What is Drug Abuse?

1. What is Drug Addiction?

2. Addiction is a disease that affects your brain and behavior. When you’re addicted to drugs, you can’t resist the urge to use them, no matter how much harm the drugs may cause.

3. is when you use legal or illegal substances in ways you shouldn’t. You might take more than the regular dose of pills or use someone else’s prescription. You may abuse drugs to feel good, ease stress, or avoid reality. But usually, you’re able to change your unhealthy habits or stop using altogether.

4. Effect on Your Brain

5. Addiction is when you can’t stop. Not when it puts your health in danger. Not when it causes financial, emotional, and other problems for you or your loved ones. That urge to get and use drugs can fill up every minute of the day, even if you want to quit.

6. When you use drugs for a long time, it can cause changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits as well. They can hurt your: Judgment Decision making Memory Ability to learn

7. Your brain is wired to make you want to repeat experiences that make you feel good. So you’re motivated to do them again and again.

8. The drugs that may be addictive target your brain’s reward system. They flood your brain with a chemical called dopamine. This triggers a feeling of intense pleasure. So you keep taking the drug to chase that high.

9. Who’s Most Likely to Become Addicted?

10. Family history

11. Early drug use

12. Mental disorders

13. Troubled relationships

14. Not everyone who uses drugs becomes addicted. But it can happen to anyone and at any age. Some things may raise your chances of addiction, including: