Understanding Addiction

People start using drugs for all different reasons—curiosity, to have a good time, because friends are doing it, to improve athletic performance, to numb emotional pain, and more.

Drug use doesn’t automatically lead to a substance use disorder, and it’s often hard to pinpoint a single moment where drug use goes from casual to problematic. Often, drug abuse and addiction are less about the frequency in which a person uses and more about the reasons people turn to drugs in the first place and the consequences of their abuse.