Addiction, Dependance and Tolerance

[syk613]

Addiction, Dependance and Tolerance:

 

 Repeated use of many drugs leads to tolerance and dependence.

 Dependence is characterized by physical or psychological withdrawal symptoms.

 Tolerance is the reduction in response to the same repeated dose and can occur through different mechanisms: pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and learned tolerance.

 Addiction is a syndrome characterized by compulsive drug-seeking behavior that results in an impairment in social and psychological functions or damage to health

 It is the result of long term changes in the brain and involves more than just the changes seen in dependence and tolerance. Eg ppl have used opiates for long periods and developed tol/dep but not an addiction, these include vietnam vets and ppl in hospital using them for pain relief.

 Addiction is seen by more and more researchers/clinicians as a life long brain disease.

 Factors influencing addiction: the drug (cost, availability, & speed of onset); the user (genetics, risk-taking behavior, & psychiatric symptoms) and the environment (community attitudes, social setting, other sources of reinforcement, employment, & education).

 

For more information on this subject the reader can contact the Aust. Drug Foundation, this is an organisation dedicated to helping ppl stop their drug use/abuse.

 

http://www.adf.org.au

Edited December 11, 2003 by syk613

[99waystofuckyou]

Hey syk did ya notice this?

 

http://www.cadaverine.net/misc/syk420.jpg

[Guest Wilderbud]

Haha, sweet, now hes probably wondering about posting again or keeping that post count.

[Guest syk]

@99WTFU, no i didn't but i will have to post as a guest for a while as wilder said. Was the timing of the post also a message? U were a little early.

[99waystofuckyou]

Should have ducked out for a cone beforehand and I would have been right on time, that will teach me to abstain

[syk613]

And by the time it was packed you would be joining all the other 420'ers, or so that is my understanding of its origins.