First and foremost, one of the most widespread general notions in society refers to the interconnection between drug abuse and addiction. Some people without special knowledge about the specific terms and their differences might use these two levels of attitudes to the drugs interchangeably. Drug abuse and addiction are the grades of drug influence on the concrete individual’s life. Due to the difference in regularity and intensity of drug absorption, substance abuse and addiction can be correctly separated from another so that there is a concrete measure that identifies an abuse and an addiction in their different forms.
Beginning from the determination aspect, the main characteristic that may differ between substance abuse and addiction is the timeline of usage. More specifically, if the person takes certain drugs with a visible regularity, then the person is addicted to the substance (Feltenstein et al., 2008). In addition, Bartlett et al. (2013) present the main difference as “addiction has been viewed historically as a moral failing or lack of individual self-control, it is now recognized and treated as a chronic brain disease often associated with relapses” (p. 349). As a result, when the individual is spotted with drugs several times, but after a relatively long period that cannot be counted as “regular,” they can be determined as drug abusers, but they are not addicted to them.
Finally, when it comes to the fundamental difference between drug addiction and non-regular abuse, drug addiction becomes a psychical issue in addition to the physical one. On the other hand, substance abuse involves a determined amount of drug dose that is not influenced by the previous one. After the perception, a person does not physically and mentally want to increase the dose of a drug, which is a true signal for the common drug abuse issue.
References
Barlett, R., Brown, L., Shattell, M., Wright, T., & Lewallen, L. (2013). Harm Reduction: Compassionate Care Of Persons with Addictions. Medsurg Nurs, 22(6), 349–358.
Feltenstein, M. W., & See, R. E. (2008). The neurocircuitry of addiction: an overview.British Journal of Pharmacology, 154(2), 261–274.