Awareness of Addiction

Did you know that roughly 20-24 million people around the world are addicted to drugs? Addiction isn’t all about drugs though. People can be addicted to alcohol, gambling, and even food-bingeing. The dangers of addiction are overlooked by many, and these dangers can negatively affect relationships with family and friends, and damage the addict’s life.

To begin, you might be asking, “What exactly is addiction?” Addiction is a use of a substance, or chronic activity that causes physical or psychological dependence, and results in uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms when use is discontinued (a definition from Addiction, by Vatsal G. Thakkar). To gain a better understanding, you have to recognize the many branches of addiction. When a person grows biologically accustomed to a substance through regular use, they become physically dependent. For instance, if a person grows physically dependent on coffee, they can experience headaches and exhaustion when discontinuing the consumption. When a person craves or is preoccupied with the use of a certain substance, they become psychologically dependent. When a person becomes physically dependent, psychologically dependent, or both, they can experience withdrawal, which leads to uncomfortable effects.

Furthermore, addiction has dangerous and negative effects, especially drug addiction. When people abuse drugs, they can experience hallucinations, violence, brain damage, mental illnesses, and many other risks. Drug addiction can take over people’s lives, causing them to neglect their family and children. Children of drug addicts have a high risk for receiving physical, academic, social, and emotional problems. Although addiction negatively affects the addict and their loved ones, it also causes the government some complications. According to Addiction, smoking and alcohol consumption are the two biggest addictions, and cost the health-care system more than $100 billion a year. However, there are other addictions out there, such as food- bingeing. Food-bingeing is the continuous consumption of food even when the consumer is not hungry. This is usually because of an emotional problem, and can cause obesity and health risks. Excessive gambling can be considered an addiction too, and can cause the addict financial issues. It can consume their life, just like all addictions do. Overall, addictions negatively impact the lives of the addicts, and the ones around them.

Moreover, addiction is a terrible thing that many people know little about. If people gain more knowledge, and are taught the risks of addiction, it can help prevent the large number of addictions around the world. People need to ask themselves, “What can I do about addiction?” To answer, there are already many facilities and treatment centers that offer support to those in need of aid. Support groups bring together those that are battling addiction. However, educating youths on the dangers of addiction is another option that can possibly lower addiction risk in the future. If we raise awareness, we can help to prevent the threats of addiction.
Overall, addiction is a major risk to many people around the world. Gaining an understanding of the effects of addiction, and how it controls people, can help to raise awareness. Addiction can be triumphed over, if we work together to inform of the dangers it poses. It’s not a solution, but it’s a start.