What Other Factors Contribute to the Addiction Crisis?

the causes

Drug or alcohol addiction, also known as substance use disorder, is now widely recognized as a chronic disease of the brain. Anyone can develop a substance use disorder, but there are some risk factors that increase a person’s chances of struggling with addiction. Some of those factors are easy access to substances, a family history of substance use, a mental disorder, and a history of physical abuse or neglect. More than 20 million people in the U.S. currently have a substance use disorder.

Drug use and abuse in the U.S. is not a new issue. Opium use in this country dates back to the 1800s. The easy access to prescription opioids in the last decades just made an existing problem worse.