Drug Abuse

There is more than one type of drug addiction to contend with when considering each side of the debate. For example, some addictive substances create purely or mainly psychological cravings. There are some addictive substances that create primarily physical addictions by causing the body to adapt to their presence. However, the strongest addictions appear to be to those substances that create both a strong psychological and physical addiction.

The question brought up is whether it is physical addiction, psychological addiction, or the intra-working of both that have a genetic component. The answer dictates some forms of treatment, such as the use of other drugs to take the place of or to otherwise remove the craving for a particular drug. This is an important debate because it impacts the treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction.

Success Rate of Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Recovery Program

It is known that the average alcoholism and drug addiction recovery program succeeds with just over 15% of participants. So whether you’re born with an addiction to a drug you’ve never had in your body or you develop the addiction later, addiction clearly exists. But that still leaves a question about whether or not you can beat addiction or whether it is a lifelong disease.

It is necessary to learn a little more about some facets of addiction on which there is general agreement. Chemical addiction typically begins when a substance treats a problem. In some cases the substance may even be treating a problem caused by the substance. Such would be the case if the substance caused your body to stop producing feel-good hormones by overloading your body with feel-good hormones.

The difference at this point between the person who does not become addicted to the substance and the person who does become addicted is either than the addict has a lower tolerance to the side effects of not taking the substance or that the addict is even more physically susceptible to the effects of the substance and therefore has stronger motivation to continue the substance.

In simple terms, alcoholism and drug addiction is the inability to stop using a substance because it makes you feel better, regardless of whether you are actually made worse. In other words, the addict has a strong craving, perhaps even a pain, that can only be treated in the short-term by giving in to the desire for the drug. Each time that person gives in to this short-term solution, the addiction becomes stronger.

The long-term solution would of course be to cease using that drug. Most health scientists seem to agree that many drugs with physical dependency factors damage the part of the brain that that is responsible for considering the long-term consequences of any actions taken. So if there is a cure for alcoholism and drug addiction, it is apparently in rebuilding the long-term decision making function of the brain.

Drug Addiction: Meet Al Black: Former Florida Prison Painter

Al Black is one of 26 artists known as The Highwaymen that were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004. But it was decades ago that, if you traveled by way of Florida’s Route 1, you might have encountered them selling their lushly painted oil landscapes from their cars. Since then, their reputation has grown, but so has something else: Tension on their native turf in Fort Pierce, Fla. The story of Al Black is exceptional: Drug addiction led to prison — where he was given permission to paint his landscapes on the walls. Now out of jail, he gives a tour of where he once painted. This video is part of “Southword,” an ongoing multimedia collaboration between NPR and Oxford American magazine. (Video by Dave Anderson)
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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