What Causes Drug Addiction?

Published May 21, 2010

Drug addiction is a very significant danger that we are facing today. There are several factors that contribute to drug addiction

If your parents have addiction struggles, there are chances you are susceptible to addiction. If your parents use drug, you have a predisposition to abusing that drug. Drug addiction causes one generation to pass it on to the next

Experimentation and curiosity are the factors that draw many people to try drugs. They want to feel that “high,” the sense of euphoria that comes with drug use. Some drugs (like heroin) are more likely to cause addiction than others, resulting in an addiction from simple experimentation alone.

Sometimes people need some help coping with life. Everyday life becomes a struggle and simple things become too much to handle. Drug use can help a person temporarily escape the realities of his/her life.

Elite athletes are susceptible to using drugs. They use them for performance enhancing abilities. Steroids can make muscles bigger, while amphetamines help reduce or numb pain, allowing persons to play injured.

Pressure is also a factor that turns people into drug addicts. Adults fall prey to peer pressure to fit into new social classes, new workplaces, and new neighborhoods. Teenagers fight peer pressure on everything from looks to alcohol to sex to drugs. In fact, crystal methamphetamine is becoming a way for many teenage girls to fight the pressure that comes with needing to be thin and attractive. Teenagers can also fall prey to the rebellious attitude that they need to do anything their parents or those in authority say is bad.

Another one of the causes of drug addiction is using drugs to mask mental problems. Depressed people frequently use drugs to escape their sad feelings. Schizophrenics find that some street drugs can control their hallucinations. Denial and hiding the problem just lead to more problems in the long run.

Some people want to feel good physically and emotionally. Sometimes drugs are the substitution for a healthy life experience. The person in pain wants to numb the pain. The drug numbs the pain and for a moment they don’t feel as poorly. For a short while, the drug takes them away and they feel “better.”

In addition, Easy access, environmental and cultural factors play a role in who starts or continues to abuse drugs

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