




Facts
Oftentimes, alcohol or drug dependency is due to a substance's ability to stimulate pleasure in the brain and produce a false overall sense of well-being. When users become addicted to this feeling, they crave whatever substance can produce the feeling and abuse said substance. The overuse of a drug leads to tolerance, which is a common result of dependency. Tolerance means that a person uses greater amounts of a drug to produce the same initial effect. Those who have developed tolerance to a drug also use greater amounts without appearing intoxicated. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly why an individual develops an addiction and why a person first experiments with drugs. Sometimes, drug use starts out of curiosity or to see what kind of thrill can be achieved, while other times, peer pressure contributes to drug use as well as the desire to project a certain image. Addicts often use drugs as an excuse to avoid facing reality or problems in their lives. Cocaine may also greatly increase this risk of developing rare autoimmune or connective tissue diseases such as lupus, Goodpasture's disease, vasculitis, glomerulonephritis, Stevens-Johnson syndrome and other diseases. It can also cause a wide array of kidney diseases and renal failure. While these conditions are normally found in chronic use they can also be caused by short term exposure in susceptible individuals. Cocaine abuse doubles both the risks of hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes. Years after the abuse has ended, many ex-abusers report a noticeably reduced attention span. Rather than having separate regulations for possession for every illegal drug, legislators have outlined sentencing regulations for different amounts of marijuana possession, and then created a marijuana equivalency table in which different amounts of other drugs are said to be equal to specific amounts of marijuana. For example, one gram of cocaine is equivalent to 200 grams of marijuana, and one gram of heroin is equivalent to 1,000 grams of marijuana. Base offense levels, which guide sentencing, are determined according to this equivalency scale. Prior to the Ecstasy Anti-Proliferation Act of 2000, one gram of ecstasy (about three pills) was equivalent to 35 grams of marijuana. However, in response to the Act, legislators proposed drastic changes for trafficking penalties. The change proposed was to increase the equivalency of one gram of ecstasy be the same as 1,000 grams of marijuana, the same as heroin. There was outspoken disagreement from the scientific community, many of whom felt that if ecstasy's equivalency were to be changed it should be lowered, based on comparison of ecstasy with more harmful drugs. Unlike heroin, ecstasy was not associated with non-drug crime; the ecstasy market was not associated with violence; there were very few reports of ecstasy users needing drug treatment; and the number of ecstasy-associated emergency room visits was not near the number associated with heroin. As a result of the protests, a slightly different sentencing regulation was proposed and went into effect in May 2001. Instead, one gram of ecstasy is now equivalent to 500 grams of marijuana, making one dose of ecstasy five times more legally damaging, in terms of jail time, to possess than one dose of heroin. Possession of at least 800 pills or 200 grams of ecstasy carries a minimum sentence of up to six years for a first offense. Before the change, the minimum for a first offense was 15–21 months, and 11,000 pills were needed for a sentence of six years. SAMHSA's own annual study, known as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), tracks nonmedical drug use among Americans of all ages. The latest statistics available from SAMHSA as of mid-2005 were from 2003. That year, 4 percent of all youths age twelve to seventeen reported using prescription-type drugs, including stimulants. The percentage was higher among eighteen- to twenty-five-year-olds. Six percent of this age group admitted to using prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons. About 1.9 percent of adults age twenty-six and older reported illicit prescription drug use. |
Tolerance
Tolerance to a drug takes place when an individual is exposed to the same drug repeatedly and begins to build up an resistance to the drugs effects. The body then adapts and develops a tolerance for the drug. The addiction that is produced is so powerful that it creates cravings in the user. These cravings for the drug are the result of its impact on the individual's memory with feelings of pleasantness and euphoria which the individual has come to associate with the taking of the drug.
Dependence
Dependence is the compulsive use of a substance despite negative consequences which can be severe; drug dependence is simply excessive use of a drug or use of a drug for purposes for which it was not medically intended. Physical dependence on a substance (needing a drug to function) is not necessary or sufficient to define addiction. There are some substances that don't cause addiction but do cause physical dependence (for example, some blood pressure medications) and substances that cause addiction but not classic physical dependence (cocaine withdrawal, for example, it does not have symptoms like vomiting and chills; it is mainly characterized by depression).
Drug Addiction
Drug addiction is a pattern of repeated drug taking that usually results in tolerance (the need for greater amounts of the drug to achieve the same effect), withdrawal (physical and cognitive effects when drug use declines or stops), and compulsive drug taking behavior (drug taking that persists despite efforts to reduce intake and despite problems with family, friends, and work). Drug addiction encompasses a diverse range of drugs (such as alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines, and cocaine) and is caused by many different factors.
Intervention
An intervention is when a group of loved ones and/or a trained intervention counselor meets with the person in need of help for the purpose of breaking down their denial and motivating them to immediately seek drug addiction treatment. Often, individuals in the midst of drug addiction engage in a variety of self destructive behaviors. Although baffling to friends and family members such people generally either aren't aware on a conscious level that they have a drug addiction problem, or even when they know they have a problem they may cling to the false belief that the problem will somehow go away without any outside help. When an intervention is held a moment of clarity is created
for the addict. Most people struggling with the problem of drug or alcohol
addiction will accept help the very day of the intervention.
Drug Side Effects
Drug addiction and abuse comes with a heavy price. There are drastic drug side effects associated with drug misuse and abuse. Drug side effects from legal and illegal drugs can range from mild itching to comas and death. In addition to the physical drug side effects mentioned, there are many psychological drug side effects of drug abuse; the most serious being drug addiction and overdose.
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