Drug Abuse

It has always fascinated me that people of good will, people of letters, qualified people who study and earnestly try to understand the nature of addiction, can so often completely disagree with each other. Is drug addiction caused by a human being’s response to pain? Is it genetic? Is it socio-economic? Is it caused by a lack of love?

Experimentation and curiosity are the factors that draw many people to try drugs. They want to feel that “high,” the sense of euphoria that comes with drug use. Some drugs (like heroin) are more likely to cause addiction than others, resulting in an addiction from simple experimentation alone.

Drug addiction is sometimes considered the plague of our time. With drugs being easily available to people it can be very easy to pick up a chemical or even mental addiction to a drug especially for young or desperate men and women who take up drugs to fill some void in their lives they may not even know existed.

Sometimes drug use can begin with peer pressure or alleviating emotional or physical pain. A person who abuses drugs compromises their health and wellbeing. They start to develop abrupt changes in their behaviour. This may involve lack of involvement in social activities, lack of productivity in school or work, and changes in overall attitude. There are usually fluctuations in a person’s body weight when they abuse drugs.

Prescription drugs can be dangerous to your health, and many are seriously addictive and can even kill you. But a recent Florida study of drug-related deaths in Florida reveals that far more people suddenly fall victim to lethal drug combinations called polydrug abus than to individual drugs, and it can happen to recreational users as well as those trapped by prescription drug addiction.

Teen drug addictions cause every parent to flinch, partly because we are often at a loss as to how to deal with them. Whereas it can often be simple to detect when a teenager has been drinking, drug abuse can be quite tricky to pick up on.

The most important thing parents can do is trying to communicate openly with teens and encourage them to talk about anything that they are experiencing. People who realize they get into this dangerous habit may be too embarrassed or afraid to tell. They might even be worried that they will land into trouble if they admit to have this problem.

Detoxification is obviously the first step in the recovery, which you can see in many drug rehab centers. Medicines are given to make it easy for the person to slowly excrete the toxic substances out of the system. In the next step, the person finally behaves like a normal person and makes genuine efforts to stay away from drugs.

Many untrue myths on the origins of drug addiction and alcoholism continue to circulate. Some attempt to pinpoint the social groups most affected. Others attempt to recognize drug addiction and alcoholism as an illness or a moral defect. These falsehoods perpetuate unnecessary confusion, fear, and shame. Drug addiction or alcoholism does not appear in any particular component of society.

Drug Addiction: Behind the Pain – Part One

The story of frontman Adam Gontier’s drug addiction and his struggle to overcome it. Filmed at CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) in Toronto Ontario on November 29, 2006 Note: Sorry for the quality, YouTube forced me to condense the files with their limits. Contact me if you would like high quality versions

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