Drug Addiction Is a Choice Essay – Free Essay Example_blade_research

Addiction is defined as a lack of control over the taking of drugs to the point where it becomes harmful to the individual. Drug addiction in the UK is renowned for being an expenditure on the NHS’s time and resources as well as the cause of more than 4000 deaths a year. Being such a prevalent issue, drug addiction sparks large debates in the media and politics on whether addiction should be classed as a disease or a personal choice. Evaluating the extent to which an addict chooses to use drugs helps to eliminate the blame culture seen in the media today. The villainization of addicts only furthers their isolation and prevents them from being able to reach out for help. Our perceptions of addiction largely influence the way we delegate funding for treatment and rehabilitation strategies, alongside the approach to prevention schemes for drug addiction. The consideration of the nature of addiction may reduce the stigma that surrounds drug addiction in society, however, it is important to remember that drug addiction is a debilitating condition that not only ruins the sufferer’s lives but the lives of the people around them. By investigating all the factors that influence the likelihood of one developing an addiction work can be done to protect children from drug addiction in later life.

There are many different aspects to explaining and understanding addiction that influence the incidence and persistence of drug use. This is evident from the countless number of explanations of addiction (and its causes) available. This essay will consider the most prevalent ways of interpreting addiction to make a sound conclusion on whether it is indeed a choice. It will take primarily, a psychological approach to explaining addiction, this is due to drug addiction’s impacts on the brain. As the brain is the site where drugs act a psychological explanation is most relevant. Including elements of cognitive psychology in the reward circuit and biopsychology in the neuroscientific elements of drug use. Alongside looking at the explanation for addiction the analysis will include an overview of contributing factors that can increase the likelihood of developing an addiction. For example, there are various environmental, social, and situational factors that one may not initially realize can dramatically increase an individual’s chances of addictive behavior. Childhood events can also increase the probability of a child becoming addicted as they grow older, specifically trauma experienced in the early years of childhood. There will also be an analysis of the representations of drug addiction in the media, this is an important factor in determining choice as media becomes more prevalent in everyday life. Approximately 1 in 11 people between the ages of 16 to 59 used drugs at least once in 2018 in the UK, this statistic addresses the importance of understanding addiction; there is a common saying that every addict is chasing their first experience with their drug of choice. With such a high number of people using drugs it is vital that the general public gains an understanding of the lack of control that addicts have over their condition; similarly, knowledge of the risk factors associated with addiction can aid people in making informed decisions about drug usage.

Analysis

The Psychological Explanation of Addiction: The use of psychology to explain drug addiction is necessary as drugs act directly onto the brain, the psychological explanation of addiction outlines the effect of drug use on brain function and how addiction surfaces consequently. The brain is made up of neuron cells which is how it receives and translates signals. Neurons communicate with one another across a synapse, which is a gap between the presynaptic and the post-synaptic neuron, electrical signals are passed through the neurons in the brain. Neurons can also communicate using neurotransmitters like dopamine, which is released in response to drug usage. The reason addiction is such a long-lasting condition is largely down to the brain’s neuroplasticity, which is essentially the brain’s ability to rewire itself, consequentially changing how it functions. The brain’s neuroplasticity allows it to manipulate its physical structure in response to experiences, repeated behaviours, emotions, thoughts, and in the case of drug addiction, the effects of drug usage. Drugs are known to influence the limbic system of the brain, which is associated with the feeling of pleasure due to the release of chemical messengers. The majority of drugs interfere with the brain’s reward circuit:

1. Stimulus: an external or internal cue associated with the drug
2. Urge: the limbic system registers the stimulus which creates the urge to use
3. Desire: the cortex registers the urge
4. Action: the body is instructed to use the drug by the cortex
5. Reward: the limbic system will release neurotransmitters in response
6. Satisfaction: these neurotransmitters increase the levels of dopamine, creating the high

The way that the reward system is altered is seen in the brain’s reaction to the spikes of dopamine, it will begin to produce less dopamine altogether, creating what is known as tolerance to the drug. The satisfaction will never be of the same intensity it was before, resulting in less enjoyment in their lives without drugs. The user is then left with less fulfillment in the other aspects of their life and spends their time attempting to experience the same feeling of their first high, leading to repeated use and thus drug addiction. This demonstrates how dopamine plays a key role in the development of drug addiction. Another way the reward system is changed is in attention to cues, cues that before becoming addicted would have been random and unrelated will trigger the reward circuit. Giving the addict the urge to use more frequently, feeding their addiction.

Multiple brain structures are involved in or affected by drug addiction. Primarily the nucleus accumbens, which releases dopamine after usage. A brain structure impacted by addiction is the extended amygdala, which produces the symptoms of discomfort associated with withdrawal. Consistent usage over time increases its sensitivity, the addict eventually uses the drug to relieve their discomfort rather than to feel the high. The basal ganglia are impacted by drug addiction in the same way. A general area of the brain altered is the prefrontal cortex; with a role in executive functions like rational judgment or impulse control, the prefrontal cortex is weakened. This becomes one of the reasons that recovery from drug addiction is such a difficult process as the addict struggles to see sense and has little willpower against the effects of the drugs.

Environmental Risk Factors: The list of environmental factors that increase an individual’s chance of developing an addiction to drugs is extensive; the acknowledgment of environmental pressures influencing drug addiction helps to demonstrate the lack of control some addicts have over their situation. Primarily there are family-related risk factors, not to be confused with the influence of genetics on drug addiction, the family environment a child grows up in can greatly impact their chances of becoming reliant on substances. Particularly, children who experienced maltreatment or abuse are seven times more likely to use drugs or alcohol before their 12th birthday. Alongside the impact of abuse, children who grow up in homes that normalize drug use (specifically in parental figures) are more likely to develop drug addiction in the future.

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Comparatively, some drug addicts are forced into recovery when they can no longer fund the consistent usage an addict relies on, meaning that an individual’s economic status can impact their chances of becoming addicted to drugs. Those who live more lucrative lifestyles have the means to consistently purchase and use drugs whereas other people may not be able to fund such behaviors. Drug addicts with less money often end up homeless and spend the only money they have on drugs, pushing them into poverty and creating a dangerous environment for an addict.

Another environmental factor influencing addiction is an individual’s peer environment; if one is surrounded by friends who regularly abuse drugs, they are more likely to fall into the same behavioral patterns. There are community risk factors involved with a person’s chances of becoming addicted to drugs, with a similar nature to peer risk factors. If members of the community are actively using drugs it not only normalizes usage; it also increases an individual’s accessibility to drugs. This is in conjunction with the risk factors associated with geographic location, it is more commonplace for urban neighborhoods (as opposed to rural ones) to house people who distribute and use drugs due to population density and other factors.

If someone is suffering from a mental disorder of some nature it is not unusual for them to turn to drugs as a form of self-medication, they may become reliant on the drug to reduce their discomfort. The consideration of these environmental risk factors is essential in evaluating whether addiction is a choice, with all of these factors the individual does not choose to be exposed. One cannot choose the home or area they are brought up in; when the environment has such a large influence on their chance of using drugs there appears to be very little choice in the matter. The majority of environmental risk factors are unavoidable and stem from childhood; making it even more challenging for people to escape the future that has been laid out for them and eliminating the ability to choose. The more environmental risk factors that a person is victim to, the chance of drug usage that leads to addiction is greater.

The impact of drug legalization: Drug policies from nation to nation widely differ, we see the most relaxed policies in the world in the following countries: Portugal, Switzerland, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, and Uruguay (there are also some states in America which have more relaxed policies). It is difficult to properly deduce the effectiveness of these policies against addiction rates due to the sheer number of extraneous variables that impact the results. However, one can safely deduce that more relaxed policies can aid an easier recovery from addiction; government resources can be channeled into rehabilitation prevention programs providing addicts with the support they need. Punishment for possession in certain policies can be years in prison; resulting in a passive recovery from addiction. This means that upon release the individual may return to using drugs just as they were before. If criminal sentencing is reduced and efforts are made to provide the perpetrator with access to successful rehabilitation programs there is less chance of re-offending and falling back into the unhealthy lifestyle of a drug addict. The Netherlands has a famously unrestricted approach to the distribution and usage of marijuana, which is often seen as a gateway drug to more addictive substances. The creation of coffee shops that can sell marijuana resulted in only 14% of marijuana users being able to get other drugs from their source, which is a significantly lower amount than in other countries with stricter policies. The prevalence of this statistic in addiction prevention is monumental, the consequences of frequent marijuana use are minimal when compared to higher-classed drugs like cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and more. The impact of illegalization can be related to the geographical location risk factor; government law surrounding drug use is entirely dependent on an individual’s place of living. This is not a choice for many, demonstrating how drug policy may contribute to addiction.

Biological Predisposition to Addiction: When looking at an individual’s vulnerability to addiction, a biological standpoint may explain a predisposition to developing an addiction to drugs. There have been many studies done using genome sequencing to find certain sequence mutations that may lead to drug addiction; the results have been fairly inconclusive. However, some researchers who studied mice found that low levels of the protein PSD-95 resulted in higher sensitivity to cocaine, another finding by different researchers found that if the gene CHRNA2 has lower levels of expression (specifically in the cerebellum) it can be associated with a marijuana addiction. These studies demonstrate how an individual is at a predisposed higher risk of drug addiction from the day they are born.

Alongside specific proteins and genes, many single-nucleotide polymorphisms can increase susceptibility to drug addiction, these are extremely subtle nucleotide mutations that do not cause a frameshift but still impact the chance of an individual becoming addicted to drugs. Discovering these mutations is an intricate process and requires scientists to look at many participants’ genomes with the highest degree of accuracy.