According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), addiction is a recognized disease that involves a brain disorder and chronic relapsing. The condition is manifested through compulsive behavior in the form of substance abuse. Untreated drug addition creates an enormous burden on individuals, their families and society. In addition to a number of health problems associated with individual drugs, the risk of HIV and AIDS increases with the lifestyle accompanying drug abuse. As NIDA researchers learn more about the disease and how it affects the brain, they can develop prevention and treatment programs that target the main causes of substance abuse.
Early Use
Initially, an individual uses drugs freely in order to feel better. First-time drug users often are just experimenting or succumbing to peer pressure to try a substance. Others are thrill-seekers who try any new option that comes along. Still other people are looking for a way to deal with stress or mental disorders and seek relief through self-medication.
Changes
Drugs primarily influence the pleasure centers in the brain, which are responsible for the feeling of being high. Many chemicals mimic the neurotransmitter in the brain and serve to help people feel better and achieve a sense of well-being. Dopamine levels are increased by most illegal chemicals and add to the pleasurable sensations. In doing so, the physical neurotransmitters in the brain become altered. Human evolution created the dopamine structures to reward humans for survival behavior, such as sex and eating. Following the initial burst of dopamine and the unnatural release of additional dopamine, drugs continue to create the pleasurable sensation much longer than natural behaviors. Those levels of well-being are difficult, if not impossible, to reach without the use of drugs, setting up the brain to seek more of the pleasurable sensations.
Addiction
Continued and long-term use of drugs changes the basic structures of the brain. Reversal of these changes is very difficult and can take years. The brain sets off the compulsion to continue using, and the body responds with physical cravings. The typically unsteady emotional state of drug addicts creates an obsession, which leads to using more drugs.
Risks
Studies by the NIDA show that 67 percent of people who try marijuana for the first time are teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17. Between the peer pressure, undeveloped decision-making skills and immature brain development of this group, prevention can be difficult for educators and parents. While environmental pressures play a big role in causing substance abuse, researchers believe that genetics play a larger role. The NIDA found that 40 to 60 percent of the reasons a person will become addicted is attributable to heredity. Additional risks associated with the probability that someone will become addicted after trying dope include mental illnesses, drug availability, past traumatic stress and personality.
