Many people are familiar with the term drug abuse. Or they have family members or friends who use drugs, maybe they use drugs themselves. It is a big problem all over the world and leaves users as its main victim. Drugs leave addicts with psychological effects, even after they get clean. They ruin the lives of many individuals and may never fully recover. It not only affects them, but it also affects their loved ones. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Many understand and are taught the consequences from an early age that drugs are harmful, but why do some still start? For most people, the decision to take medications is voluntary. It is different from person to person, but in general people take drugs to feel good, to feel better, to do better, out of curiosity and social pressure. A friend's involvement with drugs is a very strong indicator of why and how an individual starts, however there are many other reasons why they start and there is not always an exact factor related to drug use. No one knows exactly how many times a person can use a drug without changing their brain and becoming addictive, because everyone is different. It also depends on the severity of the medications. Addictions come in many forms and is a person's desperate desire to do whatever they need, to satisfy their specific desire. When challenged without it, they tend to suffer from severe symptoms such as depression, withdrawal, and disruption. Many people do not understand why or how some individuals become addicted while others do not. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2018), the more risk factors an individual has, the more likely they are to have a grip on drug addiction (p. 2). For example, the genes an individual is born with, gender, the environment in which they grow up, and critical developmental stages in that person's life (NIH, 2018, p. 2-3). Most people don't wake up thinking about how they're going to ruin their life, rather they wake up looking forward to anything, depressed, stressed, angry, and in need of something to take away the emotional pain. In the United States there are many people suffering from addiction, “people in need of treatment, totaling 7.1 million people” (Woodward, 1996, p. 1). Drug abuse has many consequences, some that could have permanent consequences. impacts and lead to emotional pain. They jeopardize everything they have, such as their jobs, relationships with family and closest friends, to satisfy their selfish addictions first and foremost. It happens to the point where there is no more forgiveness for them. It not only has these kinds of consequences, but also legal ones. Getting caught with drugs can land an individual incarcerated for decades. The most common legal actions for drug addicts are large fines, long prison terms, probation, records that make it difficult to find work, revoked driver's licenses, many community services, and restrictions on living in certain locations (Ggalliani, 2018). All of this could very well cause financial problems if an individual falls into serious debt, loses a relationship with their significant other, has their home taken away by the bank, and their vehicle seized. If the addict is fired from work or arrested due to drug use, financial problems accumulate. All of this could lead to the consequence of homelessness, but will not prevent an individual from using. There is a great guarantee that the individual will still find their way to the drug. They usually break the law by stealing and lying to those who dothey take care of them. This all adds up to severe emotional pain, such as depression, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety. An individual could have all of these long-term effects, even after getting clean. Being clean does not take away arrest records, financial or family problems. It just gets an individual to stop using it to avoid causing more harm to himself. Yes, these emotional problems could be treated, but these types of emotional situations are known to recur multiple times, as the study shows, they return at regular intervals and each time they could be worse (Breuer, 1995). The drugs also have serious effects on the physical body. It causes serious damage to an individual's health that can last for years or even forever. Drugs have the power to damage almost every organ and system in the body. Some of the harmful damage occurs to the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, kidneys, liver, and gastrointestinal organs (Alta Mira, 2019). All of this damage to the body can cause severe physical pain, and “chronic physical pain is debilitating and can cause disability, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder” (Parry, 2008, p. 1). Physical pain in the body can definitely cause emotional pain, triggering psychological effects. Even after you get clean, you can still suffer from these damages and even cause a weakened immune system. Having a weak immune system is not at all appealing, having a high chance of getting sick all the time would disrupt an individual's daily schedule. This could cause extreme frustration, anxiety, and anger (Johnston, 1995). Drugs also often cause overdoses, in which the body begins to fail and the individual must be resuscitated. It is severely harmful, the body can't handle the dose and most don't even care to survive. It can also change an individual's physical appearance for the worse. Making skin crusty and acne breakout, changing hair texture, ruining teeth, and overall making someone look older. (JTT, 2019). These could be changes in appearance that could last forever, causing stress and feeling like they are no longer themselves. They may never recognize themselves again, feeling as if they have a completely different identity. Drugs are so difficult to overcome because they cause the release of a neurotransmitter called dopamine in large quantities, triggering an extreme feeling of pleasure or euphoria. In other words, drugs overstimulate the part of the brain that naturally produces pleasure and rewards a person for doing something positive, such as socializing or hugging a loved one (Alta Mira. 2019, p. 4). Over time, this can cause permanent changes to the brain and the person will no longer be able to experience pleasure as the brain will produce less dopamine. The effects could be long-lasting with symptoms such as memory loss, dead brain cells that will never regenerate and thinking disorders. Addiction is a very difficult disease for drug abusers to overcome due to the psychological effects it has. One scenario is where an addict watches a close friend he grew up so fond of, lose his life after an overdose. Such tragic incidents can have psychological effects on a person, forcing them to continue, without worrying if they will be next. On top of that, their brain impairment can cause them to have several unusual thoughts that could push them to take more. Studies have shown that “after 100 days of no longer using drugs, the brain has not yet fully recovered” (Alta Mira, 2019, p. 4-5). Getting clean is a very difficult task but there is hope for those who attempt it. Even to those who still face or have faced difficulties that may.