Drugs are highly addictive. There is no sense in arguing against that. The science supports it, and there are countless cases and anecdotes of how continuous drug use led to the destruction (and, too often, end) of someone’s life, even in cases of recreational use.
However, there is a line between being addicted to drugs, and using drugs. Recreational use can turn into an addiction, but one is not the other. Knowing the difference, and understanding how some people get hooked after the first few tries while others can continue using a drug for months before eventually quitting without major consequences requires understanding just how addiction occurs, and why it’s never an easy thing to determine.
The Difference Between Recreational Use And Addiction
Some drugs are far more addictive than others. Coffee is one of the world’s most-consumed beverages, but caffeine overdose through coffee is nearly unheard of. Neither does coffee possess serious withdrawal symptoms and legitimate coffee addictions, while possible, are not very common. On the other hand, addictions to stimulants like cocaine are very much a real problem in America, and the US opioid crisis alone has claimed thousands of lives annually over the past few years.
That does not mean that everyone with an Adderall prescription, a bottle of OxyContin, or even a cocaine habit is an addict. The differences between recreational use, medical use, and addiction are vast.
- Medical use obviously implies the need for a drug to combat a disease or disorder. Doctors are careful to prescribe drugs in such a way that they achieve the necessary effect to combat certain symptoms without ever reaching a lethal dose. A mark of addiction is increasing a drug’s dosage to dangerous levels to combat rising levels of drug tolerance.
- Recreational use implies using the drug recreationally, without medical need – but without the symptoms of addiction. Someone who uses cocaine recreationally may not crave it nearly as much as someone struggling with an actual addiction. Additionally, they are still able to cut themselves off from the drug without emotional or physical pain.
- Addiction implies an inability to stop. Someone facing addiction may not know until they try to cut themselves off and then find themselves in a loop of relapses and withdrawals. Unlike other types of usage, people with an addiction have a different brain response to the drugs they’re addicted to.
Someone who has a drug for recreational use will feel its effects, and may even develop a tolerance, but they can regulate their drug use or even stop if it becomes unfeasible. With addiction, all logic or reason goes out the window in the face of the insatiable craving to use.
The thing about addictive drugs, however, is that continuous use will either lead to addiction or abstinence regardless of if it starts as recreational use or not. And that is a big danger.
Are Recreational Drugs Safe?
Some drugs are inherently dangerous and pose major health risks. Illicit drugs from unregulated, unknown sources are often cut with many unidentified substances, to lower the cost of production. As a result, these drugs can be incredibly dangerous even for recreational use. Heroin with added fentanyl can easily cause an overdose, while additives used to cut cocaine can often cause major health problems and even death. It’s not uncommon to find cocaine mixed with laundry detergent, laxatives, anesthetics, corn starch, vitamin powder or baby formula.
Even the purest of illicit drugs can never be considered “safe”. Recreational use of any druh shouldn’t be encouraged, and any drug should be treated with extreme caution. While addiction does not occur instantaneously, every road to addiction begins with one hit.
Knowing When You’re Addicted
The transition from recreational use to addiction is one that most people miss. It is the kind of thing you typically don’t really notice it until it’s too late.
Addiction can be defined in several ways. While it always refers to an inability to stop, the reason is typically different from case to case. In most cases, physical dependency plays a significant role in the addiction of a person: this is when their drug use has developed into a physical habit for their body, to the point where their cravings and withdrawal symptoms make it incredibly difficult to stop.
Emotional dependency is another factor that affects just how addicted a person is. This is when a drug becomes a crutch for someone to deal with stress and other emotional issues in their life. Some people use drugs to medicate themselves and eliminate the pain of a traumatic experience – that can develop into an unwillingness or inability to let go of drugs, to avoid going through a world of psychological pain.
When these transitions happen, the relationship between the body and the drug transforms. While tolerance is inevitable over time, physical dependence develops in some people much faster than it does in others. When it does, the body has trouble performing basic neurochemical functions without the presence of a certain drug in its system. This is where the most severe withdrawal symptoms come from.
Combatting addiction at this level can’t be done without a significant amount of medical and emotional help. Struggling against your own mind and body is extremely difficult – but it isn’t impossible. Through rehab, Houston sober living and support groups, every addiction patient can make their way back towards a normal life.