Justin Corn

Ms. Figueroa

English 1

1 November 2018

The Drug at Fault

Drugs have a poor influence on people that can lead to poor life choices. Addiction can

make people do bad things to sooth that addiction that often endangers the individual and others.

Drug addiction is caused by a change in the brains chemistry that makes you want more of that

drug. This involuntary need your body has for drugs can be influenced by not only you but others

around you. The blame for drug addiction falls onto the individual with the drug addiction the

majority of the time but they are usually only consequences of poor circumstance. The topic of

drug use can be traced back to 5000 BC, but it is imposable to determine the first instance when

drug addiction occurred. The people effected by drug addiction now is easier to determine

because just about every person in the world is affected by addiction one way or another. A

plethora of drugs have been used throughout human history some containing addictive

properties. The first documented case was in the year 1000 when china as a whole was obsessed

with opium.

Some people believe that all addicts should be blamed for their misfortunes despite

evidence pointing to addiction being a disease. Others believe they need to do drugs because it

brings attention to them. People also believe that addicts use drugs out of curiosity then refuse
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help when it becomes an issue. At the state, things are progressing if nothing is done the future of

drug addiction could create major problems for everyone. The access people are getting to drugs

is making addiction to drugs more common thing and more pressing issue. The issue can’t be

solved overnight but if you start now you can make an impact. A way to loosen the grip

addiction has on the U.S is to give addicts an environment that has less of a drug-based

influence. Taking drugs out of the picture and replacing it with other more healthy stimuli is a

step in the right direction. The key to every part of solving this problem is educating and

informing those close to the addicts. Addicts can be influenced by bad behavior, which is why

professionals need to not immediately blame the addict in risking creating a harmful

environment.

Addicts have urges to continue using drugs however for some the urge is stronger

because it is dependent on the brain's reactiveness to the chemicals in drugs. The brain causes

individuals to become addicted. “Addiction is a chronic and relapsing brain disease in which

drug use becomes involuntary despite its negative consequences” (Elly Vintiadis). The brain

ignores the body and tells itself it needs more based on how the drugs chemicals mix with the

brain’s chemicals through the release of dopamine in most cases. This is more potent in some

people which causes the brain to meet its needs despite the body taking serious damage. Drug

addiction can become resistant to change with continued use of drugs. “The addict has no choice,

and his behavior is resistant to long term change” (Elly Vintiadis). Using drugs can change the

brains chemistry. This change is the root cause of addiction and can make changing the addicts

mind nearly impossible. Over all, drugs can change the brains chemistry which makes the brain

want drugs and is not easily reversible.

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Some have no choice but to take drugs such as prescription drugs then become addicted.

Some people have mental problems that make the option to take drugs easier than others. “The

problem with drug addiction is that it does not follow a specific, unalterable pattern with every

person who uses a given drug. Even if a handful of people were to use the same drug in the same

amount under the same circumstances for the same length of time, the development of physical

and psychological addiction will be different for each person. Some may indulge as much as they

like without developing an addiction at all while at the other end of the spectrum, others will

show signs of addiction almost immediately.” (Wendy Lee Nentwig). Some addicts who took

drugs have no say in what they did after the first encounter. This also takes the psychological

elements before addiction in to account because those elements are out of our control. There are

lot of people who take prescription drugs because of a broken bone and such but are now dealing

with addiction. “Some people who are addicted to prescription painkillers take a drug repeatedly

because the doctor told them to” (Wendy Lee Nentwig). Unbeknownst to you your doctor can

give you an addiction to painkillers because they were useful at the time. For some the drug that

the body needed can become the drug that the brain started to want. All in all, the blame for

addiction can be the fault of the brain’s chemistry or the work of a prescription you were forced

to take.

Influential figures in life are not always there to help some friends and family are there to

set the wrong example and force addiction on the peer or son/daughter. Parents of addicts had an

impact on the way that child choses to respond to drug abuse. “some would say Lindsay has the

problems she has due to poor parenting and now her young sister, Ali, will likely end up with the

same fate” (Wendy Lee Nentwig). The debate on whether parents are to blame for their children

becoming addicts is proven with time. However, we already know children are influenced by
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their parents, so addiction should be determined by how they are raised. Addiction is different

for everyone and not everyone gets addicted as easily as others. ” from every day experience we

know that not everyone who tries or uses drugs and alcohol gets addicted… people don’t all quit

with the same ease.”(Wendy Lee Nentwig). This is a fact that lots of people over look and in

doing so can negatively impact young minds. An example being if someone says they did drugs

once and they were fine this makes it more likely that young people will do and become

addicted. Overall, parents have an impact on the wellbeing of their child and how they react to

being offered drugs.

There are those who don’t agree and believe that addicts choose to blame others instead

of getting better. Some believe putting blame on addiction being a disease is wrong and

counterproductive. “Although current research has taught us that addiction is a disease it is still a

mistake to avoid responsibility for personal choices and actions” (promises). These people think

that addiction being a disease is just an excuse for addicts to avoid responsibility. They also say

it’s only you who continues to be addicted and you can just overpower your brain essentially.

From the other views the addict is counterproductive and shifting blame. “Blaming external

sources for problems is counterproductive to successful sobriety” (promises). Such individuals

believe that the addicts should be to blame and no one else. The shifting of blame to avoid

consequence or trick yourself is not the right way. All in all, the blame can’t be placed fully on

the addict or then the true blame game is being used on the addict.

Some people who oppose the argument think that overall the choice to indulge in drug

based activities is up to the addict to start consuming and continue consuming the drugs they

chose to take. In some cases, the addict has a choice in the beginnings of the addiction but not

during the addiction itself. “Do these facts mean that external factors are fully to blame for
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addiction? The answer is no. Each individual must take responsibility for choices, actions, and

behaviors that led to their current state. Yes, addiction is a disease, but individuals put

themselves on the path to dependence. They made the choice to start drinking or to take that first

hit. After the first experience of losing control, when they chose to keep going instead of getting

help, they began the addictive spiral.” (promises). This can be true in some cases but the others

involved in drug consumption are pressured into the unrelenting grip of drug use by poor

influences and even worse friends. We can never know exactly why some chose to start but they

do chose to start. The act of taking a drug can be influenced by many things such as the addict

themselves. “And however important it is for others to recognize and respect this struggle,

addicts…have choice over their consumption in many circumstances” (Hanna Pickard). The

initial choice is that of the addicts more often than it should be. The after is up to the drug and

how it effects the brain. All in all, we may not know how the addict may end up but likely we

know where it started.

Through years of devotion and research people have found that drugs have influence on

the people who take it, physically and mentally. All that tells us is that drugs influence us beyond

our control in ways that we don’t fully comprehend yet due to lack of complete research and

thorough examination. “Addiction is a complex condition, a brain disease that is manifested by

compulsive substance use despite harmful consequence. People with addiction (severe substance

use disorder) have an intense focus on using a certain substance(s), such as alcohol or drugs, to

the point that it takes over their life. They keep using alcohol or a drug even when they know it

will cause problems. Yet a number of effective treatments are available and people can recover

from addiction and lead normal, productive lives.” (America Psychiatric Association). People

may know what addiction is but they know little of how it works and why it does what it does.
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What is known is that it is a condition and not a continuous choice made by the victim for them

to continue to destroy and devastate their bodies to achieve such a small monetary gain. The way

addiction works is not a mystery to Humans however, they ignore its true nature. “Just as

cardiovascular disease damages the heart and diabetes impairs the pancreas, addiction hijacks the

brain.” (Harvard Health Publishing). Some drugs that cause addiction are used as a way to make

the brain do unnatural things for momentary pleasure but end up creating long lasting harmful

effects. The effect people get from drugs can make a craving stronger than any they have ever

felt previously. Overall, the effect drugs have on the brain is unclear it is clear that not every

aspect of the addiction falls on the blame of the addict due to the way drugs infect and corrupt

the brain and the mind linked to it.

Although blame being shifted completely off of the addict is harmful to the addicts

overall wellbeing, so is blaming the addict completely by making the addict feel trapped and

helpless to undo what they think was completely there fault. The blame isn’t the addicts it is just

also others fault. The initial use of drugs is often the fault of peer pressure but in some cases they

just use drugs. There are some people who don’t care about the consequences but those who do

are not often willing and then the drug takes control.

A harmful environment can be created by a professional forcing blame on the patient.

The brain is changed by the drug to make people addicted. Some people become addicted

through prescription drugs out of there control. Influential figures can sometimes be a bad

influence rather than a positive role model. Using stimuli that change the focus off of drugs and

creating a friendly non drug environment that is free of stress and has no relation to the drug in

question. This will help to improve health mentally and physically in addicts unlike previous

forms of treatment.
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Work Cited

“Are Drug Addicts to Blame for Their Addiction?” Are Drug Addicts to Blame for Their

Addiction? - Quora, www.quora.com/Are-drug-addicts-to-blame-for-their-addiction.

National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Trends & Statistics.” NIDA, 24 Apr. 2017,

www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics.

Harvard Health Publishing. “How Addiction Hijacks the Brain.” Harvard Health, July 2011,

www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/how-addiction-hijacks-the-brain.

Nentwig, Wendy Lee. “Drug Addiction - Whose Fault Is It?” The Canyon, 17 May 2018,

www.thecanyonmalibu.com/blog/drug-addiction-whose-fault-is-it/ .

“Stop Playing the Addiction Blame Game.” Drug and Addiction Treatment Centers | Promises,

26 Aug. 2014, www.promises.com/articles/issues-related-to-addiction/stop-playing-

addiction-blame-game/.

Timeline of Events in the History of Drugs.” INPUD's International Diaries, 15 Dec. 2014,

inpud.wordpress.com/timeline-of-events-in-the-history-of-drugs/.

Vintiadis, Elly. “Is Addiction a Disease?” Scientific American Blog Network, 8 Nov. 2017,

blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/is-addiction-a-disease/.

“What Is Addiction.” What Is Addiction?, www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/addiction/what-

is-addiction .