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Causes and Effects of Drug Abuse

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Causes and Effects of Drug Abuse Substance abuse is a form of substance-related disorder. It refers to the harmful or hazardous use of substances that affects almost every community, including alcohol, tobacco and legal or illegal drugs. Drug abuse is one of the most commonly substance abuse in teenagers. It is a disease that is defined as a destructive pattern of using drugs that can cause significant problems or distress. The most commonly abused drugs among them are marijuana, cocaine, heroin and hallucinogens. Drug abuse is caused by psychological, genetic as well as environmental factors and can have significant damaging effects on health. Psychological factors are associated with the development of drug abuse. Drug abuse often occurs …show more content…

The effects of addiction on health can be devastating. Once addiction develops, the brain changes interfere with an individual’s ability to make voluntary decisions, leading to compulsive drug craving, seeking and use. 6 Drug abuse can suppress the body’s immune system and is related to risky behaviours, involving the sharing of contaminated syringe, needle or injection paraphernalia and unprotected sex. The combination greatly increases the likelihood of acquiring HIV, hepatitis and many other infectious diseases. 6 Drugs that lead to these diseases are heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. People who abuse any of these drugs have a higher probability to the exposure of HIV, viral hepatitis and other infectious agents through contact with infected blood or body fluids 7 that results from sharing contaminated syringes or engaging in unprotected sexual contact with an infected person. Apart from that, drug abuse makes the liver works harder in order to break down the poison that ingested or absorbed into the bloodstreams and filter toxins so that the body can absorb the healthy nutrients that remain. This possibly can cause significant damage to the liver as well as liver

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