Causes of drug addiction

About Addiction

People are often believed to become addicts if they try the drug even just one time. However, some recent studies showed that there is some genetic predisposition to drugs and that certain people are genetically predisposed to become more addictive to some substances.

Drug addiction is found in many ways and people might get addicted to various substances. Someone can get addicted to medications prescribed by his or hers doctor, other people are alcohol addicts and some use inhalants or street drugs, such as methamphetamines, cocaine or heroin.

What Causes Addiction

Experiment and curiosity are usually the reasons why people try the drugs for the first time. They want to find out for themselves how it looks to be “high” and experience euphoria. In most cases, these people don’t become addicts, but they start using drugs in certain occasions, which is known as recreational use of drugs. However, you should be aware that someone using heroin just once, for experiment, can end up as addict, because of the highly addictive nature of this substance.

People using prescription medications may also become addictive to them, and they can be seen to take more than prescribed dose and for much longer time than the drugs were initially prescribed.

Peer pressure to try something can also lead to addiction. You don’t have to be at school to experience peer pressure, and that can happen at any age. It can happen to adult people, as well, especially those eager to fit in new environment, such as new neighborhood or new workplace. Teenagers often start using alcohol or crystal meth because of the peer pressure, or become addicted to different substances or sex in some cases.

Easy access and low prices of many drugs, as well as exposure to addicts can also cause addiction in some people. When someone has a close friend or a family member addicted to certain substance, there are much higher chances that person will use the same thing, because addiction has become tolerated in his environment.

Some use drugs to avoid problems in their lives or even to mask mental disorders, like depression. Depressive patients and schizophrenics are reported to use drugs to escape problems or control some of the symptoms of the disease.

Successful athletes are also the group of people abusing substances. They use drugs like amphetamines or steroids to improve results and many of them become addicts along the way.