Speaking with SaharaReporters on the differences between drug addiction and drug abuse, Adebowale noted that drug addiction is when someone was using a drug as a way of life and that if they do not get that drug, such persons can’t function normally.
A healthcare consultant, Dr Fola Adebowale, has said that unemployment, depression and poverty were among leading factors responsible for drug addiction among youths in Nigeria.
Speaking with SaharaReporters on the differences between drug addiction and drug abuse, Adebowale noted that drug addiction is when someone was using a drug as a way of life and that if they do not get that drug, such persons can’t function normally.
According to him, drug abuse is the misuse of drug that can even come from a medical professional or the general everyday person.
He said, "If a medical professional gives a patient an overdose, that is drug abuse.
“So, an abuse can occur without even addiction. Using drug to commit suicide is an abuse as well.
“More often than not, it is the people that get addicted to drug that abuse it. Abuse of drug can be larger than addiction.
“Anyone of the two can kill depending on what is going on. The parameters doesn't define which one kills faster, it defines how the person reacts to it at the moment.
“Drug addiction is much more than heroin and cocaine and some other illegal drugs.
“Any drug can cause addiction. A normal pain killer like paracetamol can be abused.
“Addiction is a disease, and a disease have to deal with the mental and psychological state of the person and even the DNA of a person because the tendency to be addicted is higher in some people than others.”
Adebowale urged people into drug addiction to find solutions to it, adding that addiction is hard but curable.