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INTRODUCTION OF "DRUGS ADDICTION"

Drug Addiction word is make by two words :
(I) Drug (II) Addiction.


What is meant by Drug
Any substance, other than food, used in the prevention,
diagnosis, all aviation or treatment of a disease is called a
drug. A drug may also be defined as a chemical which, when
taken in some way after the body function. Drug is also
known as a medicine. Generally, the term drugs applied to
any stimulating or depressing substance that can be
habituating or addictive.

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Meaning of Addiction
Addiction is the habitual, psychological and
physiological dependence on a substance or practice, which
is beyond voluntary control. A person who is habituated to
a substance or a practice, especially a harmful one, is called
an addict.

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Project Report on Drugs Dependence

Drugs are prescribed by physicians for the prevention
or treatment of diseases, or for increasing the physical and
mental performance and are withdrawn as soon as the
desired effect is achieved. Repeated use of certain drugs on a
periodic or continuous basis may make the body dependence.
Such drugs are called psychotropic drugs. They act on the
brain and alter behaviour, consciousness and capacity of
perception. Hence, they are also termed mood-altering drugs.
Some people start taking drugs without medical advice due
to one reason or the other and become drugs dependent.

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Classification of Drugs
There are a large number of drugs on which people become
dependent. These are classifies into four major groups:
sedatives and tranquillizers, opiate narcotics, stimulatants
and hallucinogens.
Type of Drug Examples Effect

1. Sedatives and Tranquillizers Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines Depress CNS activity give feeling of
calmness, relaxation, drowsiness.

2. Opiate Narcotics Opium, Morphine, Suppress brain activity
codeine, Heroin relaxed pain.

3. Stimulants Amphetamines, Caffeine, Make a person more wakeful,
Cocaine alert and active, cause excitement.

4. Hallucinogens LSQ, Mescalin, psilocybin, Alter thoughts, feeling and
Ganja, chares, Hashish. perceptions.
Combinations of Drugs and Alcohol :
Some addicts use mixtures of drugs to have immediate kid
or charge. Simultaneous use of drug and alcohol may
produce dangerous effects, including death. When
barbiturates and alcohol are taken together, each doubles
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the effect of the other. A mixture of cocaine and heroin
called speed ball, gives spontaneous kick of cocaine and
prolonged pleasure of heroin.
Combination Effect
1. Alcohol + Barbiturates Markedly increased
depressant effect.
2. Alcohol + Antihistamines Marked drowsiness
3. Alcohol + Valium Dramatically
increases sedative effect.
4. Alcohol + Marijuana or Hashish Decreased
coordination increased reaction time
Impaired judgment.
5. Alcohol + Aspirin Increased changes of
damage to gastric mucosa.
How drug addiction Begins ?
There are many factors that lead people to drug addiction.
1. Curiosity : Frequent references to drugs by public media
create curiosity for having a personal experience of the
drugs.
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2. Friends pressure : Frequent appreciation of drug
experience by friends allures others to start the use of drugs.
3. Frustration and Depression : Some people start taking
drugs to get relief from frustration and depression.
4. Desire for More Work : Students sometimes take drugs to
keep awake the whole night to prepare for examination. It
is not desirable as it may cause mental breakdown.
5. Looking for a Different World : A wrong notion that the
drugs open up a new world tempts some young octers to
start taking-drugs.
6. Relief from Pain : A prolonged use of pain-relieving
drugs with physicians advice at times leads to addiction.
7. Family History : Children may take to drugs by seeing
their elders in the family.
8. Excitement and Adventure : The young take to drugs to
satisfy their instinct for excitement and adventure.


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Social Disease - Smoking, Drinking and Use of Drugs
Smoking and drinking and use of drugs frequently or
regularly are social diseases. They adversely affect the
health of the addicts and the society. Young people take to
these habits for fun, show off or curiosity, as an adventure
or feeling of freedom, or as a gesture of defiance against the
elders who themselves indulge in these activities but check
the youngsters. Other factors that make people take to these
vices are inability to face problems of life indifference
shown by members of the family, and encouragement or
pressure by friends. Temporary escape from the life problems
and mental relaxation felt on taking the drugs in the
beginning increase persons interest in them. Soon they
become habitual and find in difficult to leave. The daily
dose to get the desired effect increases with time.
As in other countries, the menace of drug addiction is
spreading in India also. A large number of our young men
and women have taken to intoxicants. About 87.6 per cent
drug addicts are between the ages of 14 and 25 years.

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Tobacco
Sources :
It is a native of South Africa, where the Red Indian
first started smoking. Now the tobacco plant has spread the
world over. It has large, quote to lanceloate leaves and
terminal clusters of tubular, white or pink flowers.
Project Report on Drugs Addiction
Modes of Use :
Tobacco is used for smoking, chewing and snuffing. Its
main stimulating component is poisonous volatile alkaid
nicotine, which causes addiction. Nicotine synthesis occurs
in the roots of the plant but it is stored in the leaves. The
leaves contain 2 to 8% nicotine. Inhaling tobacco smoke
from cigars, cigarettes, biddies, pipes and hubble-bubble is
called smoking. Cigar is a roll of tobacco leaf. Cigarette is
cut tobacco wrapped in paper. Bidi is tobacco wrapped. In
a piece of leaf. Tobacco smoke is drawn directly from pipe
and through water is hubble-bubble. Smoking may give
some temporary relief to the strained nerves but in the long
run it proves a dangerous health hazard. The quantity of
nicotine contained in one cigar may prove fatal if injected
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intravenously into a person. When smoked only 10% of the
smoke is inhaled. Hence, no immediate ill effect is observed.
Smokers may develop a physiological craving for nicotine
and then they cannot give up smoking.
Effect of Nicotine :
Nicotine is a low concentration.
(i) Stimulates conduction of nerve impulses.
(ii) Relaxes the muscles.
(iii) Releases adrenaline, increasing heart beat rate and pressure.
(iv) Increased blood pressure due to smoking chances the risk of
heart diseases.
(v) Retards foetal growth in expecting mothers and
(vi) Causes tobacco addiction. High concentration of nicotine
paralyses nerve cells.


Other Harmful components of Tobacco Smoke :
Besides the poisonous nicotine, the tobacco smoke contains
carbon-monoxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and tar.



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Other Effects :
(i) Smoking effects economy :
A smoker not only waste money, but also runs risk of burns
and fires.
(ii) Smoking mars personality :
Teeth may become stained. Lips may get discoloured and
breath becomes foul. A person with a cigarette hanging from
the mouth look odd.
(iii) Smoking is annoying to others :
Cigarette smoke is quite annoying to non-smokers. It may
prove even more harmful to them. A smoker should avoid
smoking, when in the company of nonsmokers. A smoker
makes the person nearby persons passive smokers through
inhaling smoke released by him.

Alcohol
Sources :
Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, flammable, colourness liquid
having a penetrating odour and burning taste. It is one of
the products of the distillation of fermented grains, fruit
juices and starches with the help of yeast enzymes. It is the
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principal constituent and the in toxicating principle of
wines.
Modes of Use :
Alcohol is taken in low concentration, as the beer, toddy
and wine and in relatively high concentration as arrack,
brandy, whisky, rum, gin, vodka etc.
Addition :
Addition to alcohol is called alcoholism. Alcoholics are
found in all society section of society. Alcohol causes
intoxication and thus, acts as a poison. They drinkers begin
with small doses, but may of them soon start consuming
large doses and become addicts. By the time they realize
that drinking in adversely affecting them, it is too late to
give it up.
Why People Take to Drinking :
The drinkers offer one or more of the following reasons for
starting drinking.
(i) Social pressure (ii) desire for excitement (iii) feeling of
independence (iv) Liking of taste (v) desire to escape from
such realities of life as disappointments and failures and
(vi) desire to offset the hardships and monotony of daily
life.
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What Happens when Alcohol :
Alcohol is quickly absorbed in the stomach and upper part
of small intestine and reaches all the tissues in minutes. Its
oxidation starts at once and a large amount of heat in
produced. Since heat is not needed in the body, it is taken
up by the blood and carried to the skin for dissipation. Since
the receptors of heat are located in the skin, the rush of
blood to the skin gives a false impression of warmth in the
body. The blood supply of internal organs is greatly reduced
resulting in fall of temperature in them. Energy released by
alcohol is not used in any life process. Rather the energy
derived from food is used up in ridding the body of excess
heat.
Is Alcohol A Stimulant :
Many people take alcohol for stimulation. Actually alcohol
is a depressant, a substance which dulls the senses. It
reduces the efficiency of every tissue the body. Any feeling
of lift a person may claim to feel is a mistaken impression or
an attempt to justify the act in his own mind.

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Conclusion
Drug addiction is a problem that has been increasing
immensely among our society today. Drug addictions can
only hinder or restrain us from accomplishing goals or
dreams in life. People sometimes feel they are too bright, too
powerful, too much in control to become addictive.
Addiction can trap anyone. It can lead to harming ones
body, causing problems in family structure, and contribute
to the delinquency in society. The sooner people seek help for
drug addiction problems, the more chances they have of
gaining control of their life once again. However, abstinence
is the safest way to live a longer and healthier life. We are
greatly influenced by the people around us. Today one of the
number one reasons of teenage drug usage is peer pressure.
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References:

www.mayoclinic.com
www.google.com


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