Abuse, Dependence and Addiction

Abuse, dependence and addiction are all stages of the addiction process. Abuse is the beginning, when the person starts abusing drugs. Drug abuse is intentionally using a drug the wrong way, or using an illegal drug. After someone has abused drugs for long enough, it is possible that they could develop a tolerance to that drug- they need to take more to get high. Once a tolerance is established, dependence is the next step of …

…addiction, which means that once you reach a point where your body expects the drug, you are addicted. One of the widespread temptations to use drugs in our culture, comes from several factors: social peer pressure, the natural desire to experiment and discover, and the lack of knowledge the drug and it's effects, and the lack of connectedness with your body. People want to experience new feelings and freedom from the stress of everyday situations.