Drug Addiction, Physical Depedency, Checmical Dependency
October 2004 - GCR Newsletter

In popular culture, drug addiction is an illness that has been misunderstood. Many people believe that drug addiction is solely the result of poor parenting skills, a lack of education, and/or other social problems. While for some people social factors have contributed to their drug addiction, many people find their way to this disease merely by experimentation. The addictive nature of street and prescription drugs as well as less considered drugs such as alcohol are enough to create a substance-abusing problem. In much recent scientific research, drug addiction is characterized by a physical and metal dependency on an addictive substance. People who suffer from drug addiction often begin by “experimenting” with drugs that are considered “less harsh”. These drugs may include marijuana and alcohol. In recent years younger people, teens and even pre-teens have become addicted to drugs and alcohol because that have begun to experiment at such early ages. While age is not a determinant in whether or not someone will become addicted to drugs, brain development is stunted when drugs are used at earlier ages, thus affecting the likelihood of addiction.

The physical dependency of drug addiction means that a person who has been using drugs consistently, or on a regular basis, needs more and more of the drug in order to function or to feel the same effect. People who become addicted to drugs are often trying to escape something that is painful in their lives and they believe that drugs and alcohol numb the emotional pain. Drug abusers and addicts refer to the feeling of “euphoria” they felt the first time they used drugs and how they try to capture that same feeling every time they use. The deception within addiction is that the feeling of euphoria will never again return. Instead, these drug addicts waste their minds, their money and their lives searching for a feeling that does not exist.

One of the most tragic aspects of drug addiction is that of denial. People who have problems with drugs or alcohol usually do not want to come to grips with the fact that they have a problem, no matter what shape their lives are in. Instead, they are willing to give up anything and anyone that has ever been important in order to feed their addiction. In some cases drug addicts will hit an emotional or physical “bottom” in which case they have a moment of clear thought during which they realize the impact of their behavior on themselves and others. In many other cases, drug addicts are not able to see their part, or that drugs are ruining their lives. If this is the case, one solution may be intervention. The ideal solution for a person suffering from drug addiction is rehabilitation or treatment. This way the addict is able to learn about his/her disease and deal with it effectively.

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