Addiction and Substance Abuse:

The difference between substance abuse and addiction is slight. Addiction begins as abuse, or using a substance like marijuana or cocaine. You can abuse a drug or alcohol without; being addicted. People become addicted to all sorts of substances. Usually we think about alcohol or illegal drugs in terms of addiction.

But people become addicted to medications, cigarettes, even food! And some substances are more addictive than others: Drugs like crack or heroin are so addictive that they may only be used once or twice before the user loses control.

Addiction means a person has no control over whether he or she uses a drug or drinks. A person who's addicted to cocaine has grown so used to the drug that he or she has to have it. Addiction can be physical, psychological, or both.

A person crosses the line between abuse and addiction when he or she is no longer trying the drug to have fun or get high, but because he or she has come to depend on it. His or her whole life centers around the need for the drug. An addicted person, whether it's a physical or psychological addiction or both, no longer has a choice in taking a substance.

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