Drug abuse risks: get the facts.

Take the quiz below, then check the answers to find out facts that can keep you in the know about drug abuse and the disease of addiction.

1 Teens are more vulnerable to drug addiction.

True or false?

2 A single session of inhaling highly concentrated amounts of inhalant chemicals, including those found in common aerosols, can lead to heart failure and death.

True or false?

3 Abusing drugs can affect your heart and cardiovascular system. Which of the following can result?

a. abnormal heart rate

b. heart attack

c. collapsed veins

d. bacterial infections of blood vessels and heart valves

4 Drug abuse, including cigarette smoking, can affect your respiratory system. Which of the following can result?

a. bronchitis

b. emphysema 

c. lung cancer

d. asthma

5 Drug addiction is a complex disease involving many factors.

True or false?

Answers

1 True. Drug addiction is a "developmental" disease. Recent studies show that the teen brain, parts of which are still developing, is at a greater risk of addiction than a mature brain. The prefrontal cortex is the main part of the brain that people use to make decisions that require judgment and consideration of long-term consequences. Because the prefrontal cortex is still maturing in teens, a brain system that matures earlier--the limbic system--influences a teen's decisions more than it would influence an adult's decisions.

2 True. Inhalants cause toxic chemical vapors to race through the body. A single session of repeatedly inhaling highly concentrated amounts of inhalant chemicals can cause asphyxiation or cardiac arrest, even in a healthy young person. Sudden sniffing death is the name given to this fatal result of inhalant abuse.

3&4 a, b, c, and d. These cardiovascular and respiratory effects can result from many different kinds of drugs when they are abused, including cocaine, inhalants, heroin, meth, nicotine, and prescription drugs, like OxyContin[R] and Vicodin[R]. (The bacterial infections can be a result of injection drug abuse.) Drug abuse can also cause problems for other internal organs--including the brain and liver--as well as for the immune system.

5 True. Drug addiction is a chronic, complex disease. No single factor can predict who will become addicted. Drug addiction involves a change in how the brain functions, and it can affect how other parts of the body function as well. Like other chronic diseases--such as heart disease and diabetes--it often requires long-term treatment, and relapse is common.