If you are like most Americans today, you have heard or read numerous stories about people who have struggled with drug addiction. While many people focus on addiction to substances that are illegal, like heroin or methamphetamine, the reality of the matter is that several people are addicted to prescription drugs. Even a medication recommended by a physician has the ability to change a person’s brain chemistry to the point where they begin abusing that drug. This sadly may be a trigger to a downward spiral in their life.
As explained by Healthline, an addiction to a prescription drug may well be the gateway to a person’s use of an illegal drug as a means of feeding the addiction. There are three types of prescription drugs that have the highest rate of addiction associated with them. These are stimulants, central nervous system depressants and opioid pain relievers.
A stimulant provides a person with a sense of energy and alertness that they may be lacking or in need of. On the other side of things are drugs that essentially depress the central nervous system. These medications may result in the feeling of being calmer or at ease, helping someone with anxiety or other conditions. Relief from pain and a general sense of euphoria even may be an outcome of the use of an opioid drug.
This information is not intended to provide legal advice but is instead meant to give people an overview about the realities associated with drug addiction that may well have roots in the legal use of a drug prescribed for them by a doctor or other medical professional.
