1. What Is the Difference Between Drug Abuse and Drug Addiction?

1. What is the difference between drug abuse and drug addiction? – Drug abuse and drug addiction are different conditions. Medically, problems with drug abuse and drug addiction (dependence) are each diagnosed with specific criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR). To be diagnosed with a drug abuse problem, a person would exhibit any one of four specific signs during a one-year period. To be diagnosed with a drug addiction or dependence problem, a person would exhibit any three out of seven specific signs during a one-year period. Some experts use other definitions for drug abuse and addiction exist. For example, abuse can be defined as any use of an illegal substance or the inappropriate use of a legal substance to produce pleasure, reduce stress, or escape reality (or all three). Even if the drug use doesn’t cause problems that need medical treatment (at least early on), this definition would include use of drugs for experimentation—which can still be harmful—and use of substances such as nicotine or alcohol by minors. Perhaps the primary distinction between abuse and addiction relates to the compulsion of an addict to get their next fix. The addict’s focus is almost exclusively on getting more of the drug. Addiction causes a person to lose control over his or her drug use—it is no longer a choice.

DA to begin prosecution of mothers who use drugs

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It's unrealistic to expect a woman who is battling drug addiction to give up her habit just because she becomes pregnant, said Emma Ketteringham, the former legal advocacy director of the national group. … Legislators originally passed the chemical …
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Dr. Griffith Edwards, Addiction Specialist, Dies at 83

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Dr. Griffith Edwards, a psychiatrist who helped establish addiction medicine as a science, formulating definitions of drug and alcohol dependence that are used worldwide to diagnose and treat substance abuse, died on Sept. 13 in a hospice near his home …
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The Meaning of Addiction Has Changed — Addiction is Not a Characteristic of …

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The new definition of addiction in the American Psychiatric Association's forthcoming manual doesn't discriminate — any substance may be addictive. Moreover, the manual … A team of scientists led by Nora Volkow at the National Institute on Drug …
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Videoconference-Based Addiction Treatment Programs Such as Lionrock …

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People in early recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, particularly those with active lifestyles such as Baby Boomers, a group that has seen skyrocketing substance abuse issues, are finding that new Online Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) such as …
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