Inhalant Abuse and Addiction

Most inhalants are common household products. They include paint thinner, fingernail polish remover, glue, gasoline, cigarette lighter fluid, and nitrous oxide. They also include fluorinated hydrocarbons that are found in aerosols, such as whipped cream, hairspray, spray paint, and computer cleaners. Used as intended, these household products are safe. When these products are sniffed, however, their toxic fumes can produce mind-altering effects.

Inhalants are often among the first drugs that young children use. One national survey conducted in 2003-2004 found that 2.5 percent of 4th-graders had used inhalants at least once in the year prior to being surveyed. Inhalants also are one of the few substances that younger children abuse more than older ones do. Yet, inhalant abuse can become chronic and extend into adulthood.

Data from national and State surveys suggest that inhalant abuse is most common among 7th- through 9th-graders. For example, in the Monitoring the Future study, an annual NIDA-supported survey of the Nation's secondary school students, 8th-graders regularly report the highest rate of current, past-year, and lifetime inhalant abuse; 10th- and 12th-graders report less abuse of inhalants.

Many kids think inhalants are a harmless, cheap, and quick way to "catch a buzz." The chemicals in the vapors change the way the brain works, making the user feel very good for a short time. Inhalants can be found around the house or purchased inexpensively at the local grocery or general store. What kids often don't know is that, in some cases, the harmful effects of inhalants can be irreversible.

Clearbrook Treatment Centers have programs to address the issue of inhalant abuse and addiction. Since 1972, the renowned Clearbrook Treatment Centers have been providing effective treatment programs for adults and adolescents who suffer from alcoholism and/or chemical dependency. Clearbrook’s rehabilitation program is based upon the belief that alcoholism and chemical dependency is a primary disease and that the suffering addict and his or her family members deserve immediate help.

Ecstacy Abuse and It's Effects

“Ecstasy” is a slang term for MDMA, short for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, a name that’s nearly as long as the all-night parties where MDMA is often used. That's why MDMA has been called a “club drug.” It has effects similar to those of other stimulants, and it often makes the user feel like everyone is his or her friend, even when that’s not the case.

MDMA is man-made—it doesn't come from a plant like marijuana does. Other chemicals or substances—such as caffeine, dextromethorphan (found in some cough syrups), amphetamines, PCP, or cocaine—are sometimes added to, or substituted for, MDMA in Ecstasy tablets. Makers of MDMA can add anything they want to the drug, so its purity is always in question.

Like other drugs, MDMA can be addictive for some people. That is, people continue to take the drug despite experiencing unpleasant physical side effects and other social, behavioral, and health consequences.

No one knows how many times a person can use a drug before becoming addicted or who's most vulnerable to addiction. A person’s genes, living environment, and other factors play a role in whether they are likely to become addicted to MDMA

In general, NIDA-supported research shows that abuse of any drug, including MDMA, can cause serious health problems and, in some instances, even death. Many drug abusers take combinations of drugs, including alcohol, which may further increase their risk.

MDMA users can also become dehydrated through vigorous activity in a hot environment. It may not seem like a big deal, but when MDMA interferes with the body's ability to regulate its temperature, it can cause dangerous overheating, called hyperthermia. This, in turn, can lead to serious heart and kidney problems—or, rarely, death. MDMA can be extremely dangerous in high doses or when multiple small doses are taken within a short time period to maintain the high. High levels of the drug in the blood stream can increase the risk of hyperthermia, seizures, and the ability of the heart to maintain its normal rhythms.

Cleabrook Treatment Centers have intense programs to help yourself or a loved one with a drug addiction to esctacy. Since 1972, the renowned Clearbrook Treatment Centers have been providing effective treatment programs for adults and adolescents who suffer from alcoholism and/or chemical dependency. Clearbrook’s rehabilitation program is based upon the belief that alcoholism and chemical dependency is a primary disease and that the suffering addict and his or her family members deserve immediate help.

Marijuana Use

Some people mistakenly believe that “everybody's doing it” and use that as an excuse to start using marijuana themselves. Well, they need to check the facts, because that’s just not true. According to a 2008 survey, called Monitoring the Future, about 6 percent of 8th-graders, 14 percent of 10th-graders, and 19 percent of 12th-graders had used marijuana in the month before the survey. In fact, marijuana use declined from the late 1990s through 2007, with a decrease in past-year use of more than 20 percent in all three grades combined from 2000 to 2007. Unfortunately, this trend appears to be slowing, and marijuana use remains at unacceptably high levels, as the most commonly used illegal drug.

While most marijuana smokers do not go on to use other drugs, long-term studies of high school students show that few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana. For example, the risk of using cocaine is much greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it. Using marijuana puts children and teens in contact with people who are users and sellers of other drugs. So, a marijuana user is more likely to be exposed to and urged to try other drugs. The effects of marijuana on the brain of adolescents—still a work in progress—may also affect their likelihood of using other drugs as they get older. Animal studies suggest this to be true, but it is not yet demonstrated in people.

Researchers are testing different ways to help marijuana users abstain from drug use. Currently, no medications exist for treating marijuana addiction. Treatment programs focus on behavioral therapies. A number of programs are designed specifically to help teenagers who are abusers.

Clearbrook Treatment Centers understand the difficulties people have with understanding marijuana drug abuse. Since 1972, the renowned Clearbrook Treatment Centers have been providing effective treatment programs for adults and adolescents who suffer from alcoholism and/or chemical dependency. Clearbrook’s rehabilitation program is based upon the belief that alcoholism and chemical dependency is a primary disease and that the suffering addict and his or her family members deserve immediate help.

Long-Term Effects of Stimulant Abuse

As with many other drugs of abuse, repeated stimulant abuse can cause addiction. That means that someone repeatedly seeks out and uses the drug despite its harmful effects. Repeated drug use changes the brain in ways that contribute to the drug craving and continued drug seeking and use that characterizes addiction. Other effects of long-term stimulant abuse can include paranoia, aggressiveness, extreme anorexia, thinking problems, visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions, and severe dental problems.

Repeated use of cocaine can lead to tolerance of its euphoric effects, causing the user to take higher doses or to use the drug more frequently (e.g., binge use) to get the same effects. Such use can lead to bizarre, erratic behavior. Some cocaine users experience panic attacks or episodes of full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which the individual loses touch with reality and hears sounds that aren’t there (auditory hallucinations). Different ways of using cocaine can produce different adverse effects. For example, regularly snorting cocaine can lead to hoarseness, loss of the sense of smell, nosebleeds, and a chronically runny nose. Cocaine taken orally can cause reduced blood flow, leading to bowel problems.

Repeated use of methamphetamine can cause violent behavior, mood disturbances, and psychosis, which can include paranoia, auditory hallucinations, and delusions (e.g., the sensation of insects creeping on the skin, called “formication”). The paranoia can result in homicidal and suicidal thoughts. Methamphetamine can increase a person’s sex drive and is linked to risky sexual behaviors and the transmission of infectious diseases, such as HIV. However, research also indicates that long-term methamphetamine use may be associated with decreased sexual function, at least in men.

Cleabrook Treatment Centers know the long-term consequences of drug abuse and have developed many programs that ultimately may save lives. Since 1972, the renowned Clearbrook Treatment Centers have been providing effective treatment programs for adults and adolescents who suffer from alcoholism and/or chemical dependency. Clearbrook’s rehabilitation program is based upon the belief that alcoholism and chemical dependency is a primary disease and that the suffering addict and his or her family members deserve immediate help.

How Do People Get Addicted to Drugs?

Think about how you feel when something good happens—maybe your team wins a game or you're praised for something you've done well—that's your limbic system at work. Because natural pleasures in our lives are necessary for survival, the limbic system creates an appetite that drives you to seek out those things.

The first time someone uses a drug of abuse, he or she experiences unnaturally intense feelings of pleasure. The reward circuitry is activated—with dopamine carrying the message. Of course, drugs have other effects, too; a first-time smoker also may cough and feel nauseated from toxic chemicals in a tobacco or marijuana cigarette.

But the brain starts changing as a result of the unnatural flood of neurotransmitters. Because they sense more than enough dopamine, neurons may begin to reduce the number of dopamine receptors or simply make less dopamine. The result is less dopamine signaling in the brain, what the scientists call “down regulation.” Because some drugs are toxic, some neurons also may die.

As a result, dopamine’s ability to activate circuits to cause pleasure is severely weakened. The person feels flat, lifeless, and depressed. In fact, without drugs, life may seem joyless. Now the person needs drugs just to bring dopamine levels up to normal. Larger amounts of the drug are needed to create a dopamine flood, or “high”—an effect known as “tolerance.”

These brain changes drive a person to seek out and use drugs compulsively, despite negative consequences such as stealing, losing friends, family problems, or other physical or mental problems brought on by drug abuse—this is addiction.

Although we know what happens to the brain when someone becomes addicted, we can’t predict how many times a person must use a drug before becoming addicted. A person's genetic makeup, the genes that make each of us who we are, and the environment each play a role. What we do know is that a person who uses drugs risks becoming addicted, craving the drug despite its potentially devastating consequences.

Clearbrook Treatment Centers understand that facing a drug addiction can be difficult and long-term. Since 1972, the renowned Clearbrook Treatment Centers have been providing effective treatment programs for adults and adolescents who suffer from alcoholism and/or chemical dependency. Clearbrook’s rehabilitation program is based upon the belief that alcoholism and chemical dependency is a primary disease and that the suffering addict and his or her family members deserve immediate help.

Relationship Between Drug Abuse and HIV

Drug abuse and addiction have been closely linked with HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic. Although injection drug use is well known in this regard, the role that non-injection drug abuse plays more generally in the spread of HIV is less recognized.

Injection drug use. People typically associate drug abuse and HIV/AIDS with injection drug use and needle sharing. Injection drug use refers to when a drug is injected into a tissue or vein with a needle. When injection drug users share “equipment”—such as needles, syringes, and other drug injection paraphernalia—HIV can be transmitted between users. Other infections—such as hepatitis C—can also be spread this way. Hepatitis C can cause liver disease and permanent liver damage.

Poor judgment and risky behavior. Drug abuse by any method (not just injection) can put a person at risk for contracting HIV. Drug and alcohol intoxication affect the way a person makes decisions and can lead to unsafe sexual practices, which puts them at risk for getting HIV or transmitting it to someone else.

Biological effects of drugs. Drug abuse and addiction can affect a person's overall health, making them more susceptible to HIV or, in people with HIV, worsen the progression of HIV and its consequences, especially in the brain. For example, research has shown that HIV causes more harm to nerve cells in the brain and greater cognitive damage among methamphetamine abusers than among people with HIV who do not abuse drugs. In animal studies, methamphetamine has been shown to increase the amount of HIV in brain cells.

Drug abuse treatment. Since the late 1980s, researchers found that if you treat drug abuse you can prevent the spread of HIV. Drug abusers in treatment stop or reduce their drug use and related risk behaviors, including drug injection and unsafe sexual practices. Drug treatment programs also serve an important role in getting out good information on HIV/AIDS and related diseases, providing counseling and testing services, and offering referrals for medical and social services.

Cleabrook Treatment Centers in Pennsylvania understand the linke between HIV and drug abuse and thus offer ways to prevent and fix the problem. Since 1972, the renowned Clearbrook Treatment Centers have been providing effective treatment programs for adults and adolescents who suffer from alcoholism and/or chemical dependency. Clearbrook’s rehabilitation program is based upon the belief that alcoholism and chemical dependency is a primary disease and that the suffering addict and his or her family members deserve immediate help.

Help Prevent Alcohol Abuse with Your Teen

Just a few of the many dangerous effects of alcohol use in teens include the following:

Alcohol decreases teens' ability to pay attention.

The younger a person is when they begin drinking, the more likely they are to develop a problem with alcohol.

Each year, almost 2000 people under the age of 21 years died in car crashes in which underage drinking is involved. Alcohol is involved in nearly half of all violent deaths involving teens.

More than three times the number of eighth-grade girls who drink heavily said they have attempted suicide compared to girls in that grade who do not drink.

Teens that drink are more likely to engage in sexual activity, have unprotected sex, or have sex with a stranger.

Excess alcohol use can cause or mask other emotional problems, like anxiety or depression.

Drinking in excess can lead to the use of other drugs, like marijuana, cocaine, or heroin.

What you can do:

Clear communication by parents about the negative effects of alcohol, as well as about their expectations regarding drug use, have been found to significantly decrease alcohol use in teens. Adequate parental supervision has also been found to be a deterrent to alcohol use in youth. Alcohol, and other drug use, has been found to occur most often between the hours of 3 and 6 p.m., immediately after school and prior to parents' arrival at home from work.

Teen participation in extracurricular activities has therefore been revealed to be an important measure in preventing use of alcohol in this age group. Parents can also help educate teens about appropriate coping and stress-management strategies. For example, 15- to 16-year-olds who use religion to cope with stress tend to use drugs significantly less often and have less problems as a result of drinking than their peers who do not use religion to cope.

Cleabrook Treatment Centers understand how difficult it is for teenagers to avoid alcohol. Thus, they have opened the Clearbrook Lodge, a place for specifically designed for teens who are chemically dependent. Established specifically for adolescents, this 46-bed inpatient rehabilitation center is the beginning of what must be a continued effort to maintain a lifestyle and lifetime of sobriety. The 12 steps of Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous are an integral part of the patient community’s daily activities and efforts.