Drug Abuse

In the modern medical profession, the two most used diagnostic tools in the world, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the World Health Organization’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems , no longer recognise ‘drug abuse’ as a current medical diagnosis.

The Treatment of Drug Abuse for people like you.

Drug abuse is a serious public health problem that affects almost every community and family in some way. Drug abuse also plays a role in many major social problems, such as drugged driving, violence, stress and child abuse.

Drug abuse and addiction have a devastating impact on society costing billions of dollars each year. Check out information provided by The National Institute on Drug Abuse which offers a chart of commonly abused drugs and identifies how they affect you and what the long-term health risks are. Drug abuse or substance abuse, involves the repeated and excessive use of prescription or street drugs.

Many people do not understand why individuals become addicted to drugs or how drugs change the brain to foster compulsive drug abuse. Although it is true that for most people the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary, over time the changes in the brain caused by repeated drug abuse can affect a person’s self control and ability to make sound decisions, and at the same time send intense impulses to take drugs. Through scientific advances we now know much more about how exactly drugs work in the brain, and we also know that drug addiction can be successfully treated to help people stop abusing drugs and resume their productive lives. Treatment approaches that are tailored to each patient’s drug abuse patterns and any co-occurring medical, psychiatric, and social problems can lead to sustained recovery and a life without drug abuse.

Have you found that a troubled teen in your life has been struggling with drugs and or alcohol abuse? In the Teen Drug Abuse website, we attempt to educate people about why teens begin using, what they are using, and how those drugs are affecting teens physically, socially, and mentally. This section has several articles about the effects of teen drug abuse and about some specific drugs that teens are abusing today. Over the Counter Drug Abuse - The rising trend of teens abusing over the counter drugs. Prescription Drug Abuse - Recognizing the prescription drugs that are being abused by teens. Teen Drug Addiction - Addiction patterns and statitistics of teen drug abuse.

Persons with a history of intravenous drug abuse also are more likely to have tuberculosis of the lungs.

This article is an overview of the nontherapeutic use of alcohol and drugs of abuse.

For most of us, it’s a no-brainer to avoid misuse of drugs: we see that the dangers and destructive long-term effects outweigh any momentary pleasure drugs afford and act accordingly. Substance Abuse Symptoms Checklist - Detailed list of signs and symptoms of drug and alcohol abuse that relates to motivations behind substance abuse as well as physical and behavioral symptoms.

Abusers may progress to usage by intravenous injection and to usage of other opiates or drugs of abuse.

Naltrexone, a drug originally marketed under the name “ReVia,” and now marketed in intramuscular formulation as “Vivitrol” or in oral formulation as a generic, is a medication approved for the treatment of alcohol dependence.

Some drugs appear to be more likely to lead to uncontrolled use than others.

Usually however the legislative process is self-referential, defining abuse in terms of what is made illegal.

Article: EU updates its plan to reduce drug misuse.

And, in one way or another, almost all drugs overstimulate the pleasure center of the brain, flooding it with the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Addiction and drug dependence occurs when drugs become so important that you are willing to sacrifice your work, home and even family.

Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism - Guide to the signs, symptoms, adverse effects, and causes of problem drinking.

And, as with other chronic diseases, it is not uncommon for a person to relapse and begin abusing drugs again.

If you have a troubled teen son or daughter that has been abusing drugs or alcohol, please get help immediately.