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Michael Dwyer

Professor Fox

HLTH 1050

13 April 2024

International Drug Use:

Drug Use and Addiction

Drug use from alcohol to cigarettes to harder drugs is becoming more and more popular

in rich and poor countries alike. They have had a role in society for hundreds of years, and

tethered to drugs, have been stigmas. There are many stereotypes behind the use of drugs, from

why a user can’t quit to how users are created. [People] “mistakenly think that those who use

drugs lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop their drug use simply by

choosing to” (NDIA, Understanding Drug Use). Those stigmas and stereotypes are outdated,

with science and studies shifting our modern-day societal perception of every facet of the world

of a user. Now, we know drug addiction not as a voluntary lifestyle but as a chronic relapse

disorder that has plagued every community globally, whether it’s the user, close ones, or society.

To understand addiction, we must first know how they got into that situation. The common

consensus for why teens/students try and use drugs is due to a variety of reasons. Lisa Joubert

wrote an article called, “Easy Does It: Why Do Students Abuse Drugs and Become Addicts?.” In

the article she says many teens use drugs because of their life situations, to escape, and to relax.

Though, the top reasons are because of external influences like family members who use drugs,

peer pressure from classmates, or because they’re curious and want to experiment.

Adult users are typically introduced to drugs because of hardships/trauma that made the

decision to try drugs easier, to perform better in the professional world (usually Adderall and
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cocaine), and, like teens, to fit in with their community/environment. The thought with new users

is that the risk is low because ‘they can easily avoid addiction if they choose’ but that’s a false

notion. In addition to that perception, when drugs are new, the fun benefits are learned and

spread faster than adverse effects because they are not yet known. It leads to a quick uptick in

usage known as the honeymoon phase (Johnston 76).

The top two reasons I pulled from multiple studies that lead to drug addiction among

adults and teens were peer pressure in a community and mental illness (PTSD from trauma is the

main mental illness). For peer pressure, the adage, ‘you are a product of your surroundings’

could not be more true in this sense. For mental illness, people with PTSD are at a higher rate of

drug abuse. Adolescents with PTSD have a 59% chance of drug abuse.

In 2019, there were 35 million people addicted to drugs with nothing but an uptick trend

in drug abuse, 271 million people used drugs at least once, and roughly 1 out of 7 users received

treatment (“World Drug Report 2019: 35 million people worldwide suffer from drug use

disorders while only 1 in 7 people receive treatment”). The data provided shows that 3.3% of the

global population (8.1 billion) has tried a drug at least once in 2019. With an epidemic that has

stricken so many communities, it’s easy for society to instinctually ask, ‘Why don’t users quit if

they know the damage it’s causing?’ The NDIC says on paper it sounds straightforward but in all

actuality, it’s not that easy. Continuous drug use changes the chemistry in a user’s brain, making

it harder for them to quit. Many drugs cause a surge of dopamine which provides a euphoric

experience at nearly 10x the natural amount produced (“How an Addicted Brain Works >

News”). Frequent users tend to have fewer dopamine receptors because of the high amounts of

dopamine constantly introduced to the body from drug use. When a user tries to quit, the natural

production of dopamine takes a while to get back to its natural state which, in turn, causes a lack
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of dopamine. Due to the lack of dopamine, irritable mood swings, feeling awful, anxious, and

depressed are common symptoms of withdrawal. Users get caught returning to drugs to not feel

the awful symptoms and to chase the euphoric high they know they return to once the drug is

taken.

Outside of withdrawal symptoms, there are many other hurdles that make being clean a

hard goal. In Egypt, “relapse rates after treatment have been shown to be as high as 40–75% in

the 3 weeks to 6 months following treatment” depending on the drug (Nagy, Assessment of

addiction). The data from Nagy is an easy tell that staying clean and avoiding relapse is a

difficult beast to conquer. The most frequent advice given after long periods of time without drug

use (recovery programs or prison) is to set steps in place to avoid all triggers. A trigger is

anything that makes a user have an urge to go back. ‘Recovering addicts must avoid all triggers

as a person with breathing problems must avoid smoke’ (“The Science of Drug Use”).

Society’s quick perception of drug users had its kinks and flaws with a feeling of

brushing them off and labeling them as lazy outcasts. It caused many users strife and caused

doubt in seeking treatment resources. Whether it was avoiding treatment because of the stigmas,

financial costs (lack of insurance/income), or lack of resources geographically. However, we’re

slowly seeing a modern-day shift in thinking. Quitting such detrimental habits is a hard feat to

overcome. Now there’s more sympathy and empathy towards users. That shift has allowed users

to more frequently see help from other users and/or society. Newly cultivated resources to help

fight drug addiction with the mindset that drug addiction is a mental health crisis are sprouting

up everywhere.

With rising user rates among teens and adults globally, it brings some peace of mind that

society and many global organizations are now battling with users to stale/lower user rates as
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opposed to battling against users. Although there will always be an evolution of the products the

drug market produces, if we’re constantly evolving and evaluating our tactics, we’ll stay neck

and neck in the race or pull ahead for once.

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Work Cited:

“How an Addicted Brain Works > News.” Yale Medicine, 25 May 2022,

https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/how-an-addicted-brain-works. Accessed 14 April

2024.

Khoury, Lamya, et al. “Substance Use, Childhood Traumatic Experience, and Posttraumatic

Stress Disorder in an Urban Civilian Population.” Depression and Anxiety, U.S. National

Library of Medicine, Dec. 2010,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3051362/#:~:text=Additionally%2C

%20evidence%20has%20shown%20that,subsequently%20develop%20substance

%20abuse%20problems.&text=This%20seems%20to%20be%20an%20especially

%20strong%20relationship%20in%20girls.

Johnston, Lloyd D., et al. "Monitoring the future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2021:

Overview, key findings on adolescent drug use." (2022).

Joubert, Liza. “Easy Does It: Why Do Students Abuse Drugs and Become Addicts?” Servamus

Community-Based Safety & Security Magazine, vol. 115, no. 6, June 2022, pp. 26–27.

EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=asn&AN=157575264&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

NIDA. "Understanding Drug Use and Addiction DrugFacts." National Institute on Drug Abuse,

6 June. 2018, https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/understanding-drug-use-

addiction Accessed 13 Apr. 2024.

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Nagy, Nahla El Sayed et al. “Assessment of addiction management program and predictors of

relapse among inpatients of the Psychiatric Institute at Ain Shams University Hospital.”

Middle East Current Psychiatry, Ain Shams University vol. 29,1 (2022): 80.

doi:10.1186/s43045-022-00246-5

The Science of Drug Use: A Resource for the Justice Sector.” National Institutes of Health, U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services, 22 May 2023,

nida.nih.gov/research-topics/criminal-justice/science-drug-use-resource-justice-sector.

“World Drug Report 2019: 35 million people worldwide suffer from drug use disorders while
only 1 in 7 people receive treatment.” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 26
June 2019, https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2019/June/world-drug-report-
2019_-35-million-people-worldwide-suffer-from-drug-use-disorders-while-only-1-in-7-
people-receive-treatment.html. Accessed 14 April 2024.