Drug Addiction: A Critical Evaluation of Theories and Prevalence

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This essay explores drug addiction.

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................1
BODY...........................................................................................................................................................3
NEURO SCEINTIFIC THEORY.....................................................................................................................7
NEURO ADAPTATION THEORY.................................................................................................................7
COGNITIVE THEORY.................................................................................................................................8
DRUG RELATED CRIME............................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................12
1

INTRODUCTION
Drug is defined as a natural or synthetic substance that works on the functioning of the
living body when taken and also affects its structure. It is usually used in medical
science for diagnosis, mitigation, treatment and prevention of diseases. Some drugs
have sedative effects that make person experience sedation and effects like dizziness.
When a person gets addicted to drugs it is not only that involves their will and choice but
more than that. Addiction is defined as a chronic habit of something that is compulsive
in nature and not controlled by the addict (World Health Organization, 2012). Drug
addict usually suffer from this disease called addiction where their will and choice is of
no matter anymore the drug use has engulfed their system so entirely that they are
unable to control it on their own. The harmful consequences are well known by these
people but yet the usage of these substances is not stopped by them. Initially every
2

addict has voluntary decision of taking drugs but as the procedure is repeated their
ability to make sound decisions and to control their urge for drugs declines and the
person becomes an addict. It is also seen that brain changes occur with use of drugs
that alters person’s self-control and thinking abilities and so he changes are so
persistent and common that this disease is often termed as relapsing condition. Drugs
not only alter human behavior it also affects their cognitive functioning that is important
aspect of life. Also there are different reasons that are identified related to emotional
and personal changes in one’s life associated with use of drugs (Bion, 2013). In this
assignment the reasons why people take drugs and the science behind it will be
discussed. Also the critical evaluation of addiction and theories of addiction, prevalence
of drug addicts etc. is discussed in later part of the essay.
BODY
According the world report of drug use around 255 million people globally are
considered as drug addicts and use drugs. Out of these abut 29.5 million people are
living with drug oriented disorder (Ambermoon, Carter, Hall, Dissanayaka and
O'sullivan, 2012). The rising prevalence of drug use and drug use disorder among
population has created a huge concern on the issue that why people shift from normal
healthy living to being a drug addict. Initially when a person taken drugs it excites the
part of brain that makes the person feel good and happy. After prolonged practices of
taking drugs this part of brain gets used to and the quantity that a person takes initially
is no more enough so the increased amount of drugs are administered to get the same
effects. This procedure when prolonged makes the person dependent on drugs and
makes them addicts (Everitt and Robbins, 2016). Some of the emotional and
psychological linkages are also identified with use of drugs that are person administer
3

drugs to own self to feel good, to stop feeling bad, to perform well in academics and
work, or teenagers are curious as they want to try what others are doing. These things
makes a person undergo use of drug that soon becomes a never ending addiction.
When a person gets addicted the first signs they notice are irritability, anxiousness,
illness and anxiety without administration of drugs frequently (World Health
Organization, 2012). People use drugs in different manner and get them illegally or
even by misusing their prescriptions or someone else’s prescription just to get high.
Teenage population nowadays is at highest risk of getting into these addictions. The
addiction is so severe that a person completely stops leading a healthy or normal life
and lives to himself with use of drugs even without eating and sleeping. Addicts usually
need money to get more and more drugs ad for this they may commit severe to mild
crimes like stealing, lying and manipulating. The urge is so severe that a person in spite
of knowing the effects and harm still cannot control it and takes drugs continuously.
Drugs are taken by different method either orally or most commonly injected through the
skin. The person administers the drugs through his skin and vessels or someone else
helps him inject it (World Health Organization, 2017). The oral drugs usually are the
prescribed medication or opioids that are used for pain relief as well the alcohol and
such substances are also taken orally. Other drugs that are taken as injectable
substances are more serious and do more harm. It is seen that diseases that are blood
born may be easily transmitted through this practice as drug addicts may use same
syringe and common syringe for injecting drugs in their groups that may lead them to
catch life threatening diseases such as HV, Hepatitis B etc. around 12 million people
worldwide use injectable drugs. It is estimated that about 1.6 million people who inject
drugs are living with HIV. 6.1 million People who use injectable drugs have Hepatitis B
and 1.3 million have both HIV and Hepatitis B (Burns, 2014). These rates shows that
how drug addiction is not only causing behavior changes and low quality life for an
individual but it is also enhancing risk of lie threatening diseases for them. Other
diseases such as tuberculosis are also identified more in drug injecting population than
others. It is seen that about 8% of the population suffering from tuberculosis are also
drug addicts using injectable drugs. In 2015 it was surveyed that opioid related
4

overdose and drug overdose death estimated to about 190,000 globally (Lindesmith,
2017).
2012 2013 2014 2015
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
number of people who use
drugs (millons)
number of people who use
drugs (percentage)
nmber of people who are
sufering from drug related
diseases (millions)
(Fig. 1.1 showing prevalence of drug use in world)
DRUG REALATED DISEASES
number of people who inject
drugs
number of people suffering
from HIV who use drugs
number of people suffering
from Hepatitis B who use drugs
number of people who suffer
from both HIV and Hepatitis B
(Fig. 1.2 shows prevalence of drug related diseases globally).
5

To understand how the drugs work it is mostly explained how the drugs target the
reward circuit in brain and cause euphoria and floods it with dopamine that is a
neurotransmitter. This process allows one to repeat the behavior that is good for their
life like eating, spending time with their loved ones but in case of drugs this system
initiates repeated behavior of taking drugs again and again (Zimić and Jukić, 2012).
Prolonged drug use will also affect other functioning of brain and affect abilities like
learning, decision making, judgment, memory, behavior and stress. Whether a person
will become addicted to drugs or not it depends on different factors and not only on one
factor. These factors include environmental, biological and developmental aspects of
human life.
Genetic influence for addiction is fund to be very high as people who have such
addiction genes are at higher risk of getting addicted. Other than that gender, ethnicity,
and other mental disorder will enhance the risk towards addiction. Environment the
person lives in has many different aspects family, friends, socioeconomic status and the
surroundings they live in. some basic factors such as parental guidance, peer pressure,
sexual abuse, early drug exposure and stress may lead to a person getting addicted to
it. According to Eric Erickson theory the developmental stages of human life are greatly
affected by the biological and environmental factors that make a person prone to
addiction. Earlier the exposure of drug happens in a human life he is more vulnerable to
get addicted (Jasinska, Stein, Kaiser, Naumer, and Yalachkov, 2014). Teenagers are
usually involved in this process as their brain developmental stage is vulnerable to get
such addictions easily adapted with modernized culture and environment.
6

NEURO SCEINTIFIC THEORY
The famous neuro scientific theory has been proved effective in explaining the addiction
of drugs. The theory advocates either of two pathways that make a person understand
the concept of addiction better. The two pathways explained in this theory are the
dopamine reward system pathway and the endogenous opioid system. Majority of drugs
work on either of the two pathways that cause development of addiction, the dopamine
reward system is already explained above the other pathway that is endogenous opioid
system is explained as the pathway where exogenous opiates such as heroine,
morphine and codeine act as opiate receptor antagonist ad leads to tolerance and
dependence (West and Brown, 2013). The larger amount of these drugs is used to
settle this tolerance and dependency and relieve pain or euphoria. It is also seen that
long term tobacco use will change the responsiveness of the opioid system. It is also
seen that this system is considered responsible for the development of reward system
mechanism for some other psychoactive substances. This system deals with satiation
and consummator aspects of reward system characterized by rest, blissfulness and
sedation.
NEURO ADAPTATION THEORY
Another theory of drug dependency is based on theory of neuro adaptation. Neuro
adaptation is those changes that occur in the brain that are in contrast to the acute
effects of drug administered. This system is also divided into two types that is either it
can be within system adaptation where the changes will occur at the site of drug
functioning or between system adaptation that is changes in different systems that are
triggered due to drug actions. The continuation of drug use makes the brain mechanism
have opposing changes for the effects of drug administered but when the drug is
discontinued the effects of opposing mechanism is disrupted and it disturbs the brain
homeostasis (Hogarth, Balleine, Corbit, and Killcross, 2013.). More precisely the theory
explains the adaptation to tolerance and the withdrawal effects when drug is
discontinued. This theory also explains how the dependency of drugs is vulnerable to
7

relapse as the stress and mental disruptions caused by withdrawal can relapse with
development of these factors again in later life. The physical changes of drug
withdrawal are seen throughout decades but the psychological changes that a person
faces are more important as anxiety, depression stress and psychosis.
COGNITIVE THEORY
Number of theories support cognitive system in explaining drug addiction. One of such
theory describes that the self-regulation is an important factor in development of
dependency. Self-regulation is defined as taking planned actions to change one’s
behavior. This concept shows how human plans according to their goals and act
appropriately by self-regulation. Addictive behavior is evident where extensive reliance
is identified for external factors; in case of drug abuse the person has excessive
reliance on drugs to maintain his physical and psychological balance. This theory
describes how a person knowing about the harmful effects of drugs on his body and life
still do not stop taking it irrespective of his will to stop the addiction. The self-regulation
theory explains it clearly how an individual assumes drug to be essential for his
wellbeing and cannot control its urgency (Paulus and Stewart, 2014).
DRUG RELATED CRIME
Drug addiction as discussed makes a person vulnerable to take wrong decisions and
snatches his ability to think and act appropriately. The crime occurring due to increased
drug dependency have increased since last few decades where young people who are
drug addicts get involves in criminal activities just to get the accessibility to their drugs.
Drug trafficking is mainly seen criminal activity that contributes to increased prevalence
of drug addiction. Opiate trafficking is usually seen from central Asia as the main
production of opiates is done in Afghanistan and central Asian countries. Heroin
trafficking is mainly based in Latin America. It is also estimated that cocaine is produced
in North America with quantity of 250 tons per year. 9000 tons of cannabis resin and
herbs were seized through different routes globally in the year 2015. It is also seen that
30 percent of European teenagers use cannabis and have its dependency for lifetime
(Bagley, 2012).
8

Drug related crime is defined as the criminal activity that is done in order to illegally
getting authority for drugs, exporting, importing or selling drugs as well as using them
illegally. It is seen that about £373 million is the cost of drug and substance abuse on
the British government every year. 60% of arrested criminals that have done some or
the other crimes are reported to have been in influence of drugs. This shows that drug
addicts are more prone to commit crimes that normal people. Two main purpose of
crime are identified with drug addicts either they commit crime to support their drug
activities or to gain money. It was reported that around 20% of arrested people reported
their crime with the purpose of getting money (Molzahn, Ríos and Shirk, 2012).
Whereas these offenders likely committed the crime to obtain money to buy drugs
whereas the offenders of sexual assault and homicide were reported to offend to
support their habit. Drug trafficking on other hand induces violent crimes and the reason
for this inter relationship between the two is the competition in the drug market
increases violence crime, disputes among individual involved in drug market, individuals
who are involved in these things are prone to be using violence as their weapon to rule
(Bean, 2014).
It is seen that people who are drug addict are more vulnerable to commit crimes to
support their activities and gain money to buy drugs. Their chief motive is to get drugs
and lead their addiction full lie and in order to do so they are ready to commit any illegal
offence. This is considered as one of the side effects of using drugs as the thinking and
decision making ability of the person is declined due to prolonged drug use and the only
thing that they care for is the administration of drugs to own self. The crimes are
increasing every year due to this cause and this leads to have a burden on
socioeconomic status of the nation. It also impacts the cultural values as well as the
overall wellbeing of the nation. Shift of youth towards drugs is major drawback of some
of the countries also associated with terrorism acts and such nations are facing great
problems eradicating the issue due to corruption and unawareness (Gaines and
Kremling, 2013).
9

CONCLUSION
Drugs are used to treat a disease and not are a substance to be taken as a habit. Drug
addicts have different attitudes as they show behavior to their habitual nature. Addiction
is due to the changes in the brain activity caused by use of drugs that causes a person
to feel light headed free and happy and later the addiction takes over these feelings as
the tolerance of the brain system increases which affects the quantity of drugs a person
uses. Different biological and environmental factors are associated with use of drugs
and getting addicted to it. These factors if resent in association to early exposure of
drugs in developmental stages of human life will result in drug dependency and
addiction. Different theories for explanation of drug addiction are formulated like neuro
scientific theory, neuro adaptation theory, personality theories, cognitive theory etc.
these theories explain the concept of addiction in different manner but all of them works
in order to target the reward system of brain where the feelings like euphoria occurs and
decision making are affected. The theories also explained how the system works and
what happens while withdrawal or relapse. It is also well understood that choice and
willpower are not only domains required to quit drugs it takes much more and symptoms
10

of withdrawal are severe that may divert the person back easily. hence, it can be
concluded that drug abuse is a social problem that requires strict laws that will not only
help people get rid of it but maintain healthy surrounding in nation by reducing trafficking
of drugs and eventually declining the drug related crime in the country.
11

REFERENCES
 Ambermoon, P., Carter, A., Hall, W., Dissanayaka, N. and O'sullivan, J., 2012.
Compulsive use of dopamine replacement therapy: a model for stimulant drug
addiction?. Addiction, 107(2), pp.241-247.
 Bagley, B., 2012. Drug trafficking and organized crime in the Americas. Woodrow
Wilson Center Update of the Americas.
 Bean, P., 2014. Drugs and crime. Routledge.
 Bion, W.R., 2013. Attention and interpretation: A scientific approach to insight in
psycho-analysis and groups. Routledge.
 Burns, L., 2014. World Drug Report 2013 By United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime New York: United Nations, 2013 ISBN: 978‐92‐1‐056168‐6, 151 pp. Grey
literature. Drug and alcohol review, 33(2), pp.216-216.
 Everitt, B.J. and Robbins, T.W., 2016. Drug addiction: updating actions to habits
to compulsions ten years on. Annual review of psychology, 67, pp.23-50.
12