Treatment should be tailored to address each patient’s drug use patterns and drug-related medical, mental, and social problems. Medications are also available to help treat addiction to alcohol and nicotine. Relapse rates for drug use are similar to rates for other chronic medical illnesses. Protective factors, on the other hand, reduce a person’s risk.
Watch artist and advocate William Stoehr’s intimate testimony, as he shares his story of loss to an opioid overdose and… What’s really in bath salts, N-bombs, and synthetic opioids? For example, it is now well-known that tobacco smoke can cause many cancers, methamphetamine can cause severe dental problems, known as meth mouth, and that opioids can lead to overdose and death. Imaging scans, chest X-rays, and blood tests can show the damaging effects of long-term drug use throughout the body. Stopping drug use is just one part of a long and complex recovery process.
Read more about medications for opioid use disorders
Addiction is a chronic disease characterized by drug seeking and use that is compulsive, or difficult to control, despite harmful consequences. Drugs change the brain in ways that make quitting hard, even for those who want to.
- Buprenorphine treatment may lead to better health outcomes for infants than methadone treatment.
- People who are recovering from an addiction will be at risk for relapse for years and possibly for their whole lives.
- As with other chronic health conditions, treatment should be ongoing and should be adjusted based on how the patient responds.
- Research is needed to better understand, prevent, and treat gambling disorder.
- Learn about health effects, risks, and treatment options.
Why do some people become addicted to drugs, while others do not?
Scientists use this knowledge to develop effective prevention and treatment approaches that reduce the toll drug use takes on individuals, families, and communities. Groundbreaking discoveries about the brain have revolutionized our understanding of compulsive drug use, enabling us to respond effectively to the problem. Learn about health effects, risks, and treatment options. Supporting scientific research on drug use and addiction Provides scientific information about the disease of drug addiction, including the many harmful consequences of drug…
As a result, methadone produces less intense feelings of pleasure in people with opioid use disorder while reducing their withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings.5 Additionally, medications are used to help people detoxify from drugs, although detoxification is not the same as treatment and is not sufficient to help a person recover. Fortunately, researchers know more than ever about how drugs affect the brain and have found treatments that can help people recover from drug addiction and lead productive lives. Introduces viewers to the brain’s reward pathway, brain development and how addiction science continues to advance treatment and prevention of substance use disorder. Many people who are taking medications for opioid use disorder have acute pain—for example, after surgery—or live with chronic pain.38 Pain management for these people requires special consideration. Treatment with methadone or buprenorphine is recommended for pregnant women with opioid use disorder.
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Studies show that the majority of people who misuse buprenorphine do so to control withdrawal symptoms form other opioids, not to experience a high.25, 26 However, these effects are milder than those produced by dependence on other opioid drugs and can be managed by slowly reducing the medication dose rather than stopping it abruptly. Like many medications, methadone and buprenorphine do produce dependence.
Do people choose to keep using drugs?
In other cases, drug use may trigger or worsen those mental health conditions, particularly in people with specific vulnerabilities.43,44 In addition, some drugs, such as inhalants, may damage or destroy nerve cells, either in the brain or the peripheral nervous system (the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord). Because addiction can affect so many aspects of a person’s life, treatment should address the needs of the whole person to be successful. Behavioral therapies can also enhance the effectiveness of medications and help people remain in treatment longer. When a person recovering from an addiction relapses, it indicates that the person needs to speak with their doctor to resume treatment, modify it, or try another treatment.52
What is opioid use disorder?
- The medication lofexidine (Lucemyra®) is approved for treatment of withdrawal symptoms that can happen when people suddenly stop taking opioids.
- Despite being aware of these harmful outcomes, many people who use drugs continue to take them, which is the nature of addiction.
- Both methadone and buprenorphine can reduce pain.
- A combination of factors influences risk for addiction.
- In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting usually takes more than good intentions or a strong will.
- We have identified many of the biological and environmental risk factors and are beginning to search for the genetic variations that contribute to the development and progression of the disorder.
However, when taken as prescribed by people with opioid use disorder, methadone and buprenorphine prevent drug cravings and withdrawal symptoms without causing the intense feelings of pleasure (or “high”) that other opioid drugs produce. However, starting naltrexone treatment may be harder for people using opioid drugs than starting buprenorphine or methadone treatment. For people with addictions to drugs like stimulants or cannabis, no medications are currently available to assist in treatment, so treatment consists of behavioral therapies. Research on the science of addiction and the treatment of substance use disorders has led to the development of research-based methods that help people to stop using drugs and resume productive lives, also known as being in recovery. Both methadone and buprenorphine bind to and activate the same mu-opioid receptors in the brain as do other opioid drugs. Like methadone, buprenorphine can reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms without producing intense feelings of pleasure and intoxication in people who have opioid use disorder.
National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse: Open Session – February 2026
Most drugs affect the brain’s “reward circuit,” causing euphoria as well as flooding it with the chemical messenger dopamine. Many people don’t understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Your role in the treatment of addiction is a primary one and you will be on the front lines of saving lives.
Certified Addiction Professional Requirements
In general, the more risk factors a person has, the greater the chance that taking drugs will lead to drug use and addiction. Brain imaging studies of people with addiction show physical changes in areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decision-making, learning and memory, and behavior control.12 These changes help explain the compulsive nature of addiction. Teachers, parents, and health care providers have crucial roles in educating young people and preventing drug use and addiction. The more risk factors a person has, the greater the addiction specialist degrees, certifications, and qualifications chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction.
Medications for opioid use disorder are also safe for women who are breastfeeding and for their infants. Buprenorphine treatment may lead to better health outcomes for infants than methadone treatment. Treatment for opioid use disorder is important during pregnancy.
This impairment in self-control is the hallmark of addiction. But with continued use, a person’s ability to exert self-control can become seriously impaired. Even relatively moderate drug use poses dangers. Both disrupt the normal, healthy functioning of an organ in the body, both have serious harmful effects, and both are, in many cases, preventable and treatable. Treatment approaches tailored to each patient’s drug use patterns and any co-occurring medical, mental, and social problems can lead to continued recovery. People who are recovering from an addiction will be at risk for relapse for years and possibly for their whole lives.
The brain continues to develop into adulthood and undergoes dramatic changes during adolescence.
Telehealth appointments can facilitate access to medications for opioid use disorder. Both methadone and buprenorphine can be misused to achieve rewarding effects if injected instead of taken by mouth as prescribed.2 People without an opioid use disorder could experience a high when taking them orally. Naltrexone treatment is typically started after the person has completely stopped taking other opioid drugs; otherwise, the medication may cause withdrawal symptoms.16 Unlike methadone and buprenorphine, naltrexone works solely by blocking opioid receptors so that opioid drugs can no longer cause feelings of pleasure.14 Evidence also suggests that naltrexone reduces opioid cravings.15
This booklet aims to fill that knowledge gap by providing scientific information about the disorder of drug addiction, including the many harmful consequences of drug use and the basic approaches that have been developed to prevent and treat substance use disorders. Today, thanks to science, our views and our responses to addiction and the broader spectrum of substance use disorders have changed dramatically. Those views shaped society’s responses to drug use, treating it as a moral failing rather than a health problem, which led to an emphasis on punishment rather than prevention and treatment. When scientists began to study addictive behavior in the 1930s, people with an addiction were thought to be morally flawed and lacking in willpower. For much of the past century, scientists studying drugs and drug use labored in the shadows of powerful myths and misconceptions about the nature of addiction. New NIDA animation tackles a common question and explains the science behind drug use and addiction to help light the…
Biological factors that can affect a person’s risk of addiction include their genes, stage of development, or ethnicity. The initial decision to take drugs is typically voluntary. Occasional drug use, such as misusing an opioid to get high, can have similarly disastrous effects, including impaired driving and overdose.
Methadone and buprenorphine can be equally effective in helping people reduce opioid use.10 Both medications help people stay in treatment. Several buprenorphine products are approved for treatment of opioid use disorder, including tablets that are placed under the tongue, extended-release injections, and implants. Buprenorphine also binds to and activates mu-opioid receptors in the brain, but to a lesser degree than methadone; it also can block other opioid drugs from attaching to those receptors.
While relapse is a normal part of recovery, for some drugs, it can be very dangerous—even deadly. Treatment of chronic diseases involves changing deeply rooted behaviors, and relapse doesn’t mean treatment has failed. If people stop following their medical treatment plan, they are likely to relapse. Like treatment for other chronic diseases such as heart disease or asthma, addiction treatment is not a cure, but a way of managing the condition. Yes, addiction is a treatable disorder. One of the brain areas still maturing during adolescence is the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain that allows people to assess situations, make sound decisions, and keep emotions and desires under control.
This may exacerbate their mental disorder in the long run, as well as increase the risk of developing addiction.43,44 Treatment for all conditions should happen concurrently. In some cases, mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, or schizophrenia may come before addiction. Detoxification alone without subsequent treatment generally leads to resumption of drug use. An overdose happens when the person uses enough of a drug to produce uncomfortable feelings, life-threatening symptoms, or death. If a person uses as much of the drug as they did before quitting, they can easily overdose because their bodies are no longer adapted to their previous level of drug exposure.
