Category: Australia

While all drugs carry the capacity to be devastating to both the user’s body and mind not all of them can be compared to each other. There are some drugs that are consumed with gusto while earning them the title of being the most damaging to your brain, liver, heart or just body overall.

Prescriptions

The easiest way to get addicted these days, statistics do not lie, over 8 million people abuse prescription drugs in the USA alone. Might seem odd that various drugs prescribed by vetted professionals could ever cause harm or damage. Unfortunately, it is very easy to acquire addictive prescribed drugs and pharmaceuticals because they do wonders to people who really do need them. There are plenty out there that legitimately need help from these medications but it takes just a few extra pills now and then to get in the loop. This leads to an inevitable switch to harder drugs which we will discuss a little bit lower below, or even overdose on the prescription meds themselves. Thousands of people every year get rushed to emergency rooms worldwide due to medication overdose.

Crack

Earning the horrifying title of being one of the most addictive drugs out there, Crack Cocaine is one of the most damaging and coveted drugs. Its unrivaled addictivity is attributed to extremely potent high that lasts only for a short period of time, thus inducing a vicious circle of ever increased dosage uses of this drug. Crack raises the blood pressure and attacks the entire cardio-vascular system. It leaves permanent damage to major blood vessels in the brain thus limiting its oxygenation. Chronic paranoia and addiction set in almost immediately. Eventual dementia, heart attack or stroke is not far off.

Heroin

This drug has a devious side to it, which earns its place among the most destructive drugs in the world. Its continuous use may not be immediately any more damaging than cocaine or its aforementioned cousin crack cocaine, but it makes it up in addictivity and once it sets in, it is very hard to fight with. Sobriety and complete recovery is a very difficult slog away. The reason it earns to stand tall among its deadliest peers is its ability to kill people who are set on quitting it. It is one of the few substances in the world that creates such strong physiological dependency that rapid cut-off from this drug after prolonged period of time usually ends in death. As a result carefully planned and controlled detox plan needs to be carried out. Going “cold turkey” will almost always kill a heroin addict.

Meth

Not even once. The most popular anti-meth slogan in a long line of failed anti-drug campaigns. It even became a meme, as something to make fun of. Sadly methamphetamines are many things but funny they are not. Considered to be one of the most more-ish drugs available, meth is incredibly addictive and ravages a human body like no other drug. Causing week-long sleepless binge uses the stress on the human body is intense. It is well known for causing shocking transformations in people that have fallen victim to its deadly grip. The addict’s body seems to be aging at an accelerated pace, destroys circulatory systems and leaves permanent damage to the brain causing irregularities in judgment and basic motor functions. Crack throws a rock in the clockwork of your brain like no other, it changes the human brain chemistry and its ability to function. Even prolonged rehabilitation sometimes prove to be an uphill battle, despite regenerated dopamine receptors the addict may still suffer from adverse effects due to meth use for the rest of his life.

The damage we do unto ourselves every day is staggering. Ecology and healthy living aside, outright poisoning ourselves is doubtlessly not the way to go. Addiction has an incredible potential to cause both emotional and physiological damage that grows harder to reverse with each day idly thinking about getting clean. No time like now, act quick and you or your loved one may yet have a new lease on life ahead of them.

Similar to the age-old question about the chicken and its egg, no one really knows the true answer. Does depression breed addiction or does addiction cause depression? To fully understand which is the case, we will have to step back and look at both from each other’s perspective.

Addiction first.

Depressed addict is an addict with cravings. It will be hard to find a sad addict that has just had its dose of their drug. Being high is actually a very short-lived experience during an addiction. Much more prevalent is the feeling of uncontrollable need to find more and use more. Being addicted to meth and not having any meth is unsurprisingly a very stressful situation. The addict is in dire need of the drug both mentally and physiologically. After a while, this constant depressive and stressful feeling of cravings that are not satisfied take its toll and the depression sets in as a normal daily routine. Contributing to this is that many addicts realize they are slowly (some faster than others) killing themselves, yet feel unable to do anything about it. This feeling of uncertain future, dread, and knowledge of certain death either by slow onset of organ failure or quick overdose, it makes the addict in question very susceptible to depression and its symptoms.

In a lot of ways, depression for an addict is not a question of “if”, but rather “when”. For many, it is a given and only a matter of time until it sets in and amplifies the hardship an addict is going through and often makes the addict use more and more often, to combat it. It is a vicious loop, though, one that will never end until at least one of these two contributing factors get addressed.

Depression first.

A depressed person is very hard to understand for he is often depressed due to factors that are of any matter only to himself. Anyone who has ever seen a child losing his mind because he dropped a lollypop will know the challenge to empathize and understand the upset person while suspending their personal beliefs in regards to losing candy to the unforgiving force of gravity.

A depressed person feels trapped and chained to their current life. A life that feels unfulfilling and a dead end. Drugs can be a very dangerous thing to a person with that kind of thinking. If there is one thing that drugs do well, it is the feeling of being someone else. Being constantly and utterly depressed and suddenly feeling like a new person with no worries in the world after a bump of cocaine or a drag of meth is a cocktail for disaster. It does not take a crystal ball to foresee the need to use again and again, just to sustain their escape from their depressive world. Drugs are addictive and make their victims feel like they need to use more already, all by themselves. Adding depression in that mix magnifies and speeds up this need exponentially and with devastating results.

Ready availability of prescription drugs that are highly addictive does not make it any easier to avoid a potentially self-destructive scenario. If a person who is prone to depression gets prescribed some painkillers for his broken leg, it will not be long until he will realise that these painkillers help with both their broken leg pain and their world views. Then the point of no return comes – the leg is healed and there is no longer any need for prescription painkillers. So the now addicted and depressed person feels like there is no more way out and resorts to illegal sources of this or a similar drug.

In the USA alone more than half of heroin addicts at some point started with prescription drugs like Lortab or Oxycodone and when their treatment course called for them to stop the use of these drugs, it was already too late. The addiction had set in and with the legitimate source of this drug cut off they devolved to heroin use.

 

It is not necessary to be depressed to get hooked on drugs and become addicted. Likewise, you do not need drugs to become depressed. They both compliment each other in a truly spectacular and devastating way, yet are not mutually exclusive to each other. That said, it is only good to look out for early signs of either case. If caught quickly enough, proper care and attention can mean the world of difference to the person who suffers from an addiction, depression or even both.

Suffering from addiction is no laughing matter. It destroys lives very rapidly and can lead to life destroying situation very quickly. When an addiction of more than one substance takes hold on the addict, however, the issues associated with addiction and dependence amplify exponentially.

Many people believe that you can be addicted only to one substance at a time. This is unfortunately not true, as polysubstance dependence is a very real thing. The name of it does give away quite an obvious fact, it is difficult to be classified as addicted to multiple substances, but it certainly is very easy to become dependant on more than one drug. This has been disputed in the recent years, as the rehabilitation and continuous research in the addiction field has led many to believe that it is indeed possible to be addicted to more than one substance. Why the different opinions? Let us first touch on what is widely accepted and raises little arguments – polysubstance dependence.

Addiction Is Not A Monogamous Mistress

To fully understand what polysubstance dependence is, one must first understand what is the difference between dependence and an addiction.

Addiction is a mental disease that rules the addict’s brain chemistry and sends its owner impulses to use a drug that has been introduced into the bloodstream for a prolonged period of time. Over this time, the brain is tricked into thinking that this chemical is a good thing thus making the brain encourage its continued use. It rewrites its dopamine distribution rules and makes it think that the drug it has slowly become addicted to is somehow paramount to survival and well-being. Sadly the polar opposite is true, it damages the addict’s brain in a terrible way that is difficult to mitigate, nevermind fully reverse.

Dependence is part of the addiction that is fully physiological and while closely tied to mental addiction can be battled with a careful detoxification plan which leads to sobriety. The addict is not out of the woods yet, as all that detox does is cleans the organism of addiction causing substance and its immediate short term effects.

Any addict will tell you that detox while quite intense, is usually the easy part of addiction recovery, contrary to how taxing and uncomfortable it is to undergo it. Detox is a world of contrasts – most drug dependence is curbed by careful and regulated medication intake to alleviate the withdrawal effects while the organism is forced to re-learn that lack of the drug is not a life-threatening thing.

Everyone has had a few too many at some point and felt terrible the day after. This is your body re-adjusting to lack of alcohol in your bloodstream. Detox, depending on many variables like time of dependence, type of drug and basic human physiology is like that hangover, just multiplied by ten and lasts anything from a few days to a month.

So where is the argument?

Addiction and dependence while two different things go hand in hand. Those who argue against addiction to more than one substance point out that it does not matter how many drugs you are addicted to once addicted it covers them all. They argue that if you are drowning in seawater, it does not matter if there is any fresh water in it, you are drowning regardless.

On the other hand, many argue that addiction to multiple substances is a very real thing and should not be confused to polysubstance dependence which as we covered earlier, is relatively easy to treat, if not very comfortable or enjoyable to the patient. They argue that since an addiction is a mental disease that is constantly triggered by bigger and smaller things to remind of the time when drug use was a priority and a bodily necessity, it means that addiction to multiple drugs mean double the amount of triggers and reminders, which make it multiple times more difficult to battle during the recovery phase.

Many drugs go hand-in-hand with others. The amount of cocaine and heroin addicts that are also raging alcoholics is staggering. Since both of these drugs were often consumed at the same time, the smell of an opened beer can be an instant trigger to do a rail of coke or give your smack dealer a call.

 

In the end, that is essentially one of the biggest issues with polysubstance dependence – while not technically recognized as an addiction it poses insurmountable obstacles and exponentially growing opportunities of relapse to the addict when he is on his path to recovery.

Never too late, yet the longer drugs have had the time to ravage the physiology and mental capacities of an unfortunate addict, the harder that climb back out of the abyss will be.

Alcohol – the most popular and widely accepted recreational drug in the 21st century. The manufacture and sales of wines, spirits and beers is a $300 billion industry. No wonder governments are in no rush to outlaw it and effectively curb their own taxed income. Should they, though?

As one of the oldest recreational drugs in human history, alcohol is not strictly bad for you. As with most things, if consumed in moderation and care, they have proven to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. We know that humanity first started consuming alcohol around 8000 B.C., which coincides with the birth of agriculture. Alcohol does occur naturally, but can not be harvested in large quantities and would take more effort and time than to grow the ingredients and ferment or distil them ourselves, in carefully regulated environments ensuring the best yield and quality.

Why does a substance that many ancient civilizations considered to be a gift from the gods and treated with respect and reverie, has been killing over four million people a year?

Instant Gratification

We live in a time when all it takes to get a drink is to visit your local grocery store. Age of instant gratification. There are even alcohol delivery options available in some cities! Too much of a good thing can be extremely detrimental, especially if said thing helps us be less shy around opposite sex, make us feel more charismatic and overall have more fun. Until your liver gives out and you die a slow and painful death.

Ancient Babylonians did not have access to alcohol the same way we do. It took skilled craftsmen a long time to gather the ingredients, prepare the tools and apparatus required to produce it and even longer time and effort to distribute it to people nearby. An average Babylonian never even tried alcohol, it was so exclusive and expensive that only the brewmaster himself and his closest friends and family got to enjoy this elixir.

You, however, just need to open a fridge and you have a cold beer in your hand. Modern logistics and industrialization have allowed alcohol to become the widespread phenomenon it is today. And with it, comparably cheap prices and ease of access.

Choices.

Human beings parse information and make decisions and choices on a daily basis. Using their prefrontal lobe of their brain they decide if it would be a good idea to approach a desirable mate or pick a fight with a person much less desirable. Introduce alcohol to that process and these decisions seem much more straight forward and easier to make. Alcohol is mostly consumed due to its inhibition and inner barrier removal properties. A few drinks in you suddenly have no issues with doing that karaoke song in front of all those strangers, it is just singing after all. Embarrassing yourself in front of a crowd is least of your worries while drunk, most often it can make the user aggressive and brave. Sadly, alcohol and bravery do not go well together, as it also impairs not only judgment of the user but also his motor skills, equilibrium, and vision.

Alcohol is infamous for being the source of poor decisions. The more alcohol is consumed the worse it gets. Sadly, alcohol is also a highly addictive substance and millions of people die of alcoholism and its corresponding symptoms every year.

Alcohol hyperstimulates the midbrain of its user. It draws most of the blood that would usually be distributed evenly. It handicaps the prefrontal lobe, the center of decisions, values, and critical thinking. Decisions are made based purely on instant gratification, once dear values are discarded and ability to rational thinking slowly dims. The longer a user is abusing alcohol, the more intense these drawbacks become and more time is required for the human brain to stabilize its own natural chemistry.

The so-called high-functioning alcoholics, while being addicted to the substance can still maintain relationships and keep their job. They are a rare kind of alcoholic. While being more able than most, they still put their own health at risk of liver scarring or cirrhosis, stroke and respiratory arrest.

Those who are not so strong succumb to a downward spiral of unfortunate and self-impaired results. Loss of care for friends and family, inability to hold meaningful relationships, inability to maintain a job and in extreme cases total disregard for one’s own hygiene and well-being.

 

Alcohol affects our choices. There is no way around it. The very first and most important choice is whether or not to use it at all. Its potential small dose benefits are not worth the potential life threatening addiction. For long lasting alcoholics a rehabilitation course of carefully monitored detoxification procedures is required to regain any semblance of their life and their ability to make significant decisions.