Category: Articles

Television ad campaigns in the late 1980s and early 1990s showed this vivid metaphor for understanding drug addiction: a person holding an egg said, “This is your brain.” The next frame showed the egg frying in a pan, with a voice-over saying, “This is your brain on drugs.” Make no mistake; drug abuse interferes with brain function, sometimes to the point of no return. Scientific research not only verifies the concept of addiction as a physical disease, but also proves that compulsive drug use affects those areas of the brain that regulate basic body functions.

The Addicted Brain Diminishes Communication Capabilities

The brain is a complex organ that communicates with the rest of the body. Neurons, neurotransmitters, receptors and transporters are all part of the vast communication system. Introducing drugs into the system causes interference, which results in the addicted brain with abnormal activity. With some drugs, this interference results in immense and immediate feelings of pleasure, but causes an overwhelming desire for repetition at the same time. This is one way the cycle of addiction begins.

The Addicted Brain Tricks Thinking Processes

Many drugs, particularly heroin and methamphetamine, create shortcuts in the brain’s ability to stimulate a pleasure response, which leads to cravings that rapidly spin out of control. No particular activity or event needs to occur in order for drugs to create a sudden rush of euphoria. Production of dopamine, which affects neurotransmitters and receptors, goes awry in the addicted brain.  Soon enough, people who had no intention of abusing drugs go to any lengths to feed their habit. As increased drug use continues to affect the nervous system, symptoms of addiction occur. The longer individuals abuse drugs, the more likely they will be to cause permanent damage to their brains. Understanding the neuroscience of the addicted brain is key to understanding drug addiction. Marc Lewis, Ph.D., connects his personal experiences as a drug addict, his rocky path to recovery and his eventual study of neuroscience in his book Memoirs of an Addicted Brain.

If you, or someone you care about, needs help for a drug or alcohol addiction,
contact us at 1-888-457-3518 US, 0-808-120-3633 UK or 1-800-990-523 AU.
We’re here to help you take that first important step.

A local resident of Zanzibar has begun paving the road to recovery for his island’s growing heroin population. Sulueiman Mauly, a former heroin addict himself, started building sober houses about six years ago as a cheap alternative to rehab and a safe haven for drug users who want to get off the streets. It’s sad to know that drugs have permeated a place like Zanzibar, where tourists flock to experience the breathtaking beauty of Indian Ocean islands. But indeed, an estimated 7 percent of the population is addicted to heroin, which puts Zanzibar’s usage among the highest in the world, compared to rates in other countries recorded in the UN’s World Drug Report 2014. While most tourists wouldn’t know the extent of the drug problem in Zanzibar by simply visiting, a rise in the use of heroin could eventually have an impact on the island’s current status as an exotic paradise. Mauly’s sober houses help clean up the streets, where thousands of Zanzibar addicts have been making their home.

Mauly spent four years using heroin on the streets. He was desperate to find a way out of his addiction when he discovered a 12-step program in Mombasa, Kenya. The program worked. He stopped using, made amends, went through a period of self-examination, and he surrendered his troubles, all significant precepts of 12-step programs. Mauly was able to step over the Christian flavor of the 12 steps and maintain his Muslim beliefs, in part by considering his recovery group his higher power. He is now acknowledged as the person responsible for bringing 12-step recovery to Tanzania, the country where Zanzibar is located.

The sober house model established by Mauly is a new idea in East Africa. In fact, the idea that addiction is a disease rather than a criminal issue is new there, as well. The houses are run by drug addicts, who are in charge of the kitchen, group meetings, house chores and everything in between.  Along the road to recovery are activities like yoga and acupuncture, therapy sessions, 12-step meetings and art therapy. The goal of the sober house program is to restore the lives of addicts, and it’s hoped that in the process, Zanzibar will maintain its reputation as an island paradise.

If you, or someone you care about, needs help for a drug or alcohol addiction,
contact us at 1-888-457-3518 US, 0-808-120-3633 UK or 1-800-990-523 AU.
We’re here to help you take that first important step.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Pakistan has more than four million drug addicts and the number of addicts is rising by the day. In Pakistan, drugs are cheap and readily available, mostly because of the booming drug trade and a steady stream of heroin entering the country from neighboring Afghanistan. As a result, Pakistan is the most addicted, per capita, country in the world.

According to Al Jazeera, many Pakistani youth are addicted to hard drugs by the time they are barely in their teens. Youth frequently start with hash and inhalants when they are as young as nine years old, and sometimes even younger. Quitting is extremely difficult, even for people with a strong desire to stop using, because the drugs are so pervasive.

In Pakistan, drug addiction is a complex problem with no easy answers. However, Mujataba Shuja ur Rehman, Lahore’s Provincial Minister for Excise and Taxation, recently announced a comprehensive anti-drug addiction program that includes development of a large number of rehab centers for addicts, especially for women and children. The goal of the rehab centers is to provide services that empower people to change their lives. Rehab includes identification and registration of addicts, education, treatment and an aftercare program that helps addicts remain drug-free.

The ambitious anti-addiction program also includes public information, increased awareness and prevention education, as well as implementation and enforcement of a set of strict anti-narcotics laws.

The human cost of Pakistan’s growing drug addiction problem is extreme and includes social issues such as breakdown of families, poverty and crime, as well as a heightened risk of disease and infection due to shared needles, including HIV and AIDS. Many people are unaware of the risks. Rehabilitation clinics offer hope to the country’s many addicts.

If you, or someone you care about, needs help for a drug or alcohol addiction,
contact us at 1-888-457-3518 US, 0-808-120-3633 UK or 1-800-990-523 AU.
We’re here to help you take that first important step.

Ice as it is known on the streets, is a grimy drug with a lurid background. One of the most addictive substances known to man, ice crystal meth is one that is easy to make, cheap to produce and quick to become addicted to. This epidemic is spreading quickly across the Australian continent. Health officials are scrambling to come up with a solution as the rate of usage doubled from 22 percent to 50 percent in just three years. This is a fight that has to be backed and combated by society as a whole. The police, doctors and health organizations can only be effective if society decides to take a stand against the use of the drug. Starting at home with parents and talking to children about drug use could do a lot in the effort to bringing use to a screeching halt. When taught young about the dangerous effects of drug use, a nation that is currently being brought to its knees with use and abuse could quickly become a nation that takes a stand against crystal meth use.

The drug often brings users to extreme emotional highs, euphoria, a sense of being stronger than what they really are, and paranoia. Police officers have to often deal with the abusers with violent or even fatal force. Prisons across Australia are seeing a rapid increase of prisoners with incredibly long sentences for their violent and outrageous crimes. How much can the prison system truly handle? At the rate of usage pretty soon the Australian government will have to turn to building more lock up facilities to house meth addicts if there isn’t a curb on the addiction immediately. With ice becoming a drug of choice for many, its need and demand is growing larger than that of cocaine and heroine, something the country’s illicit drug circles have not seen in the past. Treatment and education are the two main ways to help put an end to the extreme usage of this dangerous drug.

If you, or someone you care about, needs help for a drug or alcohol addiction,
contact us at 1-888-457-3518 US, 0-808-120-3633 UK or 1-800-990-523 AU.
We’re here to help you take that first important step.