Drug abuse is simply means illicit use of drug and/or drug substances. Drug abuse is often used in place of drug misuse. The two terms are different but related.
Drugs are beneficial and save lives when rightly used. The term drug as applied to drug abuse means dangerous drugs.
Some drugs though may have beneficial effects, have been known to have serious harmful effects when used wrongly, and Governments are really concerned about the harmful effects of such drugs that they enact laws to regulate their consumption. Such drugs are called controlled drugs or dangerous drugs. In Nigeria and in US, there is a section of the law called the Dangerous Drugs Act.
Such laws state who can handle or give those drugs and the procedure or protocol for being a custodian of those drugs. In a nutshell, these drugs are being regulated by laws, handling such drugs with negligence or without regard to laws regulating them is termed drug abuse.
For instance, 'drink-driving' which causes drowsiness and hallucination, is an offence in various countries because it can lead fatal RTA.
Most drugs are banned from use in the general public except in medical use because they are habit-forming. It is drug abuse when any individual is found with any of the banned drugs. So to people who abuse drugs, it is to detriment of their health.
Before goverment can ban a drug, it means they do so to save the lives of citizens because they have weighed the risks of such drug and found it to have adverse effects either acute or long-term adverse effects in the future.
Some drugs are banned because they have the following attributes:
- Physical dependence- a tendency to continue taking a drug because stopping it will cause a reduction in your output or causes weakness in the mind and body. So such individual depends on the drug to carry on their daily life.
- Addiction- addiction simply means inability to stop doing something even if it is harmful. Such individual is liable to suffer from stopping it. One can be addicted to anything, for instance, you may be addicted to sex, gambling or gaming. Various addictions are far from good or normal, because you may become sick if you don't do them. According to MediLexicon's Medical Dictionary , Addiction is Habitual psychological or physiologic dependence on a substance or practice that is beyond voluntary control . Addiction has to do with physiological brain changes. Stopping a drug to which you are addicted will lead to some symptoms called withdrawal symptoms.
- Tolerance-this is noticeable reduction in response to a drug upon repeated uses. Addiction to a drug result in tolerance such small dose or the usual effective dose is no longer working for the person. So there is always attempt to increase the dose to achieve the desired effects
- Habit-forming- some drugs have a tendency of causing addiction while some don't.
Below is a list of some substances that are often abused by people:
- Cocaine-cocaine is a substance or hard drug obtained from the South-American plants Erythroxylum coca L. Cocaine or the plant is usually abused because of its stimulant effect giving a sense of euphoria. It highly habit-forming. Some students take it to increase their assimilation and reading time but when the effect of the drug wears off, there is gradual loss of concentration such that they need to take perpetually to improve concentration. It therefore means there will surely be cognitive decline over time. It is actually true based on experience, that cocaine abusers will definitely suffer cognitive impairment and mental disorder as time rolls by.
- Morphine-morphine is a habit-forming drug obtained from opium poppy(Papaver somniferum). It is a strong analgesic which belong to the class called opioid or narcotic drug. It is reserved for medical purposes only. It causes great euphoria.
- Codeine-belongs to same class as morphine. It is used for pain as well as antitussive ingredients. Most people looking to buy cough expectorant with codeine always do that because of the codeine in it.
- Alcohol-alcohol in various concentration is nearly the most abused substance world-wide.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE TO READ: ALCOHOLISM AND CONSEQUENCES
Effects of Drug Abuse
Most drug addicts take drugs by smoking, sniffing, injection via skin or veins and the common effects are site-related. For instance, the adverse effects below are common in people taking injection.
- keloids or puncture marks.
- edema.
- Cellulitis.
- Abscesses.
- Tuberculosis.
- Endocarditis
- HIV or hepatitis virus contraction.