The Social Responsibilities Committee has recently been discussing some of the issues associated with addiction to illegal drugs, including the proposed heroin trial. Unfortunately it seems that some one in four heroin users do become dependent on the drug.
Some people are at higher risk than others of becoming dependent.
People with personalities described as antisocial or borderline in the psychiatric literature, and people with addictiveness in their families are at higher risk. Some may take heroin in an attempt to treat another pre-existing problem. We know that problematic drug use tends to be concentrated in areas of poverty and deprivation, multi-generational unemployment ,and a high population density of young adults. Another important factor is the availability of drugs. But not a lot is really known about why some people drift into a life of drug dependence.