Illegal drug use
| Substance abuse | |
|---|---|
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| Comparison of the perceived societal and personal harm for various psychoactive drugs from a poll among medical psychiatrists specialized in addiction treatment. | |
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | Psychiatry |
| ICD-10 | F10.1-F19.1 |
| ICD-9-CM | 305 |
| DiseasesDB | 3961 |
| MedlinePlus | 001945 |
| MeSH | D019966 |
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is a patterned use of a drug in which the user consumes the substance in amounts or with methods which are harmful to themselves or others, and is a form of substance-related disorder. Widely differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, medical and criminal justice contexts. In some cases criminal or anti-social behavior occurs when the person is under the influence of a drug, and long term personality changes in individuals may occur as well. In addition to possible physical, social, and psychological harm, use of some drugs may also lead to criminal penalties, although these vary widely depending on the local jurisdiction.
Drugs most often associated with this term include: alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabis, cocaine, methaqualone, opioids and substituted amphetamines. The exact cause of substance abuse is not clear, with theories including one of two: either a genetic disposition which is learned from others, or a habit which if addiction develops, it manifests itself as a chronic debilitating disease.
In 2010 about 5% of people (230 million) used an illicit substance. Of these 27 million have high-risk drug use otherwise known as recurrent drug use causing harm to their health, psychological problems, or social problems or puts them at risk of those dangers. In 2013 drug use disorders resulted in 127,000 deaths up from 53,000 in 1990. The highest number of deaths are from opioid use disorders at 51,000. Cocaine use disorder resulted in 4,300 deaths and amphetamine use disorder resulted in 3,800 deaths. Alcohol use disorders resulted in an additional 139,000 deaths.
Public health practitioners have attempted to look at substance use from a broader perspective than the individual, emphasizing the role of society, culture, and availability. Some health professionals choose to avoid the terms alcohol or drug "abuse" in favor of language they consider more objective, such as "substance and alcohol type problems" or "harmful/problematic use" of drugs.
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