Drug-Free South Building a Future for Kids Across Tennessee
The goal of the campaign is to mobilize support and inspire people to act against drug use, according to unodc.org. The Foundation for a Drug-Free World has as a goal to educate children and youth across the world to effectively prevent the demand for … Read more on PR.com (press release)

The international mood on drug use and addiction is shifting from punishment …
That hypocrisy was the subject of a discussion featuring Nora Volkow, the director of America's National Institute on Drug Abuse and an expert on how drug addiction affects the brain, at the World Science Festival two weeks ago: Addiction is a disease … Read more on New Statesman

Keystone Church donates funds to Saline task force on drug abuse
Just as Keystone partners with parents, individuals and families to achieve the work of our church, we are excited to provide financial and other support to the Saline Addiction Prevention Task Force as they develop partnerships across our community to … Read more on Heritage Newspapers

Recovering Alcoholics Can Use Smartphone App To Reduce Number Of Risky …
The app, which was developed with funding from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, provides users with a variety of tools designed to help them stay sober. With A-CHESS, recovering patients have quick access to peer support group … Read more on Medical Daily

Society is out of touch with reality of addiction
"You need continued awareness of the possibility of relapse. No matter how long you've been clean, if you take the drug, you're at high, high risk of relapse," says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. … and overdoses … Read more on Times Herald-Record

Forum on Teen Drug Abuse Set for Wednesday Night at George Mason High
“Our program makes an impact on each audience because of the very personal stories of the dangers of substance abuse told by our panel of parents, young adults in recovery, and professionals working in this area,” said Jennifer Lewis-Cooper, UPC's … Read more on Patch.com

Starting the conversation about Heroin and drug abuse
He is recovering from a Heroin addiction. It is a drug so powerful it grabs hold of you and does not want to let go. "Imagine the worst flu you've had in your life times 50 and the withdrawals of the beast and I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy to … Read more on WEAU

Philip Seymour Hoffman's death 'epitomizes' tragedy of drug addiction: doctor
His death, which came after a long period of sobriety that ended last year, "epitomizes the tragedy of drug addiction in our society," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "Here you have an extraordinarily talented … Read more on CTV News

Question by eros_gary: What is addiction? and where can you get help in California?

Best answer:

Answer by mgaribay74
Summary
People who are addicted cannot control their need for alcohol or other drugs, even in the face of negative health, social or legal consequences.
The illness becomes harder to treat and the related health problems, such as organ disease, become worse.
Addiction is a chronic, but treatable, brain disorder. People who are addicted cannot control their need for alcohol or other drugs, even in the face of negative health, social or legal consequences. This lack of control is the result of alcohol- or drug-induced changes in the brain. Those changes, in turn, cause behavior changes.

The brains of addicted people “have been modified by the drug in such a way that absence of the drug makes a signal to their brain that is equivalent to the signal of when you are starving,” says National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Dr. Nora Volkow. It is “as if the individual was in a state of deprivation, where taking the drug is indispensable for survival. It’s as powerful as that.”

Addiction grows more serious over time. Substance use disorders travel along a continuum. This progression can be measured by the amount, frequency and context of a person’s substance use. As their illness deepens, addicted people need more alcohol or other drugs; they may use more often, and use in situations they never imagined when they first began to drink or take drugs. The illness becomes harder to treat and the related health problems, such as organ disease, become worse.

“This is not something that develops overnight for any individual,” says addiction expert Dr. Kathleen Brady. “Generally there’s a series of steps that individuals go through from experimentation and occasional use [to] the actual loss of control of use. And it really is that process that defines addiction.”

Symptoms of addiction include tolerance (development of resistance to the effects of alcohol or other drugs over time) and withdrawal, a painful or unpleasant physical response when the substance is withheld. Many people with this illness deny that they are addicted. They often emphasize that they enjoy drinking or taking other drugs.

People recovering from addiction can experience a lack of control and return to their substance use at some point in their recovery process. This faltering, common among people with most chronic disorders, is called relapse. To ordinary people, relapse is one of the most perplexing aspects of addiction. Millions of Americans who want to stop using addictive substances suffer tremendously, and relapses can be quite discouraging.

“It is devastating to me when I don’t get [recovery] right,” laments Brian, a Portland, Oregon, coffee shop owner who struggles with his cocaine addiction. “Man, I can’t even describe it. It’s just horrible. The guilt. The depression that comes with it because I screwed up again. It’s an indescribable feeling that’s just – man, it’s low, low, low.”

To appreciate the grips of addiction, imagine a person that “wants to stop doing something and they cannot, despite catastrophic consequences,” says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “We’re not speaking of little consequences. These are catastrophic. And yet they cannot control their behavior.”

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