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What is Addiction? and How can we treat it?

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What is Addiction? and How can we treat it?

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Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP) very little federal money was spent on treatment.

Drug users were stigmatized--addiction was seen as a weakness, and addicts were believed to be self-centered and hedonistic.

Two-thirds of Nixon's federal drug budget was set aside for treatment and prevention.

Both private and federally funded studies have found that treatment is not only rehabilitative, but it is a cost-effective way to combat drug abuse.

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), half of the 3.6 million people who need treatment in the U.S. cannot find or afford it.

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In 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was the first treatment organization to label addiction a disease.

According to Dr. Leshner, when a person first begins to use a drug such as heroin or cocaine, there is a slight chemical alteration to the brain.

After a prolonged period of regular drug use, there is a more significant chemical change in the brain and drug use is no longer voluntary.

At this point a "user" becomes an "addict."

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There is no medical solution to addiction.

Cocaine and heroin abuse can be medically treated.

There are no medications that exist for marijuana and methamphetamine.

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Naltrexone is a drug that blocks the receptors involved with the heroin "high."

Methadone is the most successful drug used to treat heroin addiction.

Buprenorphine only needs to be administered once a day.

Buprenorphine blocks the high of heroin.

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Amantadine is a drug that withdrawals symptoms of cocaine.

The side effects of amantadine: purplish swelling of ankles, restlessness, depression, and congestive heart failure.

Other side effects include lack of motivation, joylessness, drooling, and jerky movements.

If addicts take too much cocaine they can overdose.

Cocaine addicts have weaker immune systems.

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PET scans of normal brain and brain of cocaine user.
Courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratory

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Many smokers may be addicted to nicotine but are able to quit if they have a strong enough desire.

Self Management and Recovery Training (SMART) program focuses on enhancing individual motivation and encourages addicts to learn new behaviors.

Many doctors and researchers believe that regular drug abuse may induce compulsive behavior, drug addicts always retain a degree of control over their behavior.

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They believe drug abuse cannot be combated without addressing social and economic inequalities.

A number amount of experts are beginning to view drug addiction as a phenomenon that has a root in social dysfunction.

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These facilities require an inpatient stay, usually between 10-28 days.

The residents of an Oxford House try to encourage each other to stay clean and sober.