Modern medicine often gives doctors a variety of options for treating injuries and illnesses. If your physician prescribes medication, it may instantly improve your quality of life. Still, it is critical to follow both your doctor’s orders and the prescription’s instructions carefully.
When you think of drug addiction, illegal and recreational drugs may come to mind. Nevertheless, it is possible for a legitimate and perfectly legal prescription to lead to a problematic addiction.
Addiction potential
Some prescription drugs, such as opioid painkillers and anti-depressant medications, activate the brain’s reward center. When you take these medications, your brain releases dopamine that causes you to experience pleasure or even euphoria. Put simply, it can be easy to develop an addiction to these feelings.
Physical dependence
With some prescription medications, the body develops physical dependence. That is, you must continue to take the medication to avoid a potentially serious withdrawal. Furthermore, over time, you may need higher dosages to feel the effects of your medication. This is because the brain tends to develop resistance to many prescription drugs.
Legal problems
Abusing prescription medication may lead to a litany of adverse health consequences. If you have an addiction, though, you also may encounter some legal problems. For example, you may doctor shop, forge prescriptions or even steal to obtain the medication you need to feed your addiction.
Those who are facing criminal charges for addiction-related offenses often have some options for minimizing their legal exposure. Ultimately, if your addiction has led to trouble with the law, getting treatment may be one part of your defense strategy.
