Drug is a chemical compound which, when taken into the body, changes the body's metabolism. But obviously not everyone who takes drugs is an addict. That addiction is not an inherent characteristic of drugs or people, but of person's response to a particular type of experience. The main problem with most past and continuing research on addiction, is that it locates the source of addiction in the wrong place. Initially, taking the drug is pleasant experience, giving one the feeling of being relieved from anxiety, when in actual fact those things in life which cause anxiety grow more server.
Drugs lessen the person's ability to cope with life's difficulties.
It is here that the vicious circle of drug addiction starts, with the dialectic of relief and slavery as its driving force. This is certainly more complex than mere physical dependence. The key to diagnosis of addictive disease is in the observation that the patient persists in using drugs in spite of the consequences. It also means that taking away the drug would not solve the problem of drug addiction. It becomes an addiction when the experience is no longer pleasant, but the person continues to risk everything by compulsively attempting to repeat and even intensify the pleasant experience previously produced by drugs.