Addiction, as it seems to everyone, is a continued and progressive process. It only increases by the day and becomes very hard to revert back. Moreover the causes and effects can be erratic making one feel totally weird. Now the affected person, the addict, is the one who doesn't quite know what is happening around him and doesn't seem to be in control of his surroundings and the things happening to him. Now drug addiction is something which makes the addict go to miserable depths of desperation in every aspect of life. The basic reason for the potency of drugs is that they act on the neural system and produce hallucinations. The hallucinations produced are at such a higher degree that no wonder these narcotics are called hallucinogenic drugs.
Talking about drug addiction, though many consider it to be a disease, it can be interpreted as something related to human emotions just like talking and feeling. Thus it can be evaluated by talk-therapy and procedures like that, the only difference being that it infinitely harder compared to any other problem. Identifying the symptoms has been and continues to be the basic step towards the cure of any disorder and this is no different. The symptoms are basically eating disorders characterized by loss of appetite, which explains the lean and weak frame of junkies. Other symptoms are formation of dark circles resulting from insomnia which in itself is a symptom, and other side effects.
The craving for narcotics characterized by maddening abdominal pain can also be considered as a symptom, if it can be. What started as a simple experimentation with drugs out of curiosity can lead to the demons of addiction, something on the lines of the short story 'Curiosity Killed My Crow'. There are many myths regarding drug use and addiction. And the existence of these myths itself is a reflection of the naivete of the once-normal-now-addicts. Quitting can be the biggest one can imagine as the conception among people that only those who got a strong will power succeed in breaking the shackles, is one to get shattered. The reason being that prolonged usage of drugs usually results in changes in the functioning of the brain in such a way, that the thought of controlling the craving is ephemeral. Now the above reason should not be a heart-breaking one as changes in functioning of brain doesn't mean that it cannot be reverted back to normal, there are lot of treatments and therapies which precisely work on it. Better late than never, to start a rehabilitation program, as one doesn't have to wait until he/she hits the depth, when they are basically helpless. Effects of drug abuse on the other hand vary from one drug of abuse to other, but the most common trait observed is that the functions of brain like self-control, motivation, memory, emotional regulation and judgment get jeopardized. These effects of drug abuse are enough to consider it as a serious problem, but the decision to quit or get treatment should solely belong to the one who is addict rather than pushing rehabilitation onto them.
