A Refresher on Drug Use, Abuse and Addiction
The New York Times recently ran an article that recaps drug abuse and addiction and it serves as a great refresher for parents, teachers or anyone that knows someone using drugs or alcohol. It begins by defining drug abuse and drug addiction–these both have different meanings and are used incorrectly quite often. It also explains that addiction is usually the result of several factors. Those factors include but are not limited to using drugs to control pain, the person’s genes, the action of the drug, peer pressure, emotional distress, anxiety, depression, and environmental stress all can be factors.
It’s important to refresh our knowledge about abuse and addiction by reading articles like this. It helps to make you more aware of what loved ones are doing and it reminds you of any signs you may have forgotten.
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The definition I like for addiction is “Addiction is a condition characterized by repeated, compulsive seeking and use of drugs, alcohol or other similar substances despite adverse social, mental and physical consequences, It is usually accompanied by psychological and physical dependence on the abused substance and the appearance of withdrawal symptoms when the addictive substance is rapidly decreased or terminated. When addiction exists, the drug use controls the individual rather than the individual controlling the usage.” This is from a little booklet entitled Healing Addicted Lives, By Gary Smith CCDC.