Causes and Effects of Drug Abuse - Drug Addiction
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In this article, we will talk about "the Causes and Effects of Drug Abuse". Drug abuse is that strong desire to overuse certain amounts of one or more substances. Drug abuse is a generic term for the abuse of any drug, including alcohol and cigarettes.
It might interest you to know that drugs and alcoholic substance tend to cause no harm on your body. Although, the abuse on these drugs has caused a lot of damages to many lives either psychologically, mentally, physically or otherwise. Experts have it that 80% of drug abusers lose their lives in no short time! That's much you know?
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| Causes and Effects of Drug Abuse |
Now, let's look at the definition of drug abuse.
What is Drug Abuse?
There are several definitions to the term "drug abuse". Most people prefer to define it as stated below:
- Drug abuse the habitual taking of illegal drugs.
- Drug abuse is that strong desire to overuse certain amounts of one or more substances.
- Drug abuse is a generic term for the abuse of any drug, including alcohol and cigarettes.
Hence, drug abuse is NOT same as drug addiction or drug independence. When you talk about Drug addiction/independence, it is a physical or psychological dependence on a drug to function whereas, drug abuse don't.
Causes of Drug Abuse
Risk factors for developing drug abuse problems
The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) indicates some factors for the development of drug abuse problems.
- Poor parenting
- Overuse of drugs by peers
- Lack/poor supervision during adolescent (this include both mature and young youths)
- Wrong decision pertaining to permissive attitude towards their own drug use and the drug use of the adolescent
- Poor performance in the college
- Availability to hard drugs in the community where security isn't though, e.t.c.
What can be used as Drug Abuse?
As stated in the definition, any drug that can be used can be drug abused. How? Any chemical substance like cigarettes, alcohol, inhalants and other substances used can be drug abuse.
Common Drug used in drug abuse listed below:
Chemical: This includes the use of inhalants. Drug abusers uses this kind of drug to inhale some chemicals in order to "high" as most people acclaim.
Illegal: This is one of the most popular category of drug abuse. It involves the use of marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine, heroine and acids.
Legal: This category of drug abusers tend to be described as "Ignorant minds". People in this category will always say "I was thinking it's taken like this!". Lols... Doctors might prescribe drugs for patient and sometimes, quake medical practitioners endanger patient lives in this category because drugs requires professional attention. This includes: methadone, oxycodone and Zolpidem.
Legal (Over-the-counter): It includes alcohol and cigarettes.
Effects of Drug Abuse
- Infections
- Brain Chemistry
- Legal Consequences
- Financial difficulties
- Death and serious injuries
- Abdominal pain, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea
- Abnormal vital signs like respiration, heart rate and blood pressure
- Changes in appetite, body temperature and sleeping patterns
- Chest or lung pain
- Complication of mental illness
- Confusion
- Contraction of HIV, hepatitis and other illnesses
- Decrease in pleasure in everyday life
- Desire to engage in risky behavior
- Diseases such as hepatitis B or C, or HIV from needle-sharing
- Frequent hangovers, blackouts
- Hallucinations
- Heart rate irregularities, heart attack
- Impotence
- Kidney and liver damage
- More frequent illnesses
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain
- Psychological tolerance to the drug's effects creating a desire to do ever-increasing amounts of the drug
- Respiratory problems such as lung cancer, emphysema and breathing problems
- Seizures, stroke, brain damage
- Skin can be cool and sweating or hot and dry
- Wild mood swings, depression, anxiety, paranoia, violence
Conclusion
According to Wikipedia, Drug abuse or Substance abuse, is a patterned use of a drug in which the user consumes the substance in amounts or with methods which are harmful to themselves or others, and is a form of substance-related disorder.
So we're all encouraged to take what's right into our body system in order to live healthy and perfect life.
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