Introduction
According to the data provided by the US Department of Health and Human Services, in 2019, almost 30 percent of Americans older than 12 years illicitly used drugs (14). More than 4 million adolescents from 12 to 17 years old take drugs in 2019 (US Department of Health and Human Services 15). Overall, the number of people addicted to drugs increases each year (US Department of Health and Human Services 15). The fact that drugs are dangerous for physical health and the nervous system is not new. However, it is essential to spread information on the devastating effects of drug abuse among young people because it will help to protect them from a fatal mistakes. The current paper discusses such effects of drug abuse as the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases, encephalopathy, and mental disorders, including depression and paranoia.
Main body
To begin with, it is necessary to explain how drugs affect the brain. The critical function of neurons in the brain is to transport and absorb neurotransmitters. Drugs affect this process of electrochemical communication between the neurons by slowing down or increasing the speed of neurotransmitters’ transportation. Simultaneously, drugs damage brain cells, the deprived brain tissue of oxygen and necessary nutrients. These numerous damages severely affect the quality of the brains work and the health of the nervous system. That is evident from memory losses, difficulties in concentration, and the decline of cognitive abilities.
It is rather apparent that drugs bring irreversible damage to the nervous system. However, addiction to drugs destroys not only brains but also inner organs. More precisely, drugs could ultimately become a reason for numerous cardiovascular diseases, including arrhythmia, inflammatory cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction, heart failure, cardiotoxicity, and sudden cardiac death (Phillips et al. 178). The US crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980-s – to 1990-s resulted in the modern-times increase in the number of aging patients with cardiac and vascular diseases (Bach et al. 154). The intake of cocaine, which is one of the most widespread illicit drugs, initiates the formation of blood clots (Phillips et al. 178). The danger of thrombus is that they might become big enough to block the blood flow in the veins and arteries. Blood flow disorder, in its turn, is the cause of myocardial infarction. Cocaine also “blocks K+ channels, increases L-type Ca2+ channel current and inhibits Na+ influx during depolarization” (Phillips et al. 178). Therefore, a person addicted to this drug is also at high risk of being diagnosed with arrhythmia.
The fact that addiction to drugs causes encephalopathy is rather self-evident. The concept of encephalopathy describes damage to the brain and, as it has been previously mentioned, drugs significantly alter the normal functioning of a brain. Consequently, the long-lasting drug abuse will result in memory losses, difficulties in thinking and concentrating, and sleepiness. Crack and cocaine addicts frequently are diagnosed with Wernicke’s encephalopathy which appears as a result of thiamine deficiency (Sukop et al. 68). Crack and cocaine are not the only illegal drugs that cause encephalopathy. Amphetamine, methamphetamine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), heroin, morphine, and opium, to name but a few, also pose danger to the health of the nervous system and the brain (Virmani & Binienda 54). Any psychoactive drug without exception brings devastating effects to the health.
Fortunately, encephalopathy caused by the intake of drugs is reversible. First of all, it is necessary to stop the abuse (Virmani & Binienda 63). Secondly, the correction of nutritional deficiency is required (Virmani & Binienda 63). Encephalopathy is generally characterized by a lack of B vitamins. Coenzyme Q10 could be used to reduce “the neurotoxicity of cocaine” and methamphetamine (Virmani & Binienda 64). Nevertheless, it is vitally important not to forget that any treatment is capable of reversing the brain to the same state as it was before drug addiction appeared.
Mental health is an essential component of a life of good quality. Drug abuse triggers such psychiatric problems as depression, hallucination, and schizophrenia (Ham et al. 11). All these issues with mental health are derived from damages in the brain that were caused by drug addiction. For example, the intake of cocaine provokes the reduction of dopamine production and decreases the number of dopamine receptors in the brain (Volkow 1182). Dopamine is widely known as a hormone responsible for the feeling of happiness and, consequently, the brains inability to produce and sense dopamine leads to the condition called depression.
Mental disorders not only degrade an addicted persons quality of life but also threaten the life of the surrounding people. For example, depression is commonly accompanied by suicidal thoughts, and, therefore, there is a risk that an addicted person who does not receive the necessary help will kill himself. Patients with paranoid schizophrenia usually fail to distinguish between imagination and reality and have hallucinations and delusions. In such circumstances, a person might accidentally harm other people because he does not give himself an account of his actions.
While discussing the effects of drug addiction, it is essential to notice that it has a devastating impact on physical and mental health and the quality of life in general. People who suffer from drug abuse are at risk of losing jobs, houses, and families. If they do not receive help, they could die on the street because of overdosage, hunger, or disease caused by addiction. Besides, if a person shoots drugs, then he or she is at risk of getting HIV. In modern times, drug addiction has become romanticized. There are numerous films and TV series in which addicts are depicted as intelligent, wealthy, and successful. The problem is that teenagers could easily believe that if no one tells them what the truth looks like.
Conclusion
To conclude, drug abuse has numerous effects, the most significant of which are the emergence of cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders, and destruction of the brain. Even though modern medicine is capable of helping to reduce the negative effect of drug abuse, it could never return health to the original level. The severity of the health effects depends on how long and how strong an individual is taking drugs. Still, nothing could restore brain cells that die because of the lack of oxygen provoked by drugs. What is more, recovery from drug addiction is a long and painstaking process. Nonetheless, some people fail to cut drugs out of life and, after a while, could become addicted again. The current paper primarily targets adolescents because they are prone to try something new and prohibited. The main aim of the provided information is to determine whether the intake of drugs is actually worth the devastating consequences it brings.
Works Cited
2019 NSDUH Annual National Report. US Department of Health and Human Services, 2020, Web.
Phillips, Katharine, et al. “Cocaine cardiotoxicity.” American journal of cardiovascular drugs, vol. 9, no.3, 2009, pp.177-196.
Bachi, Keren, et al. “Vascular disease in cocaine addiction.” Atherosclerosis, vol. 262, 2017, pp. 154-162.
Sukop, P. H., et al. “Wernicke’s encephalopathy in crack–cocaine addiction.” Medical hypotheses, vol. 89, 2016, pp. 68-71.
Virmani, Ashraf, Syed F. Ali, and Binienda, Zbigniew K.. “Neuroprotective strategies in drug abuse‐evoked encephalopathy.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 1199, no. 1, 2010, pp. 52-68.
Volkow, Nora D. “Drug abuse and mental illness: progress in understanding comorbidity.” American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 158, no. 8, 2001, pp. 1181-1183.
Ham, Suji, et al. “Drug abuse and psychosis: new insights into drug-induced psychosis.” Experimental neurobiology, vol. 26, no. 1, 2017, pp. 11-24.