Problems Arising From Drug Abuse

Drugs are commonly used for their euphoric affects, but prolonged use can have serious consequences. Substance abuse causes physical and mental illness, early death, escalated health-care costs, lost productivity for employers, increased need for law enforcement, incarceration, divorce and relationship problems within the family structure, higher risk of traffic accidents for everyone, risky sexual conduct, family violence and child abuse and neglect.

Addiction as Brain dysfunction

• Addiction is defined as a chronic relapsing brain disease that continues in its sufferers in spite of negative consequences to their lives that are directly related to its presence. While non-abusing individuals find it difficult to understand how drug abusers could continue to do so in the face of such devastating consequences, NIDA reports that scientists have discovered physical changes in certain areas of the brains of substance abusers. The brain areas found to be impaired by substance abuse are those critical to decision-making, learning, judgment, behavior control and memory.

Developmental Problems

• Addiction is sometimes referred to as a developmental disease, because most substance abusers begin using gateway drugs during their formative years, as adolescents, when curiosity and drive to belong are naturally high, and parts of the brain are still being developed. Gateway drugs are drugs that are either legal for adults (such as alcohol or nicotine) or, in the case of marijuana, perceived as less harmful. Early drug use conditions the individual to rely on drugs while his brain and habits are still being formulated, and greatly increases the risk of addiction. In fact, NIDA reports that the earlier a person begins drug use, the more likely he or she is to become an addict.

Physical Disease

• NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner reports that while people generally associate negative consequences of substance abuse with addiction and brain disease, many other physical problems and life-threatening diseases are also highly correlated with drug abuse. Leshner states that the lifestyles of substance abusers tend to make them more vulnerable to disease through exposure to disease and reduced physical ability to fight it. These lifestyle problems often include inadequate housing and poor nutrition. Poor nutrition is involved in cirrhosis of the liver, an irreversible condition associated with substance abuse, and high-risk behavior involving needle sharing and multiple sexual encounters is associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV), and HIV/AIDS. These problems combined with poor nutrition also lead to Tuberculosis (TB).

Family Problems

• The brain dysfunction associated with addiction causes addicts to place drugs before the needs of family, leading to family problems. Substance abusers are more likely to end up divorced and have a higher incidence of domestic violence in their households. Their homes also include more reported cases of child abuse and neglect. The children of substance abusers are more likely to develop emotional issues of their own that include substance abuse. Early death is also common in substance abusers, often leaving their families without their financial support.

Financial Problems

• Substance abuse leads to financial problems on a large scale, as virtually every level of society is effected. Substance abuse leads to low productivity in the workplace. This problem impacts employers and social systems, as well as the financial stability of the families of substance abusers who may lose their employment due to drug or alcohol abuse. When substance abusers die young or are otherwise unable to work due to substance-abuse-related problems, potential taxable income is not generated, costing the public billions of dollars in local, state, and federal government funds.