Addiction only occurs in people who already have a predisposition for it
if drugs by themselves could cause addiction, we would not be safe offering narcotics to anyone. Medical evidence has repeatedly shown that opioids prescribed for cancer pain, even for long periods of time, do not lead to addiction except in a minority of susceptible people.
An article in the Canadian Journal of Medicine in 2006 reviewed international research covering over six thousand people who had received narcotics for chronic pain that was not cancerous in origin. There was no significant risk of addiction, a finding common to all studies that examine the relationship between addiction and the use of narcotics for pain relief. “Doubts or concerns about opioid efficacy, toxicity, tolerance, and abuse or addiction should no longer be used to justify withholding opioids,” concluded a large study of patients with chronic pain due to rheumatic disease.
We can never understand addiction if we look for its sources exclusively in the actions of chemicals, no matter how powerful they are. Addiction is a human problem that resides in people, not in the drug or in the drug’s capacity to produce physical effects. It is true that some people will become hooked on substances after only a few times of using, with potentially tragic consequences, but to understand why, we have to know what about those individuals makes them vulnerable to addiction. Mere exposure to a stimulant or narcotic or to any other mood-altering chemical does not make a person susceptible. If they become an addict, it’s because they’re already at risk.
References
- Mate, Gabor. (2010). In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts Close Encounters with Addiction Chapter 12. From Vietnam to “Rat Park” Do Drugs Cause Addiction? (p. 173). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
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Type:🔴 Tags: Biology / Neuroscience Status:☀️