3 Reasons Why Addiction to Drugs Can Be Harmful

Addiction is a condition that causes an individual to be abnormally dependent on something that makes an addict psychologically or physically habitual. At the same time, drug addiction is the compulsive use of addictive substances knowing the negative consequences to the individual and society. Addiction to drugs is increasingly becoming a global lifestyle trend causing major public health problems. According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), in 2020, 92,000 people died in the United States from a drug overdose, including prescription and illicit drugs.

While medical practitioners advise prescription drugs to treat a specific medical condition, illicit drugs are illegal to use and prohibited by international law. These drugs include cannabis, heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and opioid abuse. Since drugs are chemicals, they can cause long-lasting or maybe permanent health consequences and affect almost every organ in the human body.

Drug abuse directly affects the brain, causing a noticeable difference in mood, behavior, and cognitive function. More than 7 million people in the United States suffer from drug addiction. One in four deaths results from illicit drug use. To overcome addiction, an individual can find a variety of rehabilitation and recovery centers offering comprehensive and specialized treatment options.

Getting Help

The significance of specialized rehabilitation institutions for drug addiction cannot be overstated because they give effective treatment alternatives with greater recovery rates. These centers have highly qualified teams of psychiatrists, psychologists, and anesthesiologists, who work collectively to support and treat people with drug and alcohol addiction. Read more at Abbey Care Foundation for How Addiction Affects Relationships.

In addition to rehab centers, an online educational addiction guide will provide reliable information about addiction and recovery to support addicts to live healthier lives. It is the only website that mental health specialists support to provide tailored programs on behavioral therapy, group therapy, medications, and additional medical care to address problems related to mental health, medical conditions, and unemployment.

Why drug addiction can be harmful

The development of drug addiction may be attributed to different factors, including family history, stress, mental health disorder, peer pressure, lack of family involvement, or taking a highly addictive drug. This addiction may result in complications, including psychotic behavior, seizures, or even death.

1. Mental health

Drug abuse affects an individual’s brain function. It may result in long-term mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, paranoia, increased aggression, panic attacks, hallucinations, bipolar, and dementia.

1. Physical health

Drug addiction causes serious mental health problems and affects the body organs of the addict. It may result in:

• Increased risk of infections
  • Using shared needles to inject certain drugs can transmit HIV, hepatitis C, and hepatitis B.

• Lung disorders
  • When illicit drugs are inhaled or injected, they affect the addict’s lungs and cause different complications, including pulmonary infections (pneumonia) and pulmonary edema (excess fluid in lungs).

• Heart disease
  • Drug addiction results in cardiac problems leading to endocarditis (stroke, heart attack, arrhythmia, and heart failure).

• Liver disease
  • Excessive use of alcohol and certain drugs can permanently damage the liver and result in liver failure. Lung cirrhosis, liver cancer and fatty liver disease are the most common lung diseases caused by drugs.

• Kidney disease
  • Heroin addicts inject heroin have an increased risk of bacterial and fungal infections leading to acute kidney inflammation. This condition likely results in kidney failure. Cocaine abuse leads to renal infarction, disrupting the blood flow to kidneys which causes nausea and severe abdominal pain.

1. Quality of life

Addiction to drugs is very dangerous and negatively affects your quality of life. It is not just you who is affected, but the people around you also suffer. Some of the key areas affected by drug abuse are:

• Your Job

Drug abuse results in serious consequences when you are maintaining a job. You will perform poorly at work due to the lack of sleep from drug addiction. You will eventually remain absent from work that the employer does not accept, and it may end your job.

• Your Finances

Drugs are not for free; they cost money. When you get addicted to a drug, you will need more of it every time to get the same effect. The more you use it, the more money you will need to get it. And when you are unable to maintain a job, you will have serious financial consequences maintaining this habit. This habit can push you into a financial crisis in the long run.

• Your Family

When you become a drug addict, your priorities shift to drugs intake. In this case, you are most likely to miss important family events like weddings or baby showers. When you give preference to drugs over your loved ones, you become aloof, and your family relationships are ruined.

• Your Friends

Drug abuse creates personality disorders, making you short-tempered, impatient and losing interest in others. All these behaviors can negatively impact your friendships.

• Your Community

When there are drug users, there will be drug dealers too. The number of crimes such as prostitution, burglaries, assault, and car accidents will eventually increase. It will ultimately threaten the security and safety of a community.

• Your Freedom

When you are unemployed and struggling with mental health issues, you will ultimately pursue unlawful means such as stealing from others to support your drug addiction. Committing crimes will land you in jail, which will take your freedom away.

 Conclusion

Drug addiction is harmful to the person using it and the people they love and care about. It causes long-lasting effects on the addict’s mental and physical health and overall quality of life. It destroys a person’s life financially and socially. Drug dependence is a medical disorder and can be treated through multiple interventions, including behavioral and group therapy, medications, and post-medical care. The role of rehab centers and online educational guides cannot be denied in this case. They provide tailored and comprehensive treatment options to help cure drug abusers to lead them to a happier and healthier life.