Prescription medicine can be used as drugs. On the contrary, drugs can be used as self-medication to relieve stress, anxiety or insomnia. Drugs affect the body and the brain, alter behavior, psyche, mood and state of consciousness.
Using psychoactive products doesn’t necessarily cause health or behavioral issues. It is often related to a particular life period.
That is called experimental or occasional use.
Drug use is dangerous. Experimental or occasional use can transition into harmful use and cause psychological, physical and social damage to the consumer or his environment.
drug use in situations dangerous to self or others (while carrying out complex tasks such as driving for example)
repeted violations (violence for example) due to drug use
personal issues, health or social issues caused or accentuated by drug use (family, affective, professional relationships going sour)
inability to do without the drug for several days or for specific activities
The addiction stage starts when the user can no longer do without one or more drugs without physical or psychological suffering. His daily life revolves around the drug use, he became addicted.
All the drugs mentioned on this website are illicit (except for tobacco and alcohol which are regulated). Their use and the incitement to their use (art. L 3421-1 and the following of the French Code of public health), as well as their possession, transportation and trafficking (articles 222-34 of the French penal code), are strictly forbidden by the December 31st, 1970 law and therefore punishable by a fine or imprisonment. Furthermore, driving under the influence of drugs is punishable by specific sanctions (article L 235-1 of the French highway code). Accordingly, saliva tests are conducted.
Health and social guidance (awareness training to the dangers of drug use, the need for treatment…) are prioritized for users.
Being aware of key information, being as well informed as possible, knowing the risk factors and the effects are good assets to avoid the worst. However, sometimes being well informed is not enough.
Be wary of your behavior when faced with drugs you may consume. Don’t forget that drug use impairs your consciousness and makes you forget several safety rules: unprotected sex (risk of HIV, hepatitis and other STIs contamination), dangerous driving… Additionally, any consumption of psychoactive substances can cause or worsen psychological issues.
For a long time, all drug-related behaviors and drug uses have been amalgamated under the term of drug addiction. People were convinced that drugs were at the root of all problems and that therefore the only solution was withdrawal and the goal was total abstinence. The reality is more complex.
The risks do not only come from the use but also from the products themselves: using cannabis every day is just as dangerous as smoking crack once a year, even if crack seems more dangerous than cannabis. Addiction is one of the major risks of drug use.
We are unequal regarding physical or psychological dependence. Some become “addicts” easier than others. Either way, it should be noted that compulsive consumption, i.e. the compelling need to take the product, alcohol and medicine included, must be a warning sign of dependence.
Another problematic use, related to occasional use, is abuse. Since the effects of drugs eventually weaken over time, or because of drug tolerance due to habit, habituation, or because the effects are concealed by other drugs (mixing), it is tempting to take another dose, or to take stronger doses.
Abuse is difficult to control, because it cannot be easily identified: the user doesn’t consider himself dependent because the use is limited in time and to specific moments (on weekends…). However, it’s a sign of a problematic drug use.
