09-15-2024 GAR - Flipbook - Page 14
14 A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Sunday, September 15, 2024
Addiction: A Disease, Not a Bad Habit
Understanding the medicine behind addiction
By Carol Sorgen, Contributing Writer
S
imply put, drug addiction is
a nationwide crisis. Indeed,
according to the Center for
Disease Control’s National
Center for Health Statistics (www.
cdc.gov/nchs/index.htm), during
the 12-month period that ended in
April 2021, there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths
in the United States, a 28.5% increase from the same period the
year before.
If you’ve never suffered from an addiction, it may be hard to understand
the struggles involved in giving it up,
in modifying your behavior, in letting
go of something that has been a huge
part of your life, often for a very long
time.
“Drug abuse is a challenge everywhere,” says Nishant Shah, M.D.,
associate clinical professor at University of Maryland, department of
family medicine, and substance use
consultant to the Behavioral Health
Administration at the Maryland De-
partment of Health. “In Baltimore,
as in many cities across the country,
fentanyl addiction, coupled with such
urban crises as poverty and homelessness, make it hard to address all the
needs of those with substance abuse
disorders.”
Contrary to what many might believe, substance use addiction (whether to recreational or prescription
drugs), is a disease, not a lack of
willpower, principles or choice. The
National Institute on Drug Abuse
(www.nida.gov) defines addiction as
“a chronic disease characterized by
drug seeking and use that is compulsive, or difficult to control, despite
harmful consequences.” Whether the
initial decision to take drugs is voluntary, as the case may be with recreational drugs, or medically prescribed
(for pain relief, for example), repeated
drug use can alter the brain, which in
turn can interfere with self-control
and the ability to resist the urge to
take drugs.
NIDA explains that most drugs affect the brain’s reward response by
increasing the release of the chemical
dopamine. These dopamine surges
reinforce the pleasure response, but
over time, the brain adjusts to the increased levels, which leads to increasing the amount and frequency of the
drug in an effort to achieve the same
sort of high.
Long-term drug use also causes
physiological and behavioral changes which can affect such functions as
learning, judgment, decision-making,
stress, memory and behavior. These
brain changes can persist and recur,
so that even those who have been successfully treated for drug addiction
are at an increased risk of relapsing
even in years to come.
There are many reasons why someone may become addicted to drugs
including family history/genetics, a
mental health disorder, peer pressure,
lack of family support, early use, or
taking a highly addictive drug like
fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is
50-times stronger than heroin and
80-100 times stronger than morphine. Fentanyl is cheaper to produce
than other drugs and is often mixed
into heroin, cocaine, crack and pills.
It can’t be detected by sight, taste or
smell. According to NIDA, synthetic
opioids, including fentanyl, are now
the most common drugs involved in
drug overdose deaths in the U.S.
While treatment options for substance use continue to expand and
include detoxification, cognitive and
behavioral therapies, and medication-assisted therapies, those who become addicted to drugs may be hesitant to seek help because of the stigma
that often accompanies the illness.
The word “stigma,” from the Latin
and Greek, originally meant a burn,
tattoo, or other mark that was used to
shame people. Today, stigmatization is
used to stereotype or judge someone,
be it for their weight, or their smoking, drinking, or drug use.
“The stigma of drug addiction is
very real,” says Shah. “People are
hesitant to seek help because they’re
afraid they’re going to be treated as
criminals.”
Maryland’s Office on Overdose
