Why cant a person just stop using drugs? This is a common question parents ask who struggle with the concept of a son or daughter abusing drugs like cocaine, heroin, or prescription drugs. Many people think it’s a genetic disease, or peer pressure, many believe it’s an environmental problem. Though many of these play a factor, there is one remaining issue that causes more relapses than any other situation. It’s the physical aspect of addiction and in this blog we will elaborate on how it works.
When a person takes a drug like heroin, cocaine, marijuana, or a prescription drug like Oxycontin, it enters the liver and the kidneys where it is metabolized and broken down into tiny particles called drug metabolites. These metabolites contain little tiny particles of the drug which are lypophillic or also known as fat bonding. Once the drug enters the blood stream they begin to lodge and store into the fatty tissues. After time, the drugs accumulate and begin to build up and become toxic in the body.
Though this toxic buildup of drugs in the body is bad, there is one other issue to be more concerned about. It’s the reason why a person relapses the majority of the time. Once the drugs are stored in the tissues, the metabolites can release back into the blood stream and shoot back up to the brain causing a craving for the drug. This is called a physical restimulation and is one of the number reasons for relapse. The best for of treatment to handle this is called a biophysical drug rehab.