Why Can’t Drug Addicts Quit On Their Own?

Long-term drug use results in significant changes in brain function that persist long after the individual stops using drugs.
Understanding that drug addiction has such an important biological component may help explain an individual’s difficulty in achieving and maintaining abstinence without addiction treatment. Psychological stress from work or family problems, social cues (such as meeting individuals from one’s drug-using past), or the environment (such as encountering streets, objects, or even smells associated with drug use) can interact with biological factors to hinder attainment of sustained abstinence and make relapse more likely. Research studies indicate that even the most severely addicted individuals can participate actively in drug addiction treatment and that active participation is essential to good outcomes.
* How Effective Is Drug Addiction Treatment?
Treatment of addiction is as successful as treatment of other chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma.
According to several studies, a drug treatment program reduces drug use by 40 to 60 percent and significantly decreases criminal activity during and after treatment. For example, a study of therapeutic community treatment for drug offenders demonstrated that arrests for violent and nonviolent criminal acts were reduced by 40 percent or more. Methadone treatment has been shown to decrease criminal behavior by as much as 50 percent. Research shows that drug addiction treatment reduces the risk of HIV infection and that interventions to prevent HIV are much less costly than treating HIV-related illnesses. Treatment can improve the prospects for employment, with gains of up to 40 percent after treatment.
Although these effectiveness rates hold in general, individual addiction treatment outcomes depend on the extent and nature of the patient’s presenting problems, the appropriateness of the addiction treatment components and related services used to address those problems, and the degree of active engagement of the patient in the treatment process.