The Causes Of Drug Addiction

Drug addiction has become a problem that is increasing vastly among our society. Drugs can harm the body, interfere with plans for the future, breaking families apart, or even lead to harming one’s body. The possibilities are endless and drug users often believe they are in control and will not end up addicted, but addiction can trap the strongest people. Our peers and social media influence us daily, no matter if the peer pressure is direct or indirect, something might influence their decision to start using drugs. Scientists for the past century have been studying the effects of drugs abuse. They are working around the shadows of powerful myths and misconceptions about the nature of addiction since the 1930’s. When scientists first began

The first is, drugs addicts have a lifelong course characterized by frequent relapse, cross addiction and a common set of behavioral changed. Meaning they are struggling to quit on their own. The second reason, like other chromic medical disorder, genetics play an important role in determining who is at risk to becoming addicted. For example, parents and other family members who engage in activities that involved drugs can increase the risk of the children developing a drug problem later in life as well because they have been influenced and taught to do so by their peers. Finally, there are effective medications that treat drug addiction by blocking the rewarding effects of drug and decreasing the drug craving (Volkow, 2014, p.

Scientist have found two ways the brain is disrupted while taking drugs, the first is, by imitating the brains natural chemical messengers and is second is by overstimulating the reward circuit of the brain (Understanding Drug Abuse and Addiction, 2012, p.1). Drugs are fooling the brains neurotransmitters and active nerve cells into sending abnormal messages to the body, which is causing problems for completing basic tasks. As a person continues to take drugs, the brain will start to adapt to the overwhelming surges in dopamine. Which will result in the brain producing less and causing the pleasure that the individual once had, less of an effect, which will cause them to use more drugs, reach their desired pleasure. However, with continued use of drug, a person’s ability to apply self-control can become seriously impaired, and this impairment in self-control is the sign of addiction (Darke, 2007, p. 5). Brain imaging studies of people with addiction show physical changes in areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decision making, learning and memory, and behavior control. Scientists believe that these changes alter the way the brain Works and may help explain the compulsive and destructive behaviors of addiction (Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction, 2014, p.