Factors That Influence Drug Addiction

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the addiction, but how readily available to the addict each substance is. The Vietnam Veterans, who used heroin during the war, are an excellent example of how availability strengthens the addiction process. Opiates were very easy to obtain in Vietnam, and as a result ten percent of our soldiers tested positive for heroine use during the war. Upon their return home, Robins et all studied 860 men for their drug use. Their study stated that twenty percent of the men tested (at discharge) were addicted to heroin. Three years later they tested the same men under the same criteria and only two percent were addicted. The most widely understood explanation to this phenomenon is that heroin is much more difficult to obtain in the United States, so most of the veterans were either able to abstain completely, or limit their use considerably. Out of sight out of mind!
Limited availability on it’s own probably wouldn’t deter most addict’s. However, if the drugs are very difficult to ...

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