To understand the seriousness of drug addiction, one needs to know about drug abuse. It is a disorder that is characterized by a destructive pattern of using a particular drug or substance that can lead to numerous problems. This problem is faced by both teens and adults. Most of the addictions arise from narcotics that are usually prescribed by doctors to relieve pain and varied medication to cure disorders such as attention deficit disorder.

Drug addiction is characterized by problems faced by the addict such as withdrawal or excessive tolerance to the substance. This can result in the user’s deteriorating social (or if he is in school or college, academic) performance.

Dual diagnosis is a condition chiefly associated with drug addiction. This term refers to the presence of a drug abuse or the dependence on a substance combined with a serious mental ill health in an individual. People who suffer from unsound mental health are far at risk than people with sound mental health. This is mostly because, the former are far more prone to violent activities than the latter. Individuals addicted to drugs experience a need for violent experiences, resulting in unpleasant confrontations.

It is not very difficult to imagine how addiction to drugs begins. Most drug addiction cases, begin as experimentation. . The individual may try out a substance out of curiosity and then the infrequent dosages turn into a fatal addiction. The brain is particularly vulnerable to drug addiction and ironically addiction is mostly caused by the brain and regular consumption of drugs. It usually starts with will power since the individual is injecting drugs of his own free will. As the addiction grows, the will power of the individual loses influence and the brain takes over. To be precise, the limbic portion is stronger than the frontal lobe.

Most people use drugs to escape from physical and emotional aberrations. Usually people indulge in drugs to escape from problems such as depression or stress. There are different kinds of drugs that can lead to addiction. Addiction to some of them such as alcohol, caffeine, cocaine and ecstasy can lead to serious consequences. Drugs may temporarily solve the problems or put matters into perspective, it is not a long term solution.