Drug Addiction - 866 Words

Drug Addiction: Disease or Habit? When people hear the words drug addict, these words have negative connotations and stigmas attached to them. People visualize a person who does not care about anything, including family, work, or commitments, except for obtaining money to buy drugs to get high. However, there are many people who are drug addicts that maintain a normal, functional life. Most people who are drug addicts would give anything to kick the habit; they do not enjoy the high anymore. The problem is, they can’t. Addiction, defined by Webster, is a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal. So, if the addicts want to stop, why can’t†¦show more content†¦This way, I can convince the readers that drug addiction is more than a habit, and can be considered a brain disease. I will use the information I gained in my psychology class in college where we spent a l ot of time going over the science side of addiction and what it does to the brain. It allowed me to see addiction as a brain disease rather than a compulsive habit and that helped me deal with the loss of my friends. I will explain the way that prescription pain killers mimic the endorphins, the body’s natural â€Å"feel-good† chemical and how the brain will eventually become tolerant to the â€Å"fake† endorphins and depend more and more on pain killers to keep from experiences withdrawal symptoms. Nowadays, it seems like there is a pill for everything. The media tries to convince consumers that they need a pill to cure ailments they didn’t even know they had. Also, doctors have been irresponsible when it comes to prescribing habit forming drugs, especially to young adults. I have a friend, Brandon, whose leg was run over by a tractor when he was eighteen years old. The doctor prescribed him an extremely high dosage of pain killers and before he knew it, he had developed a high tolerance for them. Once his leg was healed, he wanted to stop taking the pain killers, but his body went through a state of withdrawal. He wanted to stop taking the pills so bad that he checked himself into rehab. However, in order to get off of the painShow MoreRelatedDrug Addiction : Drugs And Heroin Addiction1130 Words   |  5 PagesThe arguments for whether or not to prescribe heroin to treat heroin addictions are controversial. Henden and Baeroe (2015) state both sides of the arguments being that some believe â€Å"it is in the nature of heroin addiction for individuals to lose their ability to resist their desire for heroin,† which knowing the nature of chemical dependency, heroin addicts would not refuse any heroin, so it still possibly an invalid consent to research participation as they did not have a free choice to reallyRead MoreDrug Addiction : Drugs And Drugs Essay744 Words   |  3 PagesWhen people first hear the word drug, they thi nk of illicit drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine. They also think about the user and sometimes why they use. One thing that is overlooked by the public is the treatment programs that are available to drug users. There is a stigma in our society around drug use that is very negative. Many believe that people that do drugs do them just to do them and even if this is true in some cases, no one wakes up one morning and decides that today is the dayRead MoreDrug Addictions802 Words   |  4 Pagesof the states, is facing drug problems. This state is considered one of the deadliest drug epidemics in American history. There are two types of drugs mentioned in the article. One of them is opioid. An opioid is a substitute for morphine and widely used. According to the statistics, 500 people had died from an overdose in 2005. In 2013, the numbers soared from 500 deaths to 2,700. Another drug(s) is known as synthetic opioids. Fentanyl and Carfentanil are the two drugs mention by Phil Plummer,Read MoreDrug Addiction3845 Words   |  16 PagesDrug Addiction (Focus of the Study: â€Å"Shabungan† at Brgy. Victoria Reyes, Dasmarià ±as, Cavite) Group No. Cuenca, Ma. Kristina B. Enon, Jane Loraine S. Tuban, Julie An Pelisco, Marvelous Salcedo, Yvette Laganzo, Ma. Riellyn Mae Austria, Gerald Mateo, Alyssa INTRODUCTION: Drug Addiction is a chronic disease affecting the brain, and just about everyone is different. It was also a condition that characterized by compulsive drug intake, craving and seeking despite what majority of societyRead MoreAddiction : Drugs And Addiction947 Words   |  4 Pages Addiction is a problem that’s very prevalent in our society. Considering that drugs and alcohol are being introduced to kids in middle school, this isn’t that surprising. We as a society constantly bombarded with talks about the â€Å"war on drugs† and addiction. There are constant conversations about what should and shouldn’t be legal and what addiction really means. Is addiction in the head, or is it something a person chooses? Should we help or punish people with addictions. Everyone has opinion,Read MoreDrug Dependence And Addiction : Drugs1231 Words   |  5 Pagesobvious assumption that drugs have an effect on the mind, but what exactly goes on and how do these substanc es affect your brain and change your state of consciousness? This is the question that interested me and brought me to want to write about this certain topic. Drugs alter the way people think, feel, and behave by disrupting neurotransmission, the process of communication between brain cells. Over the past few decades, studies have established that drug dependence and addiction are features of anRead MoreDrug Addiction and Drugs1219 Words   |  5 PagesDrugs Addiction Miami Beach Senior High Ashley Gonzalez Ms. Cooper/Mr.Sussman English II-Period Three 06 March 2013 Drugs Addiction Topic and Thesis Statement Miami Beach Senior High Topic: Drugs Thesis Statement: In an examination of drugs I will discuss causes of this disease/or social dilemma. I will also discuss the effect of drugs on individuals, families and society. Read MoreDrug Dependence And Addiction : Drugs1231 Words   |  5 Pagesobvious assumption that drugs have an effect on the mind, but what exactly goes on and how do these substances affect your brain and change your state of consciousness? This is the question that interested me and brought me to want to write about this certain topic. Drugs alter the way people think, feel, and behave by disrupting neurotransmission, the process of communication between brain cells. Over the past few decades, studies have established that drug dependence and addiction are features of anRead MoreThe Drug Of Drug Addiction Essay1270 Words   |  6 Pagesmy older brother struggle with drug addiction has taught me more in my life than anything else. He was a smart kid with a good head on his shoulders.   As he grew older he made some unwise choices with regard to substance abuse that quickly turned into a full blown addiction lasting over five years and landed him in and out of four different rehabs.   He was striving to get clean, but every time he took one step forward he fell three steps back.   Taylor entered Drug Court, after finding himself inRead MoreDrug Addiction : Drugs And Drugs1017 Words   |  5 Pages In today’s society, it is now normal to know somebody who has a drug addiction especially to opiates. A dr ug addiction is a mental disorder that the person can no longer control their actions. The person addicted to the drug will no longer care about the outcome of their actions as long as they can get that high they are seeking. **from textbook pg. 303** â€Å"Opioids are classified as narcotics- strongly addictive drugs that have pain relieving and sleep-inducing properties. Opioids include both naturally