. Addictions are compulsive physical and psychological needs from habit-forming sustenance’s like nicotine, alcohol, and drugs. Being occupied with or involved in such activities, leads a person who uses them again and again to become tolerant and dependent eventually experiencing withdrawal. (Molintas, 2007). The narcotics disable the neurons that would usually keep the dopamine neurons in check; becoming over stimulated. Endorphins are produced and released within the brain, creating a high and reinforcing the individual’s positive associations with the activity. Hence “the rush” (Molintas, 2007)

The drug war in Mexico is fueled by the demand for illegal drugs in the U.S as a result an estimated 90% of drug smuggled into the U.S are from Mexico. The most common illegal drugs smuggled are methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, crack cocaine, and heroin. Although the real question is why is there a high demand for illegal drugs in the U.S as opposed to other countries? Most arguments stem from the illegality of drugs, yet this overlooks the reality of the drug problem in the U.S. From an anthropological perspective one must understand the intricacy of the drug trade is influenced by many different social factors, for example, the amount of availability plays a major role in drug prices. Another factor is gentrification which is the process of improving living conditions that as a result raises property value and cost of living that causes poverty it driven to urban neighborhoods with higher crime rates such as drug activity. In many instances of poverty, unemployment is high and the low amount of jobs available do not pay enough to support their families because of this drug dealing becomes a viable option to make money. It is also important to mention that the majority of drug use does not come from one time users and the demand of drugs are reliant on their addictions. Numerous factors influence drug trafficking into the U.S, but the most simple explanation comes down to demand of drugs in the U.S and supply of drugs cultivated in

Addiction is very complex, and it is important to recognize how people can become addicted to things. Despite beliefs, addicts are not merely individuals who lack morals or self-control. It is not quite as simple as just choosing to not do something. According to the American Society to Addiction Medicine, “Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory, and related circuitry… Addiction is often characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and dysfunctional emotional response.” Drug usage and abuse mainly affects the reward circuit of the brain. The reward circuit is responsible for the body’s ability to feel pleasure. Drugs cause the reward system to be flooded with dopamine, and this overstimulation causes a “high”. This, in turn, leads the brain to adjust to excess dopamine. Due to drugs altering brain chemistry, drug addiction is classified as a chronic disease. A chronic disease like this can also disturb learning, judgement, stress,

Drugs have become one of the most popular substance that impacts a widespread of people in many different countries. A drug can best be defined as a substance that modifies the body normal functions. With this being said, have cause the increase in its popularity of usage across the world for many years and from different age groups. This usage of drugs like marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and meth have led to numerous addictions, also known as substance abuse. By this substance abuse not only can give off a good buzz to its recipient but can also damage the bodies physical functions, decreasing an individual life’s span.

Acknowledgement of drug addiction came after the Civil War in America. Numerous men had surgeries from loss of limbs and viruses they developed in their base camps while in combat. Physicians in the war abundantly gave soldiers opium and morphine for their pain and sicknesses. According to Bellis (1981), “During the Civil War intravenous injection of morphine spread rapidly and addiction became so pronounced that an American narcotics “problem” was spoken of for the first time” (p. 5). Consequently, soldiers came home sick with an addiction to morphine and introduced the drug to other people causing the problem to spread further.

Drugs: A substance which has a physiological effect when introduced into the body. Addiction: the compulsive need to use a habit-forming substance. I began to take a drug, uneducated about the side effects that were to come. Every morning, every night and every chance that I could get I took this drug. Originally, I took this drug to help, it was meant to connect me to the world and keep me updated. Now, I cannot last a couple of hours, let alone an entire day without the taste of it. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I do when I go to sleep at night is consume this hateful drug. I had always believed that drugs were invented to improve an individual’s well-being, I did not realise that the side effects could ever be worse than the beneficial effects.

People in the World State and the United States use drugs to escape reality; however, Drugs actually create more problems than actually exist in reality. There are two causes why people do drugs, drug addiction and to get rid of the emotional pain.

Addiction and Substance Abuse is a complex disease. With this in mind, substance abuse is one of the prime causes of death in the United States. From overdosing to drunk driving, both of these topics dwindle down to lack of self-control and adapting. The evidence shows, the devastating actions of this disease and how it is affecting not only our society but also the health of many struggling individuals.

It is believed that certain drugs have an impact on users that make them want to continue to use and try harder drugs. There is said to be an order to which people use drugs because of the gateway drug theory. People think that most adolescents usually start out with alcohol or tobacco which is then a gateway to trying illegal drugs, such as marijuana, that causes them to then try a harsher drug like heroin or cocaine. In the article, it states how many people agree that “in vulnerable individuals, particularly teenagers, some drugs are likely to be a way to future addiction because the drugs play such a role in the adolescent’s development” (Gateway 429). This article shows that people think there is a connection between adolescents using alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana that makes them take the risk of moving onto cocaine and other illegal drugs. This is not true and there is no order in which teenagers begin to use drugs that will automatically compel them to attempt harsher drugs. An individual is highly likely to seek harder drugs because of certain factors in their life, not due to the impact of the drug on them. These factors could include stress in school where the student is pushed to maintain a good GPA. They could also be in a situation of peer pressure among their friends, where everyone around them is trying and using drugs so they feel the need to keep up with the social standard of belonging in the group. Another one could be the living situation of the

My entire life my mother has struggled with drug addiction. When I was younger, a typical day spent with her was stealing money or medications from our loved ones or friends. It did not bother my mother one bit to steal from anyone especially her own children. But she justified her actions by blaming it on a brain disease that she could not help. It was merely a choice that she made everyday to hurt her family and those around her. She would choose to steal, lie, and cheat her way to obtaining the drug of her choice. Drug addiction is not a brain disease but rather a choice because you can relieve the symptoms, the idea of compulsion, the effects of neuroplasticity, treatment, and the labeling theory.

Addictions are everywhere in the world that surrounds us, there are so many different types and often through the release of dopamine in our brains, addictions create such a pleasure with a followed release of serotonin or a sense of calmness that they are hard to escape. In a gospel perspective addictions cloud our decision and bind up our agency. In a talk given by Elder Russel M. Nelson in 1988, entitled Addiction or Freedom he states “Agency, or the power to choose, was ours as spirit children of our Creator before the world was. (See Alma 13:3; Moses 4:4.) It is a gift from God, nearly as precious as life itself. Often, however, agency is misunderstood. While we are free to choose, once we have made those choices, we are tied to the

“ There’s no greater pain than watching someone you love ...love their drugs more than they love you.” Drug addiction is a chronic disease affecting the brain, and just about everyone is different. Drugs affect different people in different ways. One person can take and abuse drugs, yet never become addicted, while another simply has one experience and is immediately hooked.Drug Addiction explains and is characterized by a person having to use the drugs repeatedly, regardless of the damage it does to their health ,their family, their career and their relationships with friends and the community.In 2016 nearly 500 people died on Long Island from opioid overdose. According to the Federal CDC,drugs were the 9th leading cause of death in the U.S in 2013.Opioid overdoses are the leading cause of drug related accidental deaths.

“Last year alone, 37,000 people died from drug related overdoses.” Many people do not understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. Substance abuse is a growing problem that not only affects the person who is abusing alcohol or drugs but also affects the lives of those who are close to the abuser. Substance abuse is the abuse of any substance. A drug is a substance that modifies one or more of the body’s functions when it is consumed. It is often mistakenly assumed that drug abusers lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop using drugs simply by choosing to change their behavior. In reality, drug addiction is a disease and quitting takes a lot more than just changing your behavior. Drug Abuse is generally