4 things that Kids (and everyone) need to know about Drug Addiction
by Carl Towns
People have probably told you ‘don’t do drugs’, or ‘drugs are bad for you’, but they don’t elaborate enough for you to understand why are they bad and why you shouldn’t do them.
First, we should be clear about what drugs are. Legal drugs are prescription or free-sold medications than can help with illnesses, doctors usually recommend them.
They can be found in drugstores, supermarkets or hospitals. Alcohol and cigarettes are also legal drugs that can be used by people over the legal age limit of 18 (for cigarettes) and 21 (for alcohol).
However, they become illegal by misusing them (like when driving under the influence of alcohol), using them excessively, or buying them illegally.
Illegal drugs, on the other side, are not allowed to be prescribed, sold, bought or used. Marijuana is usually an illegal drug, although there are some states and countries that allow doctors to prescribe them to some adults with certain illnesses. Illegal drugs include several substances that are harmful to your health, including crack, cocaine, heroin, etc.
Closely related to illegal drugs (or misuse of legal drugs), it is very important to discuss addiction. When you suffer from addiction, you have an uncontrollable need to use and experience more and more of it.
Addiction makes it extremely hard for you to say no to it because not using it will cause you literal physical and emotional pain. When someone has an addiction they are no longer in control of the situation, the addiction is in control.
Now that we have covered the definitions of drugs and addiction, it is very important to understand what kind of effect does it have on a person.
What is it that makes it so dangerous and bad? Hopefully, these next four points will help answer any questions you may have.
The Body
Drugs send chemical messages to your brain, which then forwards the message to the rest of your body. People take them for various reasons, but generally, it is in the hopes of escaping reality, wanting an instant feeling of relief or an unnatural ‘high’.
Drug abuse will bring several side effects to the body, the brain will change in a short amount of time, and the chances of getting serious diseases like strokes, cardiovascular diseases, HIV, several types of cancer will increase.
The Brain
Drugs affect the brain differently depending on the chemicals in them. All of these chemicals interfere with the brain’s communication system in one way or another, causing changes in the ways that information is sent, processed and received throughout the body.
Most drugs affect the limbic system making the person who is using them feel good.
The drugs will make the body release an unnatural amount of endorphins, damaging the messages and natural chemical systems within the brain, which after building tolerance, will start to require more ‘unnatural’ substances in order to reach a point where the person will feel ‘happy’.
Feeling naturally good or satisfied starts to become difficult, near impossible. If the drug is used over a very long time, the brain can suffer permanent damages related to problems with memory, attention, and decision-making, among many others.
Social Life
The choices you make while under the influence of drugs or alcohol will always be questionable, your reasoning is impaired and your inhibitions are lowered considerably.
Drug addiction also affects the way that you treat people, how you react to situations, and your correct understanding of the things happening around you.
The lack of education has contributed to the belief that drugs are something fun or something that will make you feel ‘in’; just a little aid to make you feel calm and give you a great time.
The truth is that the effects of the drugs in your brain and body will change your normal behavior to the point where you will act without any sense of right and wrong. The effects can also take you to the opposite side, where you can become paranoid, hysterical, scared or even aggressive.
Drug or alcohol addiction will also ruin any personal relationships you have with family and friends. Not to mention, using illegal drugs can lead to jail time, even if you are still a minor.
Life consequences
What usually starts as exploration, desire to fit in or relax can lead to a full addiction, where the addict will hurt mind, body, and lifestyle to the point where things will hardly go back to the way they used to be.
It is very important to understand that addiction is not a choice, poor morals or bad choices; addiction is a serious disease that takes hard work and resistance.
Remember that an addiction will evolve and wrap you in a way that your family, your loved ones, your job or your education won’t matter, as your brain and your body will only be focused on getting more substances to suffice the rush you are seeking.
Every person reacts differently to drugs, therefore it may be easy for some to recover, and it will be extremely hard (even impossible) for others.
The key to avoiding, understand and survive addiction is education and an open mind, it is best to avoid them altogether, but if it is too late, then learning about the disease, its process and how to work to overcome it, is imperative to reach a healthy life once again.
Do you have any questions or comments regarding how drugs affect your life?
Carl Towns is a 28-year-old wanna-be writer; He is also a recovering addict in the path of self-discovery. His goal is to learn as many things as possible and to seize every single moment he lives…Pretty much trying to make up for all that he missed on the years he was lost in drugs and alcohol (among other things). He is in love with tech, cars and pretty much anything that can be found online.
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