Many people today view alcohol and drugs very differently than how they were portrayed years ago. In previous years, few medications were used to save lives, unlike the different types of medications used today. Today there are medications used for different treatments for all kinds of illnesses. Drugs are a billion-dollar business, legally and illegally. Society views drugs most of the time as a way to save lives and help society improve, but many do not realize the millions of lives it destroys. Substance abuse, whether it is alcohol, illegal drugs, over-the-counter drugs, or cigarettes, can progress from casual to addiction. Substance abuse can be a huge gateway to an addiction that can escalate very quickly. Most of the time, we convince ourselves that people choose to use these drugs so frequently that addiction is a self-imposed choice. Substance abuse and dependence is more than an individual problem, it is a social problem. Substance abuse is defined as dependence on an addictive substance (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2014). The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) found that 8.7 percent of Americans over the age of 12 are dependent on some type of addictive substance (Caron, 2009). Drug addiction is not about any one person or group; this can vary from any age, race, gender or social class. Many people think that drug addiction is easy to overcome, when in reality, for many addicts, it is a difficult disease to cure that could lead to a more serious problem, such as addiction. There are stages that a person who abuses a substance will go through before becoming dependent...... middle of paper ...... in an individual's life. Addiction is the same whether the drug is alcohol, cocaine, heroin, marijuana or nicotine. All substances allow the individual to feel well-being, away from all the problems occurring in their life. Although each individual has different reasoning for consuming this substance, continuing to constantly consume the substance(s) makes the body addicted. Becoming addicted will cause you to experience uncontrollable cravings and relapses. Your body is at a point where it would be very difficult to stop, resulting in serious physical and mental damage from withdrawal. “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself as I am, I can then change. » The first step in any process an addict faces is accepting that they are exactly that: an addict. Once this is accepted, they allow themselves to ask for help (Carl Rogers).