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4: Substance Use and Abuse

  • Page ID
    145111
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    By Althea Moser

    Learning Objectives

    • Address addiction and risk factors for addiction
    • Define types of drugs, possible health effects, and treatment options
    • Explore the abuse of alcohol, nicotine, e-cigarettes, and prescription drugs and their role in addiction
    • Assess personal risk for substance use and abuse

    • 4.1: Drug Abuse and Addiction
      This page describes drug addiction as a chronic brain disease marked by compulsive use despite adverse effects. It explores motivations for initial drug use, such as pleasure, stress relief, and peer influence, while highlighting that these can lead to loss of control and addiction. It examines risk factors, including early aggression, inadequate parental supervision, and genetic traits, as well as protective factors.
    • 4.2: Types of Drugs, Possible Health Effects, and Treatment Options
      This page provides an overview of commonly abused drugs such as alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine, detailing their health effects and outlining treatment options for addiction. It emphasizes the risks associated with drug abuse and the significance of professional help in recovery.
    • 4.3: Alcohol, Nicotine, e-cigarettes, and Prescription Drugs
      This page offers resources on addiction to alcohol and nicotine, including FAQs about alcohol abuse and college drinking. It features videos discussing the consequences of e-cigarette use among teens and the problem of prescription drug abuse in this demographic, aiming to educate readers on the associated risks of substance use and dependency.
    • 4.4: Assessing Your Personal Risk Factors for Substance Use and Abuse-
      This page provides instructions for completing labs that assess personal risk factors for substance use. Readers choose between the Alcohol Use Lab or the Cigarette Use Lab based on their habits and must adhere to instructor guidelines for submission.


    This page titled 4: Substance Use and Abuse was last modified on Tue, 27 Jan 2026 19:33:19 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Scott Flynn, Jonathan Howard, Lisa Jellum, and Althea Moser (GALILEO Open Learning Materials) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.