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Biology versus Choice: Is a simple explanation of addiction enough?
At the recent Addictions conference, held in D.C. and sponsored by Elsevier, a well known academic publishing house, I got myself into one of those long debates with a fellow addiction researcher. The question we were debating was whether addiction is primarily biological or if it is mostly a matter of personal choice. We ran […]
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Drug abuse and teens – The adolescent addiction challenge.
Guest author: Clint Stonebraker Recovery from any addiction is a difficult process. It involves an individual’s willingness to take responsibility for his or her actions, a concrete decision to make significant lifestyle changes, and the courage to repair damaged relationships. The level of emotional maturity involved in taking these steps is usually somewhat foreign to […]
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Drug abuse statistics: American drug abuse and addiction
In looking up some numbers for a recent post I put up on TakePart, I uncovered some amazing addiction and drug abuse statistics (most from 2007, so they’re probably higher by now). Addiction statistics highlights: Slightly more than half of Americans surveyed indicated that they are current drinkers (I thought it’d be higher) – Meaning […]
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Addiction brain effects : Opiate addiction – Heroin, oxycontin and more
Okay, we’ve talked about crystal meth and cocaine and how they affect the brain during drug use. As I mentioned, both cocaine and meth interfere with the way the brain stores and cleans up important neurotransmitters, including, most importantly, Dopamine and Norepinephrine. The class of drugs known as opiates, which includes morphine, heroin, codeine, and […]