According to a 2006 National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) survey nearly 21% of the population in the U.S. reported non-medical use of prescription drugs at some point in their lifetime. For many people, the stigma of prescription drug abuse is negligible when compared to illicit drug abuse. After all, the substance of abuse was prescribed by a doctor and purchased in a pharmacy.

Life can be quite crazy sometimes and many people seek to hide themselves away from the lunacy of society by taking drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately there is only one conclusion to the downward spiral of drug and alcohol abuse.

In recent years, researchers have been doing work to try and identify what causes gambling addiction. Like alcoholism and smoking addiction, gambling addiction can cause often life altering problems for a person if the problem goes unchecked. Most studies show that gambling problems arise because of a couple of things. Either that person has issues with competition and must be in the action, or the person has deep rooted problems with money.

Commonly known drugs that often make one to have an addiction include, alcohol, caffeine, cocaine, nicotine, sedatives, hyptnotics, heroin, barbiturates, methadone, codeine among many others. However, each type of drug abused has its own addictive potency level that varies from other drugs. For example, drugs such as alcohol and codeine have a lower addictive potency level compared to drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Therefore, for one to be addicted to alcohol, he or she need to have been exposed to it several times.

What are the first steps to getting a drug abuser or alcoholic to rehab that works? Drug Rehab is the most important part of helping an drug abuser or alcoholic overcome addiction. Yet, I’ve heard time and time again, one must ‘wait’ for a drug or alcohol abuser to hit bottom or ‘they’ have to call the rehab center and admit themselves in detox or rehab. Family members of drug addicts and alcoholics wait unnecessarily for some miracle, more like a disaster, to occur before they take action. Here are the first 5 steps you take to get a drug addicted or alcoholic loved one to rehab.

The coming age has brought with it numerous new pathological addictions, one of them being addiction to gambling. Pathological gambling was conferred with the status of a disease by the American Psychiatric Association back in 1980s. Robert L. Custer, M.D., is a pioneer in this field of problem gambling