Why do people involved in the criminal justice system continue abusing drugs?
The answer to this perplexing question spans basic neurobiological, psychological, social, and environmental factors. The repeated use of addictive drugs eventually changes how the brain functions. Resulting brain changes, which accompany the transition from voluntary to compulsive drug use, affect the brain’s natural inhibition and reward centers, causing the addict to use drugs in spite of the adverse health, social, and legal consequences (Volkow, Fowler, Wang, et al., 1993; Volkow, Hitzemann, Wang, et al., 1992; Volkow and Li, 2004). Craving for drugs may be triggered by contact with the people, places, and things associated with prior drug use, as well as by stress. Forced abstinence without treatment does not cure addiction. Abstinent individuals must still learn how to avoid relapse, including those who have been incarcerated and may have been abstinent for a long period of time.
