The Impact of Addiction Can Be Far Reaching |
- Cardiovascular disease
- Stroke
- Cancer
- HIV/AIDS
- Hepatitis B and C
- Lung disease
- Obesity
- Mental disorders
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What are the medical consequences of drug addiction?
Individuals who suffer from addiction often have one or more accompanying medical issues, including lung and cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, and mental disorders. Imaging scans, chest x-rays, and blood tests show the damaging effects of drug abuse throughout the body. For example, tests show that tobacco smoke causes cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx, blood, lungs, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix.19 In addition, some drugs of abuse, such as inhalants, are toxic to nerve cells and may damage or destroy them either in the brain or the peripheral nervous system.
Does drug abuse cause mental disorders,
or vice versa?
Drug abuse and mental disorders often co-exist. In some cases, mental diseases may precede
addiction; in other cases, drug abuse may trigger or exacerbate mental disorders, particularly
in individuals with specific vulnerabilities.
Drug abuse and HIV/AIDS are intertwined epidemics.
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What harmful consequences
to others result from drug addiction?
Beyond the harmful consequences for the addicted individual, drug
abuse can cause serious health problems for others. Three of the
more devastating and troubling consequences of addiction are:
- Negative effects of prenatal drug exposure on infants
and children.
It is likely that some drug-exposed children will need educational
support in the classroom to help them overcome what may be
subtle deficits in developmental areas such as behavior, attention,
and cognition. Ongoing work is investigating whether the effects of
prenatal exposure on brain and behavior extend into adolescence
to cause developmental problems during that time period.
- Negative effects of second-hand smoke.
Second-hand tobacco smoke, also referred to as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a significant source of exposure to a large number of substances known to be hazardous to human health, particularly to children. According to the Surgeon General's 2006 Report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, involuntary smoking increases the risk of heart disease and lung cancer in never-smokers by 25-30 percent and 20-30 percent, respectively.20 - Increased spread of infectious diseases.
Injection of drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine accounts for more than a third of new AIDS cases.21 Injection drug use is also a major factor in the spread of hepatitis C, a serious, potentially fatal liver disease and a rapidly growing public health problem. Injection drug use is not the only way that drug abuse contributes to the spread of infectious diseases. All drugs of abuse cause some form of intoxication, which interferes with judgment and increases the likelihood of risky sexual behaviors. This, in turn, contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Tobacco use is responsible for an estimated 5 million deaths worldwide each year. |
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What are some effects
of specific abused substances?
- Nicotine is an addictive stimulant found in cigarettes and other forms of tobacco. Tobacco smoke increases a user's risk of cancer, emphysema, bronchial disorders, and cardiovascular disease. The mortality rate associated with tobacco addiction is staggering. Tobacco use killed approximately 100 million people during the 20th century and, if current smoking trends continue, the cumulative death toll for this century has been projected to reach 1 billion.24
- Alcohol consumption can damage the brain and most
body organs. Areas of the brain that are especially
vulnerable to alcohol-related damage are the cerebral
cortex (largely responsible for our higher brain functions,
including problemsolving and decisionmaking), the
hippocampus (important for memory and learning), and
the cerebellum (important for movement coordination).
- Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit
substance. This drug impairs short-term memory and
learning, the ability to focus attention, and coordination.
It also increases heart rate, can harm the lungs, and can
cause psychosis in those at risk.
- Inhalants are volatile substances found in many household
products, such as oven cleaners, gasoline, spray
paints, and other aerosols, that induce mind-altering
effects. Inhalants are extremely toxic and can damage the
heart, kidneys, lungs, and brain. Even a healthy person can
suffer heart failure and death within minutes of a single
session of prolonged sniffing of an inhalant.
- Cocaine is a short-acting stimulant, which can lead
abusers to "binge" (to take the drug many times in a
single session). Cocaine abuse can lead to severe medical
consequences related to the heart, and the respiratory,
nervous, and digestive systems.
Nearly 1 in 10 high school seniors report nonmedical use of the prescription pain reliever Vicodin.
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- Amphetamines, including methamphetamine, are powerful
stimulants that can produce feelings of euphoria and alertness.
Methamphetamine's effects are particularly long lasting and harmful
to the brain. Amphetamines can cause high body temperature and
can lead to serious heart problems and seizures.
- Ecstasy (MDMA) produces both stimulant and mind-altering
effects. It can increase body temperature, heart rate, blood
pressure, and heart wall stress. Ecstasy may also be toxic to
nerve cells.
- LSD is one of the most potent hallucinogenic, or perception-altering,
drugs. Its effects are unpredictable, and abusers may see
vivid colors and images, hear sounds, and feel sensations that seem
real but do not exist. Abusers also may have traumatic experiences
and emotions that can last for many hours. Some short-term
effects can include increased body temperature, heart rate, and
blood pressure; sweating; loss of appetite; sleeplessness; dry mouth;
and tremors.
- Heroin is a powerful opiate drug that produces euphoria and
feelings of relaxation. It slows respiration and can increase risk of
serious infectious diseases, especially when taken intravenously.
Other opioid drugs include morphine, OxyContin, Vicodin, and
Percodan, which have legitimate medical uses; however, their nonmedical
use or abuse can result in the same harmful consequences
as abusing heroin.
- Prescription medications are increasingly being abused
or used for nonmedical purposes. This practice cannot only be
addictive, but in some cases also lethal. Commonly abused classes
of prescription drugs include painkillers, sedatives, and stimulants.
Among the most disturbing aspects of this emerging trend is its
prevalence among teenagers and young adults, and the common
misperception that because these medications are prescribed by
physicians, they are safe even when used illicitly.
- Steroids, which can also be prescribed for
certain medical conditions, are abused to
increase muscle mass and to improve athletic
performance or physical appearance. Serious
consequences of abuse can include severe
acne, heart disease, liver problems, stroke,
infectious diseases, depression, and suicide.
- Drug combinations. A particularly dangerous and not uncommon
practice is the combining of two or more drugs. The practice
ranges from the co-administration of legal drugs, like alcohol and
nicotine, to the dangerous random mixing of prescription drugs, to
the deadly combination of heroin or cocaine with fentanyl (an opioid
pain medication). Whatever the context, it is critical to realize
that because of drug-drug interactions, such practices often pose
significantly higher risks than the already harmful individual drugs.
For more information on the nature and extent of common drugs of abuse and their health consequences, go to NIDA's Web site to view the popular Research Reports, InfoFacts,
and other publications.
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