The health problems associated with drug abuse are many and varied, as well a potentially lethal. Due to the nature of drug abuse, this tends to be about addictive drugs or drugs which are voluntarily pursued for some perceived benefit. This typically means long term exposure, and results in symptoms which have a great deal of overlap. Drugs which are ingested by smoking tend to result in increased lung problems, mouth and throat cancers, etc. Drugs that effect the central nervous system tend to list similar strings of symptoms involving psychotic behaviors, stimulants give increased risks of heart attacks and so forth. Another common thread is pregnancy. Drugs can have very strong adverse reactions in the unborn children and cause associated problems, which can kill the baby and mother, or lead to lifetime health problems. Additionally, there are strong effects from mixing drugs.

The most severe drug abuse crisis is nicotine. According to the National Institute of Health, approximately one in six deaths in the US are either caused or influenced by nicotine abuse. This results in 440,000 premature deaths a year. Lung cancer used to be a rare condition that few physicians ever saw. Smoking introduces a variety of dangerous substances into the body and harms just about every organ. Most notably, smoking will damage the lungs, increase the odds of mouth, tongue, throat and lung cancers and can have strong effects on blood circulation and oxygen transfer. Tobacco is the leading avoidable cause of death in the US.

Alcoholism is another serious issue, with over 100,000 deaths per year in the US due to alcohol abuse. Alcohol is also dangerous for much of the body, with especially bad results for livers. Alcohol also kills due to the mind-altering effects, with relatively moderate use resulting in a decreased concern with risks while also reducing the body’s ability to react quickly and accurately. Severe alcohol use results in increasing inability to function physically. These mean that alcohol and cars are an especially dangerous mix. Alcohol and unborn children are also a dangerous mix. While moderate alcohol use can provide benefits, abuse can result in fetal alcohol syndrome, permanently scarring children and can range from increased aggressiveness to a lifetime of brain damage.