The phenomena of drug addiction in the society have been explained by different approaches that is either scientific or social. World Health Organization (2018), delineates substance abuse as the destructive or precarious application use of the psychoactive substance, which includes illicit or alcoholic drugs. Psychoactive drugs lead to the dependence syndrome, which is a continuous habitual, psychological and mental occurrence. The dependence syndrome leads to persistent consumption of drugs, despite its known adverse effects. In most cases, dependent drug consumers give a higher priority to their drugs than any other activity and obligations. In the United States of America, 8-10% of individuals over the age of 12 years are addicted to either alcohol or other drugs; this translates to close to 22 million individuals. Even so, using drugs does not necessarily lead to addiction, and there are no universal traits by behaviors that are associated with substance abuse (Knolle, Chatterji, & Pulimood, 2015)
Fosters of Substance Use
Knolle et al. (2015) state that there are three stages that foster substance abuse. These stages include;
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Drug-Free
At the initial stage when one starts to use drugs, it is usually out of voluntary choice. One does not have to use the drug to function normally at this stage. In regards, the drug-free state can be perceived as an idealized state. It is presented to dependent substance users as a sign of where they should desire to be, and how different their lives could be if they are not consuming the drug. It could also be a result of a conscious decision not to use drugs. However, it rarely denotes all substances that fall within the definition of drugs. Nonetheless, in some instance, the brain gets used to the effects of the drug and the decision to use it, is no longer voluntary.
Experimental Use
Anyone who voluntary uses a drug is at a high risk of getting addicted. A study conducted by Velasquez, Crouch, Stephens, & DiClemente, (2015) revealed that more than 40% of teenagers aged between 13-14 years and more than 75% of youths aged between 17 to 18 years have at some point consumed alcohol. Moreover, 42% of 17-18 year olds documented to have attempted using illicit substances. This means that the same amount of population that has been quantified to have tried using one or more drugs present a potential for future addiction. The experimental stage of substance use is mostly a short and learning process that mostly influenced by;
Genetics; the research conducted by Velasquez et al. (2015) revealed that there are 50 to 70% chances of the likelihood that a person can develop addiction due to their genetic composition or a family history of drug addiction. The precise way of how genetics contribute to the possibility of addiction and how this can be presented is an issue that is still under investigation.
Environment; Hopfer (2014) warns against up bring a child in an environment where older individuals are drug users or engage in activities that lead to substance consumption; this increases the risk factor for addiction. Other protective facets such as a stable home environment and supportive social networks can help in reducing the probability of addiction.
Random choice of drug; In most society, the most randomly chosen drug of experimentation is mostly alcohol or tobacco; this is due to their prevalence and ease to acquire them. Most people experiment with the drugs that are socially acceptable.
The experimental stage does not necessarily mean that it would lead to addiction. Kandel, & Kandel (2015) identified, the following factors as elements that could influence an individual in the experimental stage to move to the next level. Curiosity is deemed as the primary motive to continue using drugs, secondly, is the mood changing effect and lastly, the adventure of using the drug. Paulozzi, Zhou, Jones, Xu, & Florence (2016) wrote that the experimental stage is not necessarily a negative phenomenon, it could sometimes lead to positive outcomes. The same notion was confirmed by a longitudinal study conducted by Hopfer (2014) , that revealed that in America, the juveniles who had engaged in mild experimentation with Cannabis Sativa where less anxious to use the drug in the future than those who had never experimented.
Habitual
This stage is characterized by an increased concentration on drug use at the expense of other activities or responsibilities. The habitual stage is further characterized by the following elements; one's relationships and peer are dictated by the similarity of substance use, frequent use of the drug, cravings could start to crop, in some instances, the subject could experience sleeping difficulties and lastly withdrawal symptoms could be occasionally experienced ( Velasquez et al. 2015 ).
Dependent Use
This is the final stage, that is rather referred to an addiction. In this stage the affected party does not have any control over the substance use, the subject prefers to continue using the drug despite its evident adverse effects and lastly, in this stage, the subject suffers from various adverse effects of drugs from their health, social relationships and loses meaningful dialogues.
How drugs work in the Brain
Drugs have various chemicals that affect the brain by tapping into its communication system and influences the normal operations of the neurons in terms of conveying, reception and dispensing information. Other drugs such as heroin and Marijuana, can trigger neurons because their biochemical framework emulates that of an ordinary brain neurotransmitter. The arrangement fools the brain receptors and permits the drugs to be incorporated and attached into the neurons, as much as these drugs emulate the natural chemical in the brain, they, however, do not have the same impact as a natural neurotransmitter would have had. Drugs such as cocaine can influence the neurons to release a lot of natural neurotransmitters or inhibit the usual recycling of these brain chemicals. Such messages and signals lead to an exaggerated message that disrupts the overall communication process in the brain.
Medical Consequences of Drug addiction
Despite the social effects of drug addiction, such as poor social relations, these people also suffer from one or medical issues, which mostly includes stroke, cognitive disorders, cardiovascular diseases and in some instance cancer. Body scans and x-ray pictures have depicted that there are damaging effects in the whole body after a prolonged use of drugs. For instance, a study conducted by Knolle, Chatterji, & Pulimood, (2015) revealed that smoking tobacco could lead to mouth, larynx, lungs, bladder, stomach, cervical, blood, pancreases and kidney cancer. Moreover, some inhalant substances are poisonous to the nervous system and could damage either the brain or the central nervous system.
Conclusion
Continuous substance use definitely leads to addiction. So far addiction can be treated and managed. However, the interventions that can be used to treat addiction takes a prolonged time, and during this time, most patients face dire withdrawal symptoms that later compel them to abandon the process. Some patients, undergo through the treatment process and show positive outcomes in the short run, but in the long run relapse back to drugs. So far, there is no established method of treating drug addicts, the best remedy out this problem is to abstain from drugs.
References
Hopfer, C. (2014). Implications of marijuana legalization for adolescent substance use. Substance Abuse , 35 (4), 331-335.
Kandel, D., & Kandel, E. (2015). The Gateway Hypothesis of substance abuse: developmental, biological and societal perspectives. Acta Paediatrica , 104 (2), 130-137.
Knolle, M. D., Chatterji, S., & Pulimood, T. B. (2015). Substance Abuse and Respiratory Disease. In Substance Abuse (pp. 537-548). Springer, New York, NY.
Mayes, L. C., & Suchman, N. E. (2015). Developmental pathways to substance abuse. Developmental Psychopathology: Volume Three: Risk, Disorder, and Adaptation , 599-619.
Paulozzi, L. J., Zhou, C., Jones, C. M., Xu, L., & Florence, C. S. (2016). Changes in the medical management of patients on opioid analgesics following a diagnosis of substance abuse. Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety , 25 (5), 545-552.
Velasquez, M. M., Crouch, C., Stephens, N. S., & DiClemente, C. C. (2015). Group treatment for substance abuse: A stages-of-change therapy manual . Guilford Publications.
World Health Organisation (2018). Substance Abuse . Retrieved at; http://www.who.int/topics/substance_abuse/en/ , on July 17, 2018.
