Drug Abuse and Addiction

Drug abuse and drug addiction are two terms that people usually use interchangeably. However, there exists a point of departure between these terms. In simpler terms, drug abuse refers to the use of a drug for another purpose, rather than the medically prescribed one. This usually results when people use drugs for recreational purposes. However, use of illegal drugs also amounts to drug abuse. In a broader sense, therefore, drug abuse can be defined as the use of medication beyond the prescribed limit, use of drugs for recreation and using illegal drugs. On the other hand, drug addiction arises from drug abuse. It happens when continuous use of a drug creates a craving need in a person to continue using that drug.

During the past one week, class activities on drug abuse and addiction have helped me in three ways. First, multimodal approach to drug abuse and addiction has helped me to clearly distinguish between drug use, misuse, and drug abuse. Prior to this knowledge, I used to use some drugs for purposes they were not meant for. For instance, Actal seemed to be a substitute for sweets. I didn’t know that the use of Actal for a non-medical purpose was weakening my immune system. For the past one week, however, I have managed to check on this form of drug abuse.

Secondly, class activities provided me with the knowledge that addiction must not emanate from drug abuse. In this regard, continued use of cell phones, internet and networking sites may also lead to addiction. In fact, empirical literature suggests that 5%-10% of the total number of internet users experience addiction. In this regard, class activities on addiction have helped me in the last one week to overcome addiction from some TV programmes. Last week alone, I was able to save 4 hours; which I previously spent watching TV programmes. I spent this extra time on productive academic activities.

Finally, the importance of the teachings on compulsive spenders and compulsive borrowers cannot be overlooked. The principle behind these teachings is that many addicts are compulsive spenders and hence borrow compulsively, to support addiction. Furthermore, empirical findings provide that an average compulsive spender usually has a $ 23,000 debt. Such knowledge has helped me to significantly reduce my intake of alcohol. Last week alone, I managed to reduce my weekly budget by $50.