Drugs and Alcohol Addiction Research Essay Assignment Paper

People ruin their lives in a number of ways, and addiction is one of them. Scientists still disagree as to why exactly some people are at more risk of addiction development than others, but they all are convinced that this dangerous habit can and should be dealt with. A person can be addicted to drugs, alcohol or sometimes both, which is often referred to as dual addiction. Chemical dependency often goes beyond affecting the life of an addict. It becomes a social problem that leads to high rates of crime, destroyed families, and significant costs for the country’s economy: “It includes productivity, health and substance abuse crime related costs, which exceed $600 billion dollars or more” (Swingler 2). Drugs and alcohol addiction has a complex nature and devastating consequences including crime, overdose, and spread of diseases, but this harm can be reduced by means of treatment and prevention programs.

Order now for original nursing paper on Drugs and Alcohol Addiction Research Essay Assignment Paper from Best Nursing Writers

Nature of Addiction

Drug and alcohol abuse arise because of continuous activation of the reward centers in human brain. Generally, reward centers in the brain help ensure people’s survival and are activated because of natural rewards, such as food, water, and sex (Ruiz and Strain 998). Drugs and alcohol make the addicts feel good, which activates the reward centers, and it makes the person get engaged in the pleasant behavior again. Since alcohol is a more powerful reward than food or water, it has stronger pleasurable effect and, consequently, stronger influence on the reward centers. Drugs are even more powerful than alcohol and can result in dependency even after the first dose. Drugs release dopamine, a chemical that gives signals to other nerve cells and is responsible for motivated behavior, which is followed by the release of glutaate, another transmitter that encodes and stores the details of drug use: “These complex signals carry the message to specialized circuits and brain regions that interpret and consolidate memories of the liking and cued associations of the experience (hippocampus, amygdala), that learn to repeat the behaviors involved in acquiring these rewards” (Ruiz and Strain 998). As a result of this process, drug and alcohol craving grows into a compulsion that can last for a sustained period of time and that is difficult to resist.