Addictions

Addictions

Addiction is a very touchy subject. Millions upon millions of people in the world today are addicted to various things, be it: drugs, alcohol, sex, money, pain, and numerous other things, and the scary thing is, is that they don't even know it. People go their whole loves without ever realizing that they have lived their whole life for that one thing. Addiction can be harmless in some cases, but in others it can ruin friendships, wreck families and breakup marriages, and lead to low self esteem and even suicide in some extreme cases. In this paper I will try to cover some of the various angles of addiction, and give some statistics.

One of the most and possible addictive things in the world is also one of the most popular among the populous. Alcohol. Alcohol has been around since before Christ, and it has been wrecking lives and been being abused ever since. Many people drink alcohol with no problems, but there are the few that let it take over their lives and think that everything is ok. The national institute of alcohol abuse and alcoholism says that alcoholism is a disease and includes the 4 following symptoms: Craving - A strong need, or urge, to drink. Loss of control - Not being able to stop drinking once drinking has begun. Physical dependence - Withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety after stopping drinking. Tolerance - The need to drink greater amounts of alcohol to get "high". They go on to say that currently there is no cure for alcohol, except willpower. That is the same with all things that are addictive, the only way you can truly ever stop doing them, is to WANT to stop doing them.

People think of drugs as something horrible that will never happen to them, but in reality, most drug addicts used to think the very same thing before they took their first "hit". Drugs are by far one of the most addictive things in this world. Drugs have taken the lives of countless people, and wrecked the lives of countless more. Drugs such as, marijuana, cocaine, acid and heroin are the most common of these drugs that lead to addiction. In the life of a drug addict, their habit usually starts off very small, like as in marijuana, and slowly moves up to harder and worse drugs, such as heroin. People most of the time don't even look at it as a problem either, they think "oh I can stop anytime I want to", but in reality they are taken over by the drug and wont let go because it has become an escape for them. Treatment for drugs can come in all different ways, but for all of them, as I stated before, you have to want to change. Marijuana treatment could be easy for a lot of people, a person could just put down their joint and say "I'm done" and have it be over with. But with other drugs it's not as easy. Heroin and cocaine are considered on of the hardest drugs to get over due to the fact that it changes the chemical makeup in your brain. Heroin