Cause and Effect

Causes of Drug Addiction

 

Like many other mental and physical health problems, multiple factors can and usually do contribute to drug addiction. The most frequently observed contributing causes of drug addiction include:

  • Genetics. How your body and brain react to a particular drug is in part determined by your inherited traits, those encoded by your genes. Those traits can speed up or slow down the way the disease of addiction develops.
  • Environment. Environmental factors, such as your access to healthcare, exposure to a peer group that tolerates or encourages drug abuse, your educational opportunities, the presence of drugs in your home, your beliefs and attitudes, and your family’s use of drugs are factors in the first use of drugs for most people, and whether that use escalates into addiction.

 

Genetics and Drug Addiction

 

Genetics determine about 50 percent of your drug and alcohol addiction risk, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A person’s disposition to engage in a specific behavior is influenced by three factors:

  • Capability: the psychological or physical ability a person has to engage in the behavior.
  • Motivation: both the automatic and reflective mental processes that guide behavior; this includes both the euphoric feelings you experience right after using the drug, and your more conscious, chosen attitudes about drug use.
  • Opportunity: physical and social factors in your environment, including age of first use, that either constrain or promote behavior.

 

Environment and Drug Addiction

 

Environment also plays an important part in developing an addiction, because environment influences behavior. The environmental factors which may contribute to drug addiction include:

  • Absence of social support
  • Use of drugs among peers
  • Socioeconomic status
  • Stress and ability to cope with it
  • Parental and familial involvement
  • History of abuse or neglect
  • History of compulsive behavior

It isn’t easy to change environmental factors such as socioeconomic status, but there are ways to mitigate against unfavorable environmental factors and work to fight drug addiction or prevent it from happening in the first place. One tactic is to delay onset of drug use entirely. Another is to nurture environmental motivators for positive behavior, such as educational attainment and job training. Vigilant friends and family can also model positive behaviors and engage with at-risk users in sober activities.

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Effects of drug abuse and addiction:

 

Drugs are chemicals that affect the body and brain. Different drugs can have different effects. Some effects of drugs include health consequences that are long-lasting and permanent. They can even continue after a person has stopped taking the substance.

There are a few ways a person can take drugs, including injection, inhalation and ingestion. The effects of the drug on the body can depend on how the drug is delivered. For example, the injection of drugs directly into the bloodstream has an immediate impact, while ingestion has a delayed effect. But all misused drugs affect the brain. They cause large amounts of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate our emotions, motivation and feelings of pleasure, to flood the brain and produce a “high.” Eventually, drugs can change how the brain works and interfere with a person’s ability to make choices, leading to intense cravings and compulsive drug use. Over time, this behavior can turn into a substance dependency, or drug addiction.

Today, more than 7 million people suffer from an illicit drug disorder, and one in four deaths results from illicit drug use. In fact, more deaths, illnesses and disabilities are associated with drug abuse than any other preventable health condition. People suffering from drug and alcohol addiction also have a higher risk of unintentional injuries, accidents and domestic violence incidents.

 

Substance use disorders are associated with a wide range of short- and long-term health effects. They can vary depending on the type of drug, how much and how often it’s taken and the person’s general health.

Overall, the effects of drug abuse and dependence can be far-reaching. They can impact almost every organ in the human body.

Side effects of drugs may include:

  • A weakened immune system, increasing the risk of illness and infection
  • Heart conditions ranging from abnormal heart rates to heart attacks and collapsed veins and blood vessel infections from injected drugs 
  • Nausea and abdominal pain, which can also lead to changes in appetite and weight loss
  • Increased strain on the liver, which puts the person at risk of significant liver damage or liver failure 
  • Seizures, stroke, mental confusion and brain damage
  • Lung disease
  • Problems with memory, attention and decision-making, which make daily living more difficult
  • Global effects of drugs on the body, such as breast development in men and increases in body temperature, which can lead to other health problems

The most severe health consequences of drug abuse is death. Deaths related to synthetic opioids and heroin have seen the sharpest rise. In the past 12 months, 212,000 people aged 12 or older have used heroin for the first time. Every day, more than 90 Americans die after overdosing on opioids.