Drug abuse and addiction usually begins in the younger years so it is up to the professionals of a community as a whole to teach youth that drugs are bad and can have a devastating effect on the abuser and the general public as well. It is also seen that your people who have been exposed to the bad effects of drug abuse and are taught at an early age that drugs are bad are less likely to start these bad habits.
Effects of Drug Abuse and Addiction
Drugs have the ability to change perception and disrupt the normal activity of the brain to process and receive information. This happens because the drugs are able to imitate the effects of normal chemicals that are found in the brain and they can over stimulate the parts of the brain that release "reward signals" such as adrenaline.
Drugs have the ability to change the chemical process of the brain, prompting it to send the wrong signals at certain times. There are different types of drugs that affect the brain in different ways but they all create a problem with the neurotransmitters that send signals to our body.
Dopamine is affected by virtually all drugs and this causes problems with things like emotions, movement, the feelings of pleasure and pain, and motivation making the addict think he is going through life without showing signs of addiction when actually the opposite effect is occurring.
Overstimulation can cause a person to forget about eating or caring for a loved one's condition. It also produces a sort of euphoric effect that the drug addict begins to become addicted to. Once the addiction begins to take over, the addict will find that it takes more and more of the drug to get the same feeling he once felt with just a small amount. By this time, the addiction has taken over and the addict will need professional help to overcome it.
Drug abuse and addiction at this point has become very serious and the addict may look for any way possible to get his next fix including stealing from family members or even committing petty crimes to get him through to his next high. The high becomes the only thing on his mind and to overcome these feelings he needs to find serious help for his drug abuse and addiction. Nothing will bring an addict the pleasures he may have once felt by spending time with his family and the increased need for the drug may make him forget the family altogether.
The brain can suffer long-term effects of drug abuse and addiction and it can sometimes make it harder for the addict to overcome. The addict will need to be re-taught how to act and feel, and he will need to re-learn basic functions that to most of us comes second nature. Brain studies that have been conducted on drug addicts show that the brain suffers change in areas that allow for judgment making, decision making, and memory and learning functions, as well as the parts of the brain that control behavior. This is what causes a casual user to become an addict.
Drug Abuse