Substance use disorders occur when an individual continues using the substance, whether it’s alcohol, cocaine, prescription pain pills or other drugs, despite significant substance-related problems. A person who has a moderate or severe substance use disorder may put substance use before family, relationships and career. He or she will continue to drink or use drugs, […]
Physicians have long recognized that different types of drugs affect people differently. Nonetheless, drugs may be categorized or classified according to certain shared symptomatologies or effects. The DRE categorization process is premised on these long-standing, medically accepted facts. DREs classify drugs in one of seven categories: central nervous system (CNS) depressants, CNS stimulants, hallucinogens, dissociative […]
Introduction Alcohol and drug abuse is an equal opportunity affliction. As a universal phenomenon, the abuse of mood-altering substances manifests multiple and related problems across cultures, ages, gender, races, and religions. Although the thread of addiction is traceable throughout the history of humankind, progress toward identification of a root cause continues to elude the scientific […]
