Drug Addiction and Drug Dependence: A Review

Millions of fatalities worldwide are caused by drug addiction each year. Still, widespread beliefs about its management as a chronic illness cast a shadow. In fact, people who use drugs are frequently called "weak," "immoral," or "depraved." As a result, drug addiction is frequently seen as a personal issue rather than a social one. According to technical definitions, drug addiction is a chronic, recurrent illness brought on by long-term drug effects on the brain. The term "drug dependence" refers to a mental and physical state in which a person exhibits behavioral and other reactions that lead to a compulsion to use a drug continuously or occasionally in order to feel its psychological effects and, occasionally, to avoid the discomfort of its absence¹. In this review, we summarize the basic research’s contribution to our knowledge of drug addiction and how it may lead to new treatments. Drug abuse is prevalent in those who suffer from psychiatric conditions like: Frank psychoses, psychopathic states, psychoneurosis, and excessively long-term use of medications for medical purposes (e.g., sedatives, analgesics, etc)².