Physical Health & Biology
This vital organ, responsible for pumping blood, can suffer from irregular rhythms, infections, or even failure due to stimulant abuse.
What is the heart?
Drugs often hijack the brain’s communication system by mimicking or overstimulating these chemical messengers.
What are neurotransmitters?
side from health issues, drug use often leads to this, which can result in a permanent record and difficulty finding future employment.
What are legal consequences (or arrest)?
For students, drug use is linked to a decline in this, often leading to dropping out of school or lower grades.
What is academic performance?
True or False: You can become addicted to an illicit substance after using it only one time.
What is True?
Chronic use of certain substances can lead to this condition, where the liver becomes scarred and loses its ability to function.
What is cirrhosis?
This "feel-good" chemical is flooded into the brain’s reward circuit during drug use, eventually damaging the brain's ability to feel pleasure naturally.
What is dopamine?
The high cost of maintaining a drug habit often leads to this state of extreme financial hardship.
What is bankruptcy or poverty?
Use during pregnancy can lead to this syndrome, where a newborn experiences withdrawal symptoms after birth.
What is Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS)?
This 9-letter word describes the need to take more of a drug to get the same high as before.
What is tolerance?
Many illicit drugs suppress this system, making the body much more vulnerable to infections and diseases.
What is the immune system?
Prolonged drug use can impair this part of the brain, which is responsible for decision-making and impulse control.
What is the prefrontal cortex?
Drug use is a leading cause of the breakdown of this social unit, often resulting in lost trust and separation.
What is the family?
This is the term for the permanent damage to growth and development that can occur when adolescents use drugs.
What is developmental delay or stunted growth?
This is a "dual diagnosis," meaning a person has both a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder.
What is comorbidity (or co-occurring disorders)?
This term describes the need to take larger doses of a drug to achieve the same effect, often leading to a dangerous cycle of escalation.
What is tolerance?
Substance use disorders often occur alongside these types of conditions, such as depression or anxiety.
What are co-occurring or mental health disorders?
Using substances while operating a vehicle significantly increases the risk of these, which cause thousands of deaths annually.
What are motor vehicle accidents?
Drug use can cause a person to lose interest in these, which were once an important part of their identity.
What are hobbies or passions?
This term refers to the deceptive practice where dealers mix dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl into other substances.
What is lacing?
Injecting drugs significantly increases the risk of contracting these two bloodborne viruses.
What are HIV and Hepatitis C?
This symptom involves seeing or hearing things that aren't there and is a common side effect of hallucinogens or severe stimulant abuse.
What are hallucinations?
This is the term for the physical and mental symptoms that occur when a person suddenly stops using a substance they are dependent on.
What is withdrawal?
Because the "high" is prioritized above all else, users often suffer from this, the inability to fulfill work or school obligations.
What is functional impairment?
This is the clinical name for "addiction" used by doctors and psychologists.
Answer: What is Substance Use Disorder (SUD)?