Drug abuse can lead to physical dependency. With an abundance of illegal drugs available, there are thousands of Americans who turn to drug use to escape the harsh realities of their everyday lives. Others get sucked in unwittingly by prescription drugs. By the time they realize they have a problem they have often been cured of their prescribed illness and try to quit taking their pain medications. Drug users can find hope in the form of programs designed to offer both therapy as well as medication. Medications are often used to lessen the symptoms of physical withdrawal that can often occur when quitting many addictive drugs.

Heroin

Heroin is a drug that is usually injected. It is for this reason that many heroin addicts are at risk of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, through the sharing of needles. The seeds of poppy plants are a natural source for the morphine that gives heroin its pleasure giving and addictive properties. Most heroin that is sold is not pure heroin but is cut with sugar, starch, powdered milk, or quinine. Because the potency of heroin is usually unknown to the user, the chance of overdose is high. According to a 1998 study done by the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, almost 2.4 million people of those who were surveyed had used heroin during their lifetime and an estimated 130,000 of those had used heroin in the month preceding the survey.

Cocaine

Cocaine was initially developed for use as an anesthetic. Cocaine can be snorted, smoked, or injected to give the drug user a high. Most cocaine users start the abuse around the age of 20. In 2003, almost 34.9 million people over the age of 12 had experimented with cocaine. Cocaine is a stimulant that effects the nervous system. Cocaine is most addictive when it is smoked, versus snorted.

Treatment and Therapy

Drug abuse can be cured through counseling. In 2002, there were well over 240,000 individuals who were admitted into drug therapy programs because of cocaine use. The average age of those admitted for treatment was 37 for those who smoked cocaine and 34 for those who snorted or injected cocaine.

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