International Research Compendium - Drug Free Australia

Elements of patho-physiology of drug addiction and
related consequences.
Contribution to the Drug Free Australia Conference “Exposing the Reality”
Adelaide, 27 April 2007
Dr. Van Damme Ivan
Flemish Platform against Drugs
Email: ma191526@skynet.be
Good morning members of parliament, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
I am honoured to be here to participate in this groundbreaking conference in search
of solutions to drug addiction which is one of our most serious problems.
Even through the dangers of addiction are usually well known, people still initiate
drug use and continue using drugs until they become addicted. Only then do they
discover just how difficult it is to stop using drugs, when they have encountered the
many problems that result from drug use. People lose their jobs, health and families,
and still continue their drug use. The single best way to avoid the risks of addiction,
no matter what one’s genetic makeup, is not to use the substance at all.
When a drug of abuse is used for the first time, the user either stops when the drug
fails to deliver all that was promised, or when external controls are applied, or if
neither happens, he/she continues to use. The slavery of addiction is especially
painful, humiliating and cruel because it is self-imposed by freely choosing to start
using drugs. But all people are responsible for their own lives and for their own
choices and drug users remain fully responsible for their behaviours during every
stage of addiction.
The first use of alcohol and other drugs occurs usually during the teenage years.
Sharing of drugs by so-called friends is a major way that drug use spreads: close
mates who use drugs tell the novice user that the particular drug can be used safely
and with pleasure. But drug-using friends are not real friends. Drug users are allies
and accomplices in drug use. They help provide the drugs, and they sustain the
environment in which drug use takes place. They help the addict rationalize the drug
use with the view that “everyone is doing it, not just me”.
Non-users contemplating drug use look to these non-dependent users as models for
using drugs without significant consequences. New users’ novel, pleasurable
experiences, combined with their desires to normalize their own use, can lead them
to recruit other new users. In this way, the drug epidemic amongst youngsters is
spread.
The younger the person is when drug use starts, the more rapid and the more likely
the progression to loss of control over drug use. The brains of younger users are still
immature and are more vulnerable to the seduction of the mood change.
Another reason why young people are the most vulnerable to addiction is they have
not developed and practiced effective ways of dealing with life’s problems.
Adolescence is a growing and learning period, where young people get to practice
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