Addiction: the development of mental and physical dependence
If you have a drug - you are its owner,
and if you have experienced it, it's your boss.
( Harun Aghatsarsky)
There is a lot of talk about drug addiction in our country.About its destructive power films are shot, told at lectures and in private conversations.Literally each of us has a close or familiar person "hooked" on drugs, and even died from them.It would seem that such an abundance of information and examples of ruined fates should be sobered, made to think and forever repulse the desire to reach out for the first dose.However, every year more and more people are caught in the network of drug traffickers.
Why does this happen?Why is the pursuit of "high" in line not only teenagers but also quite wealthy, intelligent and self-sufficient men line up?How is the dependence formed and is it possible to cope with it?These few articles are another attempt at an honest and impartial conversation on such a difficult and topical topic.And if they can help, at least one person, we will calculate our mission accomplished.
When talking about drugs, it is necessary to separate the medical and legal component of this concept.
The term itself came from the Greek word - narkoticos( lulling, stupefying, stupor).By definition, the World Health Organization( WHO) refers to drugs as chemical agents that provoke insensitivity to pain or to whom.But this effect has only a small proportion of modern narcotic drugs, and the effect of stimulants and psychedelics used for buzz is directly opposite.
From a legal point of view, drugs are substances that are prohibited in the country by law.For example, alcohol, which for all its medical criteria is a real drug, is not considered such in Russia.
In a broader sense, drugs are understood as substances capable of intoxicating and stupefying a person, changing his psycho-emotional background, causing euphoria( improved, joyful and specific mood) and subsequently - addiction.
The modern classification of drugs includes three main groups:
- Substances that have a sedative effect( sedatives) - opium preparations, excluding codeine, hypnotic drugs, anesthetics, a group of tranquilizers.
- Stimulants( stimulants) - amphetamine group, cocaine preparations, substances derived from ephedrine, caffeine and the like.
- Drugs with psychodysleptic effects - cannabis( hashish, marijuana), LSD, "volatile" drugs, mescaline, psilocybin, etc. Psychedelics can cause a variety of psychotic symptoms.They are often called "hallucinogens", "fiction", etc.
In some classifications, psychedelics and hallucinogenic substances are carried into separate classes.Each of the above groups consists of a large number of drugs.
What modern drugs are considered the most dangerous?We offer you to watch the video of the BBC channel, which presents the rating of the most dangerous of all widely used drugs:
Addiction: statistics
The true number of addicts is hard to calculate.This fact is recognized by WHO.There are many reasons for this.The main one is reluctance to seek help at the initial stages of the disease.
Here are just a few dry figures of statistics:
- Today, young people are most often addicted - people aged 25-35.
- The last 2-3 decades, according to some authors, the number of drug-dependent adolescents( children aged 14-18) increased 17-18 times - from 5 people per 100 thousand people, to 85 people per 100 thousand.
- Team of the lead specialist EA.In 2001, Koshkina noted an increase in dispensary analysis for drug addiction by 9 times.
- According to the Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation, 70,000 Russians are killed by drugs each year
- The average annual increase in drug addicts in Russia is 30% in relation to the previous year.
- In different countries of the world from 40% to 90% of criminal offenses are committed either by malicious drug addicts or by people who are under the influence of drugs.
- In the Netherlands, for the detection of 50 kg of narcotic drugs, a period of 8 years of imprisonment with the possibility of early release is prescribed, and in China, for 50 mg of heroin, the state condemns the death penalty.
- According to Interpol, the annual world drug turnover is 500-600 billion dollars, in Russia - 11 billion dollars.
Drug dependence stages
Narcotic dependence is formed by successively passing certain states.In narcology they are classified as syndromes.At the beginning of the disease, there is an opportunity to independently leave the drug without special problems and efforts.But each new dose aggravates the state of affairs, leads to the development of new signs and deprives the person of control over the situation.
The main manifestations of the disease are:
- syndrome of altered reactivity;
- syndrome of mental dependence;
- syndrome of physical dependence.
These three components are a kind of marker
Syndrome of altered reactivity
The complex of changes that occur in the body at the very beginning of drug use is called reactivity syndrome .
It consists of:
- changing forms of narcotic use;
- gradual disappearance of protective reactions of the body with increasing dose;
- changes in tolerance( addiction) to the existing drug;
- changes the form of intoxication.