THE 5 MAIN CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF DRUG ADDICTION - ARTE - 2025

The causes and consequences of drug addiction can be physical and psychological. Drug addiction is a chronic disease of the central nervous system characterized by a compulsive dependence on drug use.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) this dependence is one of the distinctive characteristics of drug use.

This is due to the alteration that drugs produce in the functioning of the central nervous system, due to their stimulating, depressing, narcotic or hallucinogenic effects.

Within the definition of drugs are both legal psychoactive substances, such as alcohol and tobacco; such as drugs or illegal, such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, among others.

In theory, illegal drugs are the ones that cause the worst effects on people's health.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), around 250 million people between the ages of 15 and 64 used some of these illegal substances in 2014.

This figure explains why drug trafficking is a business that moves around 320 billion dollars a year, according to information from Global Financial Integrity from 2011.

The 5 main causes of drug addiction

1- Low self-esteem

Considered by some the main cause of any type of addiction, low self-esteem is a key factor in drug addiction.

An individual with low self-esteem does not care about the harmful effects of his behavior. He also tends to become socially isolated, making it difficult for him to receive the help he may require.

2- Depression

Depression caused by some trauma or neglect at home can lead a person to consume substances that make him forget, at least for a short time, that traumatic situation.

The meaning of life itself is sought in the pleasant sensation that drugs produce, although this sensation is fleeting.

3- Self-medication

When deciding what to take in cases of ailments or diseases, it is also common to decide the dose and frequency of that consumption.

This fact makes it more possible for a dependency to occur, which leads to addiction.

4- Dysfunctional environment

A social environment favorable to drug use tends to be related to drug abuse: drug addicts are usually people who grew up in homes with drug addicts.

Belonging to a sports team, an ethnic group or a specific union, where pressure from the social group occurs, can also favor this addiction.

Most of the time, drug use begins in adolescence, so it is common to find that the lack of attention and affection at this stage triggers addiction to some drug.

Sometimes it even begins with an adolescent experimentation without fraternal supervision.

5- Genetic predisposition

Although investigations are not yet conclusive, drug addiction is suspected to involve a hereditary component.

Some believe that genes, along with environmental influences, make up half of a person's vulnerability to drug addiction.

There are twin studies that offer clues in this regard. However, all of the gene sequences involved in this case have not been identified.

The 5 main consequences of drug addiction

1- Loss of physical health

The decline in physical health is one of the first consequences of drug addiction. Decreased appetite will lead to significant weight loss.

The blood system is also affected by overexcitation. Addicted individuals regularly experience hallucinations and paranoid compulsions.

Drug abuse also leaves sequelae in the brain, producing cognitive lag.

2- Spread of infectious diseases

As many of the most addictive drugs enter the body through an injection, it is easy for it to become an activity capable of promoting the spread of diseases such as HIV or any that is transmitted via the blood.

Similarly, a subject who is under the influence of the drug is prone to having sexual encounters without any type of protection, thus increasing his risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

3- Private and public cost

An addict can invest fortunes in his vice. The need to consume drugs can lead the subject to sell their most valuable properties.

You can even steal as long as you have the money to satisfy your addiction. And the family also loses resources in that process.

Likewise, the State has to invest in strategies that attack the operations of the drug trafficking industry, as well as in public policies aimed at preventive and curative drug addiction treatments.

4- Loss of autonomy

Another consequence of drug addiction is the progressive loss of will.

The individual is carried away by his impulses and, little by little, he loses the capacity and even the desire to fulfill his responsibilities.

The urge to get the drug becomes stronger than any other desire, including the desire to eat or rest.

And this fact leads him to break with his own codes of ethics and to threaten his safety and that of his own.

5- Reduction of the social circle

Isolation or social stigmatization appear in these cases, since it is shameful to admit the addiction for the family and for the individual himself (at least in his moments of sobriety).

The family union breaks down because arguments begin to arise about the possible culprits of the situation.

Friends also begin to show rejection due to addiction-related illnesses, as well as neglect of the addict's own hygiene and image.

Does age have to do with drug addiction?

Although drug addiction can start at any age, it is more likely to become a problem when it occurs early in growth.

Furthermore, adolescents are not yet physiologically prepared for decision-making or self-control, so they are especially prone to abuse these types of substances.

Ultimately it is a situation that affects the physical, psychological and emotional health of the addicted person and their closest environment, but that results in a high cost for the entire society.

What are the substances that cause the most addiction?

Although there is no single answer to this question, in 2016 the newspaper El País published an investigation by Eric Bowman in which 5 of the most addictive substances that exist are listed, according to the opinion of the experts interviewed.

These substances are heroin, cocaine, nicotine, barbiturates, and alcohol.

References

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