Andy S.

1. Andy S. Addiction

2. In our society, drug addiction and drug abuse are ever-present issues that impact every community, every group of people, every income level and drug addiction statistics indicate that it costs hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money each year. But drug addiction and abuse are not merely social problems, and often people will incorrectly point to drug addiction and drug abuse as criminal acts, or caused by people of weak character, or something that people can just stop by sheer will power….

3. Addiction is a disease. Drug addiction impacts the brain and is far more complex than simply referring to it as a behavioral problem. Advances in science have revealed how drugs interact with brain chemistry, leading to new treatment techniques and greater possibilities of addicts returning to a healthy and productive life. This page is designed to answer some of the questions you may have concerning drug abuse and addiction. It is by no means an exhaustive listing, but hopefully will give you an overview of addiction disease in this country.

4. What is drug addiction? Drug addiction is a chronic brain disease. Addicts crave more and more drug, as they are captivated by its effects. The structure and function of the brain are changed with repeated use, and over time the act of using drugs is no longer voluntary and no longer for pleasure. Addicts self-medicate to feel “good” or feel “normal” They experience intense craving for the drug and even after treatment, relapse is possible

5. Why is it hard to stop using? The changes in brain chemistry that cause the intense craving do not just go away when a person stops using. Treatment is necessary to assist where mere willpower cannot go alone. Sometimes medications are called for, not only to help with drug withdrawal, but with coping with the cravings. The medical intervention is designed to help addicts cope with the disease and regain their control.

6. Can drug addiction be managed? Drug addiction is a chronic disease, like asthma, heart disease or diabetes. It is not uncommon for drug addicts to relapse, just as it is not uncommon for sufferers of other chronic disease to relapse. However, additional treatment will help bring back control.

7. What happens to the brain when people take drugs? Drugs change the brain’s communications system. Drugs impact the brain’s normal chemical makeup in two ways. Drugs can mimic the brain’s natural chemical messengers and/or they can over stimulate the brain’s natural “reward system.” For example, marijuana and heroin are drugs that share a similar structure to the brain’s chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters. Because the structure is similar, marijuana and heroin can “fool” the brain’s chemical receptors and cause nerve cells to send abnormal messages. Other drugs, like cocaine or methamphetamine, will cause nerve cells to over release natural neurotransmitters and prevent the brain from recycling these natural brain chemicals. This causes an unusually greater message to be carried, and in the end, it changes normal brain communication.

8. Why do people take these drugs? Drugs cause the brain to be flooded with the neurotransmitter dopamine. This is a natural chemical that regulates the brain’s reward system. This would include feelings of pleasure, but also includes our emotions, motivations for survival (eating, relationships) and movement. The drugs over stimulate the communications system. When that happens, the brain’s response to the drug is to produce a euphoric feeling. The experience is powerful, as people will get a pleasurable “high” and that is where trouble begins. The user will want to repeat the experience and the brain becomes fooled into thinking that is what is normal.

9. How does the brain get fooled? When a person uses repeatedly, over time the brain will begin to think that the surge in dopamine, caused by the drug, needs to be regulated, so it will produce less dopamine. With less dopamine receptors in the circuit, the reward is lowered. The drug doesn’t work as well, and so the user is compelled to keep abusing drugs to try to gain the same effect. They will use larger amounts of the drug. This tolerance to the drug is dangerous.

10. Why is tolerance to the drug dangerous? As the user needs more and more drug to achieve the same pleasurable effect as before, and slips into addiction, the brain is fooled into thinking a certain amount of drug is needed to feel normal. At some point, overdose is possible, if not probable. Let’s say a person goes into treatment and the brain’s natural chemical balance is restored, then he/she uses again at the same level they did before, the results can be overwhelming. Overdose occurs, even though they could tolerate the same amount before.

11. What chemistry changes in the brain? When people become drug dependent it is because the reward circuits in the brain have been altered. Neurotransmitter glutamate impacts the reward system and the brain’s ability to learn. When glutamate levels are manipulated, the brain wants to make an adjustment and this can effect it’s ability to learn. Cognitive function is lessened by drugs of abuse, which cause a decline in unconscious learning. This unconscious learning, such as the need to eat when we are hungry, is why people have such strong cravings for the drug. These cravings may be triggered by seeing somebody they know, or being in a familiar place. If you see a McDonald’s do you feel hungry? That “craving” is magnified dramatically in a drug-altered brain. Drug addicted people experience diminished ability to learn, make decisions, formulate proper judgments, and have less ability to control their behavior.

12. Why do some people become addicted and others do not? You cannot point to any one thing that determines why someone becomes addicted. A person’s biology may explain why one person gets hooked right away and another can abuse drugs, yet not develop dependence. This genetic component to drug abuse and addiction is strong, because if a person’s parents abuse drugs, they have a higher chance of repeating that family behavior. Environment is important, especially as it relates to the person’s sense of well-being. Drugs are an escape from reality. A person’s psychological makeup is a contributing factor, as self esteem plays a role. Do the drugs make a person feel better about themselves, if only for a short period of time? Does a person suffer from any mental disorder, like depression? Their age is a factor. The earlier a child experiences drugs and alcohol, the more likely they are to develop addiction disease. The child’s brain is still developing and decision making functions of the brain have not reached their full capacity. Young people are especially vulnerable.

13. How can people avoid becoming addicted? It’s too easy just to say “Say no,” but the real answer to avoiding addiction is not to use. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has done research that shows the value of prevention programs. Education is the key. People, young and old, need to understand that there is risk, danger involved with taking illegal drugs, drinking, or abusing prescription medications. If someone believes a drug is harmful, they are not as likely to take it. People need to understand the risk.

14. If I do become addicted, is there hope? Yes. The advance in treatment options has given new hope, new alternatives and new motivation to thousands of addicts. The availability of treatment in this country is ample. People can call a local hospital, treatment center, or their own doctor to get information. Moreover, there are support groups in every community to assist in helping a person through the recovery process. Can I be cured of drug addiction? The short answer is no. However, like diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases, drug addiction can be managed.

15. I am only hurting myself, so why are you concerned about my drug habit? In America today, drug abuse and addiction cost taxpayers over $180 billion each year. This includes all of the healthcare, criminal justice and loss of productivity in the workplace. Another $165 plus billion is spent on tobacco-related disease. More than $185 billion is spent on alcoholism. That is half a trillion dollars! Drug abuse and drug addiction are community diseases, because everybody is impacted, including but not limited to public health programs, failure in schools, crime, violence, child abuse, domestic violence and loss of productivity.

16. Drug use and addiction is linked to at least half of the major crimes in this country, as at least half of the suspects arrested for violent crimes, such as homicide and assault, were under the influence of drugs when they were arrested. Nearly two-thirds of people in drug abuse treatment report that they were physically or sexually abused as children. Child abuse is a major contributing factor to drug addiction. Just visit a local hospital emergency department and witness the staggering numbers of people who walk up looking for drugs. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, approximately 10 to 22 percent of car crashes involved drivers who have been using drugs.

17. The Cycle of Addiction Addiction is an abnormal dependency on something physical or psychological. To go without often creates cravings, intense desires or even the shakes in extreme situations. Addiction is a driving force stronger than the gales of a hurricane. The thing that makes it worse is not so much the intensity but the continual barrage of thoughts, feelings and urges that bash at the door every day.

18. Alcohol Addiction

19. People ages 18 to 21 were most likely to admit having taken drugs with almost half (46%) claiming to have taken them. • More men than women said that they had taken drugs. 24% of men and 16% of women had taken at least one kind of drug in their lives. Amongst those ages 18-21; 51% of men and 38% of women had taken drugs. • More men than women had experienced taking more than one drug at a time. 52% of men but only 36% of women who had taken drugs had taken more than one type. • Marijuana was the most commonly used drug, experienced by 12% of all participants and 24% of those ages 18 to 25. • 19.5 million people over the age of 12 use illegal drugs in the United States (Mayo Clinic). • 19,000 deaths occurred from Drug Addiction in the US (Mayo Clinic). • 9,102 persons died of drug-induced causes in 1999 USA (NVSR Sep 2001). • Death rate extrapolations for Drug Addiction in the United States: 19,102 per year, 1,591 per month, 367 per week, 52 per day, 2 per hour, 0 per minute, 0 per second. • Emergency department visits involving Ecstasy increased 58 percent in the United States, from 2,850 visits in 1999 to 4,511 in 2000. • The number of emergency department visits involving heroin/morphine increased 15%, from 84,409 to 97,287. • There were 601,776 estimated drug-related emergency department episodes in 2000. Among these, there were 1,100,539 drug mentions. Keep in mind, more than one drug may be in a person's system at the time of admission. • Alcohol in combination with other drugs was the most frequently mentioned drug at time of emergency department admission (204,524), followed by cocaine (174,896), heroin/morphine (97,287), and marijuana (96,446). • From 1999 to 2000, emergency department mentions of prescription drugs containing oxycodone increased 68%(from 6,429 to 10,825), and mentions of drugs containing hydrocodone increased 31% (from 14,639 to 19,221). • From 1998 to 2000, mentions of oxycodone and hydrocodone increased 108%. • Employed Drug Abusers cost their employers about twice as much in medical and worker compensation claims as their drug-free coworkers. • Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug. In 2001, it was used by 76% of current illicit drug users. • In 2001, an estimated 15.9 million Americans ages 12 or older were current illicit drug users, meaning they had used an illicit drug during the month prior to the survey interview. This estimate represents 7.1% of the population ages 12 years old or older. • The percentage of the population using illicit drugs increased from 6.3% in 1999 and 2000 to 7.1% in 2001. Between 2000 and 2001, statistically significant increases were noted for the current use of marijuana (4.8 to 5.4%), cocaine (0.5 to 0.7%), pain relievers (1.2 to 1.6%), and Tranquilizers (0.4 to 0.6%). • There were 19,102 deaths from drug-induced causes in 1999 (legal and illegal drugs). • The number of persons with Drug Addiction problems increased from 14.5 million (6.5 percent of the population) in 2000 to 16.6 million (7.3%) in 2001. • In 1999 there were 179,000 treatment admissions for primary injection Drug Addiction and 34,000 admissions for secondary injection Drug Addiction. • Opiates accounted for 83% of admissions for injection Drug Addiction, followed by methamphetamine/amphetamine (11%), and cocaine (5%) • Among 1999 injected drug admissions, persons admitted for injecting opiates averaged 14 years of use before entering treatment for the first time. Those admitted for injecting methamphetamine/amphetamine averaged 12 years, and for cocaine 13 years.

20. Almost three times as many men (9.8 million) as women (3.9 million) are alcoholics, and prevalence is highest for both sexes in the 18-to-29 age group.

21. DUI Accidents • 250,000 people have died in alcohol related accidents in the past 10 years. • Presently 25,000 people are killed each year in alcohol related accidents. • 500 people are killed each week in alcohol related accidents. • 71 people are killed each day in alcohol related accidents. One American life is lost every 20 minutes in alcohol related auto crashes. • It is estimated that one out of every two Americans will be involved in an alcohol related accident in his or her lifetime.

23. Alcoholism Statistics

24. What is Meth? Coffee filters Pseudophederine Solvents* Acetone Toluene Denatured alcohol Red devil lye Red phosphorus* Lithium batteries Anhydrous ammonia* Heet or gas-line treatments with methyl alcohol Drain cleaner w/sulferic acid Heat source* Glassware(beakers and/or mason jars) Coffee grinder* Stained tubing* Hypodermic nedles Written recipes* *=items needed but not shown

25. The following are the effects of drug abuse….

26. Some benefits of meth use…. Meth Mouth

29. Meth Mites Meth affects nerve endings throughout a user's body.

30. Many people feel a sensation of small bugs, known as "Meth Mites", moving right under their skin.

31. They scratch, pick and dig the spots, trying to relieve the itching. The Meth Mites and the scratching result in sores like these .