Addictive drugs activate the brain’s reward systems. The promise of reward is very intense, causing the individual to crave the drug and to focus his or her activities around taking the drug. The ability of addictive drugs to strongly activate the brain reward mechanisms and their ability to chemically alter the normal functioning of these systems can produce an addiction. Drugs also reduce a person’s level of consciousness, harming their ability to think or be fully aware of present surroundings.

What Is A Drug?

In medical terms, a drug is any substance that when taken into a living organism may modify one or more of its functions. Drugs can provide temporary relief from unhealthy symptoms and/or permanently supply the body with a necessary substance the body can no longer make. Some drugs produce unwanted side affects. Some drugs lead to an unhealthy dependency that has both physiological and behavioral roots.

Why People Use Drugs

No one wants to be a drug addict or alcoholic, but that doesn’t stop people from getting addicted. The most commonly asked question is simply - how? How could my son, daughter, father, sister, or brother become a liar, a thief, someone who cannot be trusted? How could this happen? And why won’t they stop?

The first thing you must understand about addiction, is that alcohol and addictive drugs are basically painkillers. They chemically kill physical or emotional pain and alter the mind’s perception of reality. They make people numb.

For drugs to be attractive to a person there must first be some underlying unhappiness, sense of hopelessness, or physical pain that they wish to escape.

Drug Addiction Follows A Cycle Like This:

The life cycle of addiction begins with a problem, discomfort, or some form of emotional or physical pain a person is experiencing. They find this very difficult to deal with.

We start off with an individual who, like most people in our society, is basically good. This person encounters a problem or discomfort that they do not know how to resolve or cannot confront. This could include problems such as difficulty “fitting in” as a child or teenager, anxiety due to peer pressure or work expectations, identity problems or divorce as an adult. It can also include physical discomfort, such as an injury or chronic pain. The person experiencing the discomfort has a real problem and feels their present situation is unendurable, yet sees no good solution to the problem.

Everyone has experienced this in life to a greater or lesser degree. The difference between an addict and the non-addict is that the addict chooses drugs or alcohol as a solution to the unwanted problem or discomfort.

The Addiction Progresses…

Analogous to an adolescent child in his first love affair, the use of drugs or alcohol becomes obsessive. The addicted person is trapped. Whatever problem he was initially trying to solve by using drugs or alcohol fades from memory. At this point, all they can think about is getting and using drugs. They lose the ability to control their usage and disregard the horrible consequences of thier actions.

Alcohol And Drug Tolerance

In addition to the mental stress created by thier unethical behavior, the addict’s body has also adapted to the presence of the drugs. He will experience an overwhelming obsession with getting and using his drugs, and will do anything to avoid the pain of withdrawing from them. This is when the newly-created addict begins to experience drug cravings.

The individual now seeks drugs both for the reward of the “pleasure” they give him, and also to avoid the mental and physical horrors of withdrawal. Ironically, the addict’s ability to get “high” from the alcohol or drug gradually decreases as thier body adapts to the presence of foreign chemicals. He must take more and more, not just to get an effect but often just to function at all.

At this point, the addict is stuck in a vicious dwindling spiral. The drugs being abused have changed him both physically and mentally. He has crossed an invisible and intangible line. He is now a drug addict or alcoholic.

A person tries drugs or alcohol. The drugs APPEAR to solve his problem. He feels better. Because he now SEEMS better able to deal with life, the drugs become valuable to him. The person looks at drugs or alcohol as a cure for unwanted feelings. The painkilling effects of drugs or alcohol become a solution to their discomfort. Inadvertently the drug or alcohol now becomes valuable because it helped them feel better. This release is the main reason a person uses drugs or drinks a second or third time. It is just a matter of time before he becomes fully addicted and loses the ability to control his drug usage. Drug addiction results from excessive or continued use of physiologically habit-forming drugs in an attempt to resolve the underlying symptoms of discomfort or unhappiness.

How Drugs Affect Behavior

The addict will now attempt to withhold the fact of thier drug use from friends and family members. They will begin to suffer the effects of their own dishonesty and guilt. They may become withdrawn, difficult to reason with, and possibly develop strange behavior.

The more they use drugs and alcohol, the guiltier they will feel, and the more depressed they will become. They will sacrifice their personal integrity, relationships with friends and family, thiers job, savings, and anything else they may possess in an attempt to get more drugs. The drugs are now the most important things in their life. Their relationships and job performance will go drastically downhill.

There is such a thing as a “drug personality”, which is artificially created by drugs. Drugs can change the attitude of a person from his original personality to one secretly harboring hostilities and hatreds he does not permit to show on the surface.

This establishes a link between drugs and increasing difficulties with crime, production and the modern breakdown of social and industrial culture.

The drug personality includes such characteristics as:

Drug Metabolites

Drugs and alcohol are broken down in the liver. When a person drinks or uses drugs over a period of time, the body becomes unable to completely eliminate them all. These metabolites, (the substances the body converts the drugs or alcohol into) although removed rapidly from the blood stream, become trapped in the fatty tissues. The problem that needs to be addressed is that these drug residues remain for years.There are various types of tissues that are high in fat content, and these tissues are turned over very slowly. When they are turned over, the stored drug metabolites are released into the blood stream and reactivate the same brain centers as if the person actually took the drug. The former addict now experiences a drug restimulation (or “flashback”) and drug craving. This is common in the months after an addict quits and can continue to occur for years, or even decades.

The Cycle Of Quitting, Withdrawal, Craving And Relapse

When the addict initially tries to quit, cells in the brain that have become used to large amounts of these metabolites are now forced to deal with much decreased amounts. Even as the withdrawal symptoms subside, the brain “demands” that the addict give it more of the drug. This is called drug craving. Craving is an extremely powerful urge and can cause a person to create all kinds of “reasons” they should begin using drugs or drinking again. He is now trapped in an endless cycle of trying to quit, craving, relapse and fear of withdrawal. Eventually, the brain cells will again become used to having lowered drug metabolites. However, because deposits of drug or alcohol metabolites release back into the bloodstream from fatty tissues for years, craving and relapse remain a cause for concern. Left unhandled, the presence of metabolites, even in microscopic amounts, cause the brain to react as if the addict had actually taken the drug again, and can set up craving and relapse even after years of sobriety.