Health Information Center

Why do some people choose to use drugs when they’re so bad for you? The causes of drug addiction are as varied as the amount of drugs that are available for use – both legally and illegally. There is no one cause for drug addiction just like there is no consistent profile of a drug user.

People who have a history of drug use or abuse in their families are at risk for drug addiction problems. It has been proven that children of alcoholics will exhibit addictive tendencies. Children of alcoholics or drug users generally have low self-esteem and see their parents escaping from problems using drugs. When they see this, their minds say that this is the way to act and they themselves become users.

There is also a biological basis for causing drug addiction. Drugs alter the brain’s chemicals and the way the brain functions. Drug addiction creates dependence in the brain by changing the brain’s reward functions – the part that reinforces certain behaviors.

Continue reading ‘What Leads To Drug Addiction?’ »

Before we directly proceed on how to deal with crack cocaine withdrawal, let us first get ourselves fully acquainted with what crack cocaine is. If you are thinking that this drug is the ordinary cocaine, you are wrong. Although very similar to cocaine, this drug is processed as it is mixed with baking soda or ammonia and water which then form into rocks. This substance is usually cheaper to buy. It is often smoked in pipes by crack addicts.

But what makes this substance so addictive? A user feels a certain type of high whenever this substance is smoked. This certain high is like euphoria to the user. But because this high doesn’t last long, it makes the user crave for more to feel it again. This drives the users to chase over this drug, wasting their money and their lives as well. This also leads drug users to commit crimes such as robbery in pursuit of this particular high.

Continue reading ‘Dealing With Crack Cocaine Withdrawal’ »

Is there a natural pill that kills cancer? Not quite, however there are numerous herbs, foods and cleanses you can do that have been proven to reduce cancer growth and in many cases cause a complete remission and elimination of the cancer. Some of these natural supplements can be found in pill form as well. Today I will discuss what 3 things you can do to eliminate cancer naturally & successfully. Don’t be a victim to the lies that say there is no cure! 3 Ways to Kill Cancer

#1 – Gerson Therapy: This is more of a treatment plan than a single treatment itself. It involves a few select natural therapies, the one in particular known as a coffee enema has been shown to significantly increase the most powerful antioxidant in the body SOD. As a result cancer can rapidly be reduced through this one treatment, if that weren’t enough though you have multiple other powerful therapies to follow as well. Continue reading ‘Natural Pill That Kills Cancer – Is There a Natural Pill Or Drug to Kill Cancer? Yes & No’ »

Drug addiction is a complicated disease that overwhelms both the addict and those who love him. After abusing drugs for a period of time, the user becomes both physically and emotionally dependent upon the drug. Understanding the differences between drug abuse and drug dependence, and how the two relate to one another, is vital in helping the addict recover from this devastating disease.

* Understanding Drug Abuse

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), published by the American Psychiatric Association, provides definitions and criteria for making diagnostic judgments relating to the use of drugs and alcohol.

According to the DSM-IV, the essential features of substance abuse are a “maladaptive pattern of substance use manifested by recurrent and significant adverse consequences related to the repeated use of substances.”

Continue reading ‘Drug Addiction: Abuse And Dependence Explained’ »

While there are no standard treatments for drug abuse rehabilitation, there are specialized treatments as well as various approaches to drug rehabilitation. Programs such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, problem-solving groups, insight-oriented psychotherapy and 12-step programs are popular amongst rehab centers, especially for Outpatient drug-free programs. How successful any of these rehabilitation programs can be is largely dependent on the cooperation of the patient.

Intensity of treatment vary from rehab center to rehab center; same is the case with types of outpatient services. In the drug rehab center parlance drug education and counseling is referred to as Low-intensity program. There is also the so called intensive day treatment for outpatients that is comparable to inpatient programs in services offered. These kinds of of special treatments, of course, cost more.

Short-Term Inpatient Programs

Short-term inpatient programs are usually run for a full month focusing on detoxification, abstinence and lifestyle change counseling. Your cooperation and willingness to succeed is very crucial in this kind of rehabilitation program. The medics and professional counselors will not be able to carry out their work on effectively if you do not do as you are told or comply with all instructions. Continue reading ‘Drug Treatment, Types, Setting, and Duration’ »

With other symptoms like impaired judgment, comprehension, memory, speech, problem-solving ability, reaction time, and driving skills, marijuana addiction can be compared to alcoholism. Smoking the substance can damage your lungs and increase your risk of lung cancer.

You are in luck if you want to break this horrifying habit because marijuana is not physically addicting. For all the above-mentioned effects of the drug, it apparently has no known physical withdrawal symptoms. As a result, discontinuing the use of the substance is very possible and relatively easier than when you are hooked on nicotine. Although psychological dependence develops in a lot of long-term regular users of marijuana, they can be helped by simple therapy and perhaps some hospitalization.

Continue reading ‘Stop Smoking Marijuana – Symptoms and Very Effective Tips to Help You to Do Away With the Habit’ »

Recovery is a great thing for those of us fortunate enough to actually find it. Many people go their entire life using one form of drug or another without ever making it into recovery.

This is sad because there are so many places one can go today for help for instance; if you happen to be a heroin addict there is places where you can go to detox from heroin. It does not actually really matter what kind of drug you use if you look there is help available.

There are people who continue to use without ever making it to a heroin drug detox or any other type of addiction treatment for that matter. They are simply going to die from the disease of addiction.

Continue reading ‘Heroin Drug Detox’ »

There are two types of drug detox people look for when they search for how to detox on the web. The first one involves drug testing and trying to fool an employment or work place test so you can do drugs and keep working. This is not what this article is about. I know the results of using drugs, both legal and illegal, and there is no place in the work place for this kind of activity. Using drugs at work can cause harm or death to you or your co-workers.

This article is about drug detox in order to help a person with a dependence or addiction to either a legal or illegal substance. Let no one fool you detoxing, or ridding the body, of an addictive substance is no fun. You have probably spent months or years with the drug in your body which causes your system to only feel “normal” when you are taking the substance. Here are some tips to help with your detox.

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“Rehab is for quitters”. I saw it on a t-shirt the other day. A clever little play on words that pokes fun at addiction. I don’t think it’s funny, but then I’m here on the front lines.

What is rehab anyway? What does it mean to go to rehab? What is it like there? What happens? Who needs it? Nowadays most people have heard of, or seen the television show Celebrity Rehab. I admit I have never watched a whole episode, just a few minutes here and there, as that was all I could take. In the clip I saw, a counsellor had locked herself in her office crying, while a man having obvious trouble with his facial muscles and his ego (he wanted his mp3 player), yelled at her through the locked door. Chaos and drama abounding, what the addict loves.

On the other end of the spectrum is the government run ’spin dry’. The justice system often offers a choice of jail or rehab. Government funded treatment centers are filled with people not really interested in getting clean and sober, and drug use abounds there. British Columbia’s choice to move to the Harm Reduction Model means that if you use or drink while in government rehab, you don’t have to leave. Imagine the chaos and drama. The person who really wants to be free of his or her addiction has a lot of competition for attention.

Continue reading ‘Rehab is Not For Quitters’ »

Marijuana is a tobacco-like substance, dull in colors like green, gray or brown, made up of dried leaves, stems, seeds and flowers of the hemp plant. Known by over 200 names, it is an addictive substance commonly referred to as pot, herb, weed, grass, boom and hashish is its stronger form. In whatever form it is taken, it alters the way the mind works as it contains an active chemical called THC, or delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol. Initially used for medication and healing, it became dangerous, dreaded drug in the 1970s as its addictive powers gripped thousands and became a forbidden drug that was smuggled into countries.

Marijuana is terribly addictive and obsessive. It is smoked almost like a cigarette and gets absorbed into the body almost instantaneously. It reaches the brain and united with receptors of nerve cells, affecting that part of the brain, which controls pleasure, thought, concentration, memory and coordination. It then impedes these activities. A person gets addicted to it very easily and it is peddled so much that it is often easier to procure than alcohol. Addicts think about the drug all the time, where and how to get it, how to raise funds for it, forgetting values and principles just to be able to get marijuana, and the fear of not getting it in the future. The biggest problem of its addiction is the body’s physical craving for marijuana, and more and more quantities are required to reach that level of bliss.

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