Causes and Effects of Drug Addiction
“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.”
Today in the United States, it is estimated that the total overall costs of substance abuse, including productivity and health- and crime-related costs, exceed $600 billion annually. This includes approximately $193 billion for illicit drugs, $193 billion for tobacco, and $235 billion for alcohol. As staggering as these numbers are, they do not fully describe the extent of destructive public health and safety implications of drug abuse and addiction, such as family disintegration, loss of employment, failure in school, domestic violence, and child abuse. These consequences all blossom from curiosity, diversion of reality, and the want to be socially accepted.
Many young people become involved in drugs before they are fully aware of the health risks and the power of addiction. Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences to the addicted individual and to those around him or her. Although the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary for most people, the brain changes that occur over time challenge an addicted person’s self control and hinder his or her ability to resist intense impulses to take drugs. There is never anyone to blame when people get into drugs. They're always responsible for their own behavior. It's not the dealer, it's not the friend, it's not the bad influence, and it’s not the childhood. People are going to do what they want to do. Simple curiosity can be responsible for drug addiction. Many teens hear about drugs and become curious to experience them for themselves. Throughout the years of being a young adult, teens hear that drugs are fun, make a person feel invincible, or make them act differently. After all, they see drugs on TV and in movies every day. Teens will encounter these drugs at school, at parties, or anywhere they get the “hutch”. It is
Today in the United States, it is estimated that the total overall costs of substance abuse, including productivity and health- and crime-related costs, exceed $600 billion annually. This includes approximately $193 billion for illicit drugs, $193 billion for tobacco, and $235 billion for alcohol. As staggering as these numbers are, they do not fully describe the extent of destructive public health and safety implications of drug abuse and addiction, such as family disintegration, loss of employment, failure in school, domestic violence, and child abuse. These consequences all blossom from curiosity, diversion of reality, and the want to be socially accepted.
Many young people become involved in drugs before they are fully aware of the health risks and the power of addiction. Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences to the addicted individual and to those around him or her. Although the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary for most people, the brain changes that occur over time challenge an addicted person’s self control and hinder his or her ability to resist intense impulses to take drugs. There is never anyone to blame when people get into drugs. They're always responsible for their own behavior. It's not the dealer, it's not the friend, it's not the bad influence, and it’s not the childhood. People are going to do what they want to do. Simple curiosity can be responsible for drug addiction. Many teens hear about drugs and become curious to experience them for themselves. Throughout the years of being a young adult, teens hear that drugs are fun, make a person feel invincible, or make them act differently. After all, they see drugs on TV and in movies every day. Teens will encounter these drugs at school, at parties, or anywhere they get the “hutch”. It is