Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The Effects of Addiction to Drugs

By David B Smith


Drug addiction is not something that just affects the person who is dependent. It has consequences beyond what one can expect. It affects the families of the drug user, his employer, schools, relationships and societies at large. It also has a direct impression on the health of the immediate family of the drug dependant.

The effects of drugs cover a wide spectrum of experiences from the initial high to the lows of when the result of the drug starts to wear out. For example, taking cocaine, the former is electrifying while the latter causes angst, fatigue, despair and a yearning for more drugs to get back to the high from the effects wearing out. Marijuana and alcohol change the central nervous system and are the results in of many car accidents. Marijuana and other psychedelic drugs cause flash backs, much after the effects have worn out, even after a few weeks of usage.

Chances of HIV contagion caused by multiple uses of intravenous needles are high as is hepatitis. Increased sexual activity among addicts increases the risk of addicts contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Many addicts engage in illegal activities such as stealing and prostitution to raise money to feed their habits. Some substances like liquor bring on aggressive actions. Over 10,000 fatalities per year due to drug abuse are recorded in the USA. Substances most cited are cocaine, heroin and morphine rather often in combination with alcohol or other drugs.

The drug dependant's addiction on the substance, added to its impact on emotions and physical reactions, often leads to conjugal disagreement and poor performance at work resultant in dismissal. Family life is often disturbed and, out of love or fear or both, family members or the husband enable the drug abuser in his obsession through destructive behaviors of codependency. They deny that there is a difficulty, or cover up for the addict and provide him with money to feed the problem.

Babies born to drug abusers tend to be much lower in weight than the average due to the mother being under fed or of a mistreated constitution. Fetuses in the wombs of addicts get influenced by the drugs taken by the father, by a process termed crossing the placental wall, and endure from abjuration symptoms right away after its birth. This is predominantly so in the case of users of crack and heroin. The fetal alcohol syndrome, due to the liquor abused during pregnancy, affects offspring of inebriated mothers. Infants obtain AIDS virus through the intravenous injections of drugs that the mothers take.

Society pays a very high penalty due to the frequency of addictions of any kind. Work- man-days are lost in the workplace, involving cost over runs. Drug takers are more inclined than non-abusers to cause accidents endangering themselves and their workmates. More than fifty percent of all road accidents in the United States are caused directly or secondarily by liquor abuse.

Turf wars and other sadistic crimes between drug dealers cause mayhem in neighborhoods. Residents are constantly under menace and there are crimes among the addicts themselves. Some areas state that young children are recruited to be lookouts and helpers as youthful offenders get lighter punishments. Teenagers as well as younger children armed with handguns have become rather common. Among the destitute, most ache from drug or liquor craving or mental disorder, and often from all three circumstances.

Since drug dependence has such a serious effect on the drug abuser, families and society as a whole, the need to take charge is vital and immediate. Otherwise, the effects of drug craving can have far-reaching consequences and the addict may never get a opportunity to convalesce from his syndrome.

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