Skip Navigation LinksSubstance Abuse

Drugs are a waste of time. They destroy you memory and your self-respect

and everything that goes along with your self esteem.

Kurt Cobain

Substance Abuse

Although the term substance can refer to any physical matter, substance abuse has come to refer to the overindulgence in and dependence of a drug or other chemical leading to effects that are detrimental to the individual's physical and mental health, or the welfare of others.

Spectrum of Psychoactive Substance Use
Casual/Non-problematic Use Chronic Dependence
  • recreational, casual or other use that has negligible health or social effects
 Use that has become habitual and compulsive despite negative health and social effects

Beneficial Use Problematic Use
  • use that has positive health, spiritual or social impact:
  • e.g. medical pharmaceuticals; coffee/tea to increase alertness; moderate consumption of red wine; sacramental use of ayahuasca or peyote
  • use that begins to have negative consequences for individual, friends/family, or society
  • e.g. impaired driving; binge consumption; harmful routes of administration

Source: A Public Health Approach to Drug Control in Canada, Health Officers Council of British Columbia, 2005

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Substance Abuse
Substance Abuse
11 21 Sep 2012, 10:37 By  Anonymous

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