People dependent on drugs can fall an awfully long way. Filling the Void Studies show how widespread the country's drug problem has become. A large-scale study of residents of five U.S. cities showed that as many as 1 in 20 American women either abuse or are dependent on drugs. And drug dependency is horribly expensive. Heroin, for instance, can help a person deal with her natural anxiety.
Alcohol acts as a depressant in most people.
But in others, it actually stimulates them. It makes up for a natural deficiency in some brain chemicals. The relief, however, is always short-lived. It becomes a cycle where you crave the drug more and more and eventually become dependent on its use. And it's not just cocaine, marijuana, heroin and other illegal drugs that are causing the problem.