More than 20 million Americans will use an illegal drug in any given month if you count marijuana in this group. Some are addicted, and some aren’t, but the point is you’re playing with fire anytime you take a mind- or mood-altering substance, legal or illegal. Drug addiction usually implicates heroin/opioid, cocaine, and meth users, but there are several other substances on both the black and pharmaceutical markets that lead people to addiction.
While the decision to take drugs for the first time is usually a voluntary one, many people don’t understand how some people end up as addicts and others don’t. It’s not a matter of choosing to quit but a much more complex problem that is rooted in each person’s individual brain chemistry.
Drugs affect the sections in your brain that are known as the “pleasure centers” that, when activated, control feelings of pleasure and reward. Your brain naturally releases chemical messengers (known as dopamine) to stimulate these pleasure centers, and most drugs mimic the rush of euphoria that dopamine delivers.
The problem is that the drugs overstimulate the reward feelings, and the intense gratification is something that can only be replicated with continued drug use. This leads to two problems:
Heavy or long-term drug use can cause a variety of changes in your brain, not only impairing your ability to quit but eventually leaving you with irreversible damage to your memory and nervous system.
Drug addiction truly can impact anyone from any background – financial status, race, age, geographic area, educational level…you name it. Although, certain circumstances put individuals more at risk of drug addiction than others.
Several factors contribute to whether a person becomes addicted to drugs, and usually, it is difficult to pinpoint just one. However, a combination of some of the following risk factors may influence who becomes addicted:
198 E EBB TIDE CIR LAS VEGAS NV 89123
info@betterchoicenv.com
(725) 299-4777
BetterChoice Treatment Center
Contacts