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Drug Use and Addiction
URL of this page: https://medlineplus.gov/druguseandaddiction.html

Drug Use and Addiction

Also called: Drug Abuse, Substance Use
On this page

Basics

  • Summary
  • Start Here
  • Diagnosis and Tests
  • Prevention and Risk Factors
  • Treatments and Therapies

Learn More

  • Living With
  • Related Issues
  • Specifics

See, Play and Learn

  • Images
  • Health Check Tools

Research

  • Statistics and Research
  • Clinical Trials
  • Journal Articles

Resources

  • Reference Desk
  • Find an Expert

For You

  • Children
  • Teenagers
  • Women
  • Older Adults
  • Patient Handouts

Summary

What are drugs?

Drugs are chemical substances that can change how your body and mind work. They include prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines, alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs.

What is drug use?

Drug use, or misuse, includes:

  • Using illegal substances, such as
    • Anabolic steroids
    • Club drugs
    • Cocaine
    • Heroin
    • Inhalants
    • Marijuana
    • Methamphetamines
  • Misusing prescription medicines, including opioids. This means taking the medicines in a different way than the health care provider prescribed. This includes
    • Taking a medicine that was prescribed for someone else
    • Taking a larger dose than you are supposed to
    • Using the medicine in a different way than you are supposed to. For example, instead of swallowing your tablets, you might crush and then snort or inject them.
    • Using the medicine for another purpose, such as getting high
  • Misusing over-the-counter medicines, including using them for another purpose and using them in a different way than you are supposed to

Drug use is dangerous. It can harm your brain and body, sometimes permanently. It can hurt the people around you, including friends, families, kids, and unborn babies. Drug use can also lead to addiction.

What is drug addiction?

Drug addiction is a chronic brain disease. It causes a person to take drugs repeatedly, despite the harm they cause. Repeated drug use can change the brain and lead to addiction.

The brain changes from addiction can be lasting, so drug addiction is considered a "relapsing" disease. This means that people in recovery are at risk for taking drugs again, even after years of not taking them.

Does everyone who takes drugs become addicted?

Not everyone who uses drugs becomes addicted. Everyone's bodies and brains are different, so their reactions to drugs can also be different. Some people may become addicted quickly, or it may happen over time. Other people never become addicted. Whether or not someone becomes addicted depends on many factors. They include genetic, environmental, and developmental factors.

Who is at risk for drug addiction?

Various risk factors can make you more likely to become addicted to drugs, including:

  • Your biology. People can react to drugs differently. Some people like the feeling the first time they try a drug and want more. Others hate how it feels and never try it again.
  • Mental health problems. People who have untreated mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to become addicted. This can happen because drug use and mental health problems affect the same parts of the brain. Also, people with these problems may use drugs to try to feel better.
  • Trouble at home. If your home is an unhappy place or was when you were growing up, you might be more likely to have a drug problem.
  • Trouble in school, at work, or with making friends. You might use drugs to get your mind off these problems.
  • Hanging around other people who use drugs. They might encourage you to try drugs.
  • Starting drug use when you're young. When kids use drugs, it affects how their bodies and brains finish growing. This increases your chances of becoming addicted when you're an adult.

What are the signs that someone has a drug problem?

Signs that someone has a drug problem include:

  • Changing friends a lot
  • Spending a lot of time alone
  • Losing interest in favorite things
  • Not taking care of themselves - for example, not taking showers, changing clothes, or brushing their teeth
  • Being really tired and sad
  • Eating more or eating less than usual
  • Being very energetic, talking fast, or saying things that don't make sense
  • Being in a bad mood
  • Quickly changing between feeling bad and feeling good
  • Sleeping at strange hours
  • Missing important appointments
  • Having problems at work or at school
  • Having problems in personal or family relationships

What are the treatments for drug addiction?

Treatments for drug addiction include counseling, medicines, or both. Research shows that combining medicines with counseling gives most people the best chance of success.

The counseling may be individual, family, and/or group therapy. It can help you:

  • Understand why you got addicted
  • See how drugs changed your behavior
  • Learn how to deal with your problems so you won't go back to using drugs
  • Learn to avoid places, people, and situations where you might be tempted to use drugs

Medicines can help with the symptoms of withdrawal. For addiction to certain drugs, there are also medicines that can help you re-establish normal brain function and decrease your cravings.

If you have a mental disorder along with an addiction, it is known as a dual diagnosis. It is important to treat both problems. This will increase your chance of success.

If you have a severe addiction, you may need hospital-based or residential treatment. Residential treatment programs combine housing and treatment services.

Can drug use and addiction be prevented?

Drug use and addiction are preventable. Prevention programs involving families, schools, communities, and the media may prevent or reduce drug use and addiction. These programs include education and outreach to help people understand the risks of drug use.

NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse

Start Here

  • Drug Addiction (Substance Use Disorder) (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
  • Drugs A to Z From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish
  • Science of Drug Use: A Resource for the Justice Sector From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
  • Understanding Drug Use and Addiction From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

  • Drug Testing From the National Institutes of Health (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
  • Drug Testing From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
  • Mental Health Screening From the National Institutes of Health (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

  • Drug Use and Addiction: Prevention From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

  • Medications for Substance Use Disorders (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
  • Treatment of Substance Use Disorders (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  • What Is Substance Abuse Treatment? A Booklet for Families (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - PDF

Living With

  • Intervention: Help a Loved One Overcome Addiction (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

  • Drugged Driving From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish
  • HIV and Substance Use From the National Institutes of Health (National Institutes of Health, Office of AIDS Research) Also in Spanish
  • How to Identify Drug Paraphernalia (Drug Enforcement Administration) Also in Spanish
  • Infectious Diseases in Persons Who Inject Drugs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  • Psychedelic and Dissociative Drugs as Medicines From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish
  • Taking Medicines Safely after Alcohol or Drug Abuse Recovery (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish

Specifics

  • Kratom From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish
  • Psychedelic and Dissociative Drugs From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish
  • Synthetic Cathinones ("Bath Salts") From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish
  • Xylazine From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish

Images

  • Drug Images (Drug Enforcement Administration)
  • Drug Index (Drug Enforcement Administration) Also in Spanish

Health Check Tools

  • Substance Abuse Screening (Department of Veterans Affairs)

Statistics and Research

  • Drug Overdose Death Rates From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
  • Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish
  • FastStats: Drug Overdoses (National Center for Health Statistics)
  • FastStats: Illicit Drug Use (National Center for Health Statistics)
  • Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
  • Research Topics: Treatment From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish
  • Trends & Statistics From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

  • ClinicalTrials.gov: Drug Use and Addiction From the National Institutes of Health (National Institutes of Health)
  • ClinicalTrials.gov: Hallucinogens From the National Institutes of Health (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

  • Article: Cryptocurrency trading and its relationship with other addictions among healthcare professionals...
  • Article: Treatment of Substance Use Disorders With a Mobile Phone App Within...
  • Article: Does the Brazilian version of the strengthening families program (Familias Fortes)...
  • Drug Use and Addiction -- see more articles

Reference Desk

  • NIDA: News Releases From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse)

Find an Expert

  • Drug Enforcement Administration
  • FindTreatment.gov (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) Also in Spanish
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse From the National Institutes of Health Also in Spanish
  • Partnership to End Addiction
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Children

  • Drugs and Young People: MedlinePlus Health Topic From the National Institutes of Health (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Teenagers

  • What Are Bath Salts? (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
  • What Are the Signs of Having a Problem With Drugs? From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse)

Women

  • Substance Use in Women Research Report From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse)

Older Adults

  • Drug And Substance Use Disorders (AGS Health in Aging Foundation)
  • Substance Use in Older Adults From the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

  • Substance abuse (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
  • Substance use disorder (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
  • Toxicology screen (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Topic Image

Drug Use and Addiction

MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

  • Barbiturate intoxication and overdose
  • Drug use first aid
  • Substance abuse
  • Substance use disorder
  • Substance use recovery and diet
  • Toxicology screen
  • Urine drug screen

Related Health Topics

  • Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)
  • Anabolic Steroids
  • Club Drugs
  • Cocaine
  • Drugs and Young People
  • Heroin
  • Inhalants
  • Marijuana
  • Methamphetamine
  • Opioids and Opioid Use Disorder (OUD)
  • Prescription Drug Misuse
  • Smoking

National Institutes of Health

The primary NIH organization for research on Drug Use and Addiction is the National Institute on Drug Abuse

Other Languages

Find health information in languages other than English on Drug Use and Addiction

NIH MedlinePlus Magazine

  • Better Way To Say That: Stigmatizing Language Affects How We Treat Addiction
  • Substance Use Disorders: Get the Facts and Find Support

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MedlinePlus links to health information from the National Institutes of Health and other federal government agencies. MedlinePlus also links to health information from non-government Web sites. See our disclaimer about external links and our quality guidelines.

The information on this site should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care or advice. Contact a health care provider if you have questions about your health.

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