On the Fast Track: Three Ways Stimulants Negatively Change Your Life

On the Fast Track: Three Ways Stimulants Negatively Change Your Life It’s easy to see the relationship between drug abuse and deteriorating physical health. It’s not a total surprise when an alcoholic experiences liver failure or a meth addict’s teeth fall out; these drugs are known to damage the body if routinely used to excess. But how do these physical effects translate into the overall quality of life for an addict? Here are three ways stimulants in particular, like methamphetamines and cocaine, change the lives of people who frequently use them. Decisions get harder. Because addiction is a neurological disorder that puts the brain on a hamster wheel of drug seeking and using behaviors, the addict’s ability to make sound decisions is handicapped. A recent study of moral decision-making ability in incarcerated addicts found that key areas of the brain that provide meaningful emotional and empathetic contexts for our decisions were less active. These results suggest that over time the addict considers less of how a decision will affect him or her holistically, including the people around them, leading to choices that may not help or even explicitly harm the addict and their loved ones. You age faster. While many people slather on expensive face and body creams to fend-off the unavoidable signs of aging, long-term methamphetamine and cocaine users are going in completely the opposite direction. On a microscopic level, stimulants and especially methamphetamines, ...
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