There is general community concern that young people who use drugs will become dependent. No drug leads to immediate dependence. However, frequent use of a drug can lead to dependence. There are degrees of dependency from mild to severe. It is impossible to say how long or how often a person has to use a drug before dependency develops, as there are many contributing factors.
Dependence can be psychological, physical or both.
Young people may become dependent on aspects of drug use as well as the actual drug. Examples include the rituals associated with injecting and the conventions for smoking marijuana in groups. Psychological dependence on a drug has developed when drug use becomes far more important than other things in a person's life. They crave the drug and feel compelled to keep using it. They feel that they can't cope without it.