A drug is any substance that when taken into the body has a psychological effect and alters the body metabolism either positively or negatively to the user. Drugs are ingested into the body through the mouth, nose or injected. Most commonly, abused drugs are the psychoactive drugs (Brick & Carlton, 2013). The following paper discusses the causes of drug abuse and the effect it has on the human brain.
Causes of drug abuse
Substance abuse may be brought about by different situations namely, generic, financial constraints poor parental care, unstable homes, peer pressure, and poor relationships with parents. On the issue of generic, it is worth noting that mothers who abuse drugs while pregnant may put their unborn babies at risk as drugs are taken to the baby’s blood system. After some time, the child may seek the satisfaction they have been getting from their parent before birth. As a teenager, the child may even start abusing drugs.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Low-income families would do anything to put food on the table. Drug traffickers take advantage and employ these members and due to exposure, they end up using the drugs while trafficking them. Parents who have teenagers will never ask their children where they get large sums of money provided they get the help. This is a major cause as most children end up being addicts and lose the course of life. There are also families who deal with drugs, and the business is passed over to the children.
As a result of peer pressure, some young teenagers are likely to engage in drug abuse just because their peers are doing the same. This is a serious issue that is likely to affect not only their social life but also their academic performance. Those with high self-esteem will undermine the ones with low self-esteem and manipulate them into abusing the drugs. The children with poor parental care and poor relationships with their parents will see this as an opportunity to show them and prove their worth.
Finally, the most common cause of drug abuse is unstable homes and families. Most children are always aware of the happenings in the house. Parents ignore them and see them be insignificant. Due to the instability in the homes, the children tend to hide their frustrations in drugs (Wise and George, 2014).
Effects of drugs on the brain
First and for most, it is worth acknowledging the fact that the human brain is a complex body organ that consists of different parts that work together. These parts play different roles in coordinating as well as performing specific functions. Therefore, drugs alter the normal functioning of this brain parts. Some of the areas affected by drug abuse include brain stem, cerebral cortex, and limbic system (Volkow, 2009).
Drugs affect the normal functioning of the brain by altering its system of communication and changing the functioning of the neurons (National Institute of Drug Abuse, 2014). More specifically, they alter how neurons process, receive and send messages. This alteration results in sending of wrong signals. Some drugs like marijuana affect the neurotransmission. This happens when the neurotransmitters are made to release in large amounts more than normal. This is the case of methamphetamine. Others such as heroin mimic the effects of neurotransmission and others block the release of neurotransmission. Other effects may include nervousness, aggressiveness, selfishness, and hopelessness. It is, however, important to note that drugs affect different individuals differently (Volkow, 2012).
References
Brick, J., & Erickson, C. K. (2013). Drugs, the brain, and behavior: The pharmacology of drug use disorders . Routledge. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VXQ00Ly8TqIC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Drugs,+the+brain,+and+behavior:+&ots=iJ-W3JXLK1&sig=sV1UhRjF4bfVwGrJwcmkrACPDnY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Drugs%2C%20the%20brain%2C%20and%20behavior%3A&f=false
National Institute of Drug Abuse. (2014, July). Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drugs-brain
Sheridan, M. (2010). Unconditional Uncensored . Lulu.com.
Volkow, N. D., Wang, G. J., Fowler, J. S., & Tomasi, D. (2012). Addiction circuitry in the human brain. Annual review of pharmacology and toxicology , 52, 321. Retrived from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3477468/
Volkow, N. D. (2009). Science of Addiction: Drugs, Brains, and Behavior (rev. ). DIANE Publishing.
Wise, R. A., & Koob, G. F. (2014). The development and maintenance of drug addiction. Neuropsychopharmacology, 39 (2), 254-262. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v39/n2/full/npp2013261a.html
