The wide-ranging effects of drug addiction
While most people are aware that an addiction to drugs of any kind has a deleterious effect on their health, being armed with that knowledge alone does not provide an understanding of the nature of addiction.
Drugs users are subject to physical and psychological difficulties which in turn have social ill-effects. Such people usually experience fatigue, anxiety, depression and a very strong urge to use more and more substances to their low feelings. Addicts can become ostracized from society and may turn to more and more desperate ways of feeding their habit. Violence, burglary and prostitution are often associated with drug addiction.
Drug-related crime is a very real danger to addicts themselves as well as those around them and the victims of their drug-motivated crimes.
It is not only social difficulties that arise out of addiction, but personal and emotional problems too. A person who is under the frequent influence of drugs has irregular mood swings, which leads to relationship problems. Drug addiction destroys family life and creates destructive patterns of co-dependency.
In terms of large scale health issues, Heroin use alone is liable for a large proportion of cases of HIV/AIDS and drug-addicted infants born each year. Drug addiction is a very grave issue, but with the right help and support in place an addict can break free from their cycles of dependence.
