Drug addiction is a brain disease that has characteristics of drug craving, seeking, and use that can persist even in the face of extremely negative consequences such as financial debt, physical atrophy, trouble with the law and broken relationships. The urge to seek drugs is a psychological behavior that results from a "reward" one gets from being high and wanting to continue that experience. Often, the reward diminishes each time drugs are used and eventually there is no reward at all. At this point, the drug user relies on substances to feel normal.

It is not uncommon to relapse after long periods of abstinence and treatment professionals are beginning to accept this as part of the culture of addiction recovery. Conservative treatment professionals on the other hand would have you believe that relapse and harm reduction are not part of the recovery process. There is no right answer in the debate of relapse and the addiction recovery process.

Many factors determine how quickly you may become addicted to a substance including the biology of your body. Life-threatening consequences are often associated with the abuse of drugs and alcohol. It is hard to understand how one person will react to a drug compared to another person because some people are sensitive to the chemistry of substances and others are not. Therefore, it is difficult to project whether or not one will overdose or suffer ill effects.

The persistent use and scouting for drugs despite negative consequences are clues that an individual has a compulsive behavioral problem and is likely addicted. If you need help, search online for a local addiction treatment center and visit them right away. After intake, they will offer you treatment medications to reduce the pain associated with withdrawal, give you education on the disease of addiction, group therapy and one on one counseling.