Impact of drug use on your life

When making a decision as to whether you are going to take drugs it is important for you to know the facts about the drug you choose to take and to understand the risks related to taking that drug.

Thinking about taking drugs?

Feeling confused about whether or not taking drugs is the right choice for you is not unusual. Drugs can have both sought after and undesirable effects.

Drugs can lift your mood, relax you or even give you more energy.

They can also have negative impacts on your relationships, your life in general, and your mental and physical health.

It's your choice to decide whether or not taking the drug is worth it for you.

Some questions for you to ask yourself are:

• Do I know what I'm taking? (for example, most 'ecstasy' is not actually MDMA)
• How likely is it that I will have a positive experience?
• How do I know that the next experience is also going to be a positive one?
• How do I know that I will be able to control my drug usage and that I will be safe?
• Can I afford it?
• What is the safest method of use?
• Am I in the right environment, is there someone to help me if something goes wrong?
• Do I know what the risks are and what to do if something goes wrong?
• Am I taking anything else (alcohol, illicit drugs, over the counter or prescribed medication) that might interact with the drug?
• What do I know about the person who's selling me the drug?

Taking drugs can impact on you in a number of ways

If you are taking drugs, it is possible that you feel you can manage the effects of the drugs and that you can deal with the impact it has on your life. Taking drugs might make you feel good, and there may not even appear to be any consequences to taking the drug.

Sometimes some of these impacts might appear over time and as circumstances in your life or your usage of drugs changes. It may be useful to stop and re-examine the impact of your drug use on your life now and then to see if this is changing. You may find it useful to go through this list as a prompter, and it may also be helpful to talk with someone you trust, for example, a friend, counsellor or family member.

Impact on relationships + life

Your drug use might have impact on your life in ways you might not expect. What were things like before you started using? How does using affect your life now? How would you like things to be different in the future?

Your relationships - Are you finding that there has been any negative change in your relationships? When drug use is an ongoing problem, conflict between friends and partners, and family breakdown can be more common.

Safety - Do you ever find yourself in situations where you don't feel entirely in control of yourself? Being under the influence of drugs could put you at risk of being in danger in certain circumstances. Buying drugs or trying to get the money to buy them can also put you at risk of harm.

School / TAFE/ uni work - Do you feel you're on top of your study? You might not immediately notice the impact that your lifestyle is having on your study. Keeping up with your homework and concentrating in class are 2 examples of how your study can be affected.

Job loss - Have you or a friend lost a job recently as a result of not being able to do your job because you were drug affected? The after effects of using drugs (coming down or feeling scattered) can reduce a person's ability to work in a job, and can reduce their chances of getting a job too.

Financial pressures - Have you found yourself struggling to pay bills or buy necessities because you've spent your pay or allowance on drugs? And have you ever thought about just how much you would save if you didn't use drugs?

Using drugs regularly can become really expensive. In the extreme, when people are highly dependent on drugs, funding their habit can be their top priority and can lead to crime, or losing everything on gambling.

Dependence - Are you finding it difficult to function without taking drugs? When you take drugs there is a risk that you will become dependent on them, which means that you might feel like you can't operate without it, or that you are spending a lot of their time and energy finding and using the drug.

You might also have withdrawal symptoms when you stop using the drug. If you use drugs a lot you might also need to take increasing amounts to get the same effects (due to increased tolerance).

Violence - Have you done something you wouldn't normally do when not taking drugs? Some drugs can increase the likelihood of acting in a violent way.

Violence is not OK and if you are becoming violent when you use drugs it may be a good idea to look at how you can manage your drug use. Being violent can also get you in trouble with the law.

Homelessness - Have your parents threatened to kick you out of home, or are you finding it hard to pay your rent? If you are spending your money on drugs you might find that there is not much money left for living (paying rent, buying food, or having the money to see a doctor or buy medicine when you get sick). In extreme circumstances you could even get 'kicked out' of home or lose your ability to pay your rent.

Mental health

How does taking drugs affect your mental health? Some people say that using drugs doesn't affect their mental health negatively, whereas other say it can make them stressed, trigger mental illness or exacerbate existing illness.

Stress - Feeling stressed instead of relaxed after taking drugs? You might think that using certain drugs will help you relax and forget about the things that are causing you stress. However, changing the way the body and mind work with drugs is a stress in itself, and you could experience tension, anxiety, paranoia and other symptoms which only add to the feelings of stress.

Psychosis - Have you or anyone you know ever lost touch with what is real? A number of drugs can trigger psychosis, which is a mental illness where you lose touch with reality. For info check out the Understanding psychosis + getting help fact sheet.

Depression - Have you ever felt depressed after taking drugs, or felt that taking drugs worsens existing depression? Feeling low after using some drugs is common (including alcohol) - this could be due to the drug itself or because of things that happened when you were using them.

Sometimes people use drugs more when they are depressed as a way to cope with their feelings. Some people find that reducing or eliminating drug use can improve their depression. What do you think?

Physical health

Injuries and accidents - Ever had an accident after taking drugs? When you are under the influence of drugs you might find yourself doing things that you wouldn't' normally do which can increase your chance of getting hurt or having an accident.

Drug-related injuries can come from things like fights, falling over, operating machinery at work, car accidents, or falling off a skateboard.

Getting pregnant or getting someone else pregant - Ever forgotten to use a condom when you were under the influence of drugs? Under the influence you are less likely to remember to use protection which might possibly result in you or the person you have sex with getting pregnant.

Damage to internal organs - Considered the impact on your insides? Heavy use of some drugs can damage the liver. The brain, lungs, throat and stomach can be damaged by drug use too.

Risk of infectious disease - Thought about risk of disease through drug paraphernalia? Sharing needles from injecting drugs is a major risk for getting diseases like Hepatitis C or B or HIV, which are spread through blood-to-blood transmission.

You can also catch other infections from sharing things like pipes or bongs (eg. colds, glandular fever, herpes), for more information check out the safer drug use factsheet.

Legal issues

Making, selling or having drugs in your possession is against the law in Australia. Punishments for breaking these laws include having to go to court which might result in being sent to jail, having to pay hefty fines, or enter a rehabilitation program. 

Getting help

If drug use is a problem for you, or you're finding it hard to manage life and relationships when you use drugs help is available.

If you reduce your drug use you may still crave for it for sometime afterwards. Try not to be too hard on yourself if you don't reach your immediate goal.

It may be helpful to have someone you can talk to. This may be a friend, a family member, doctor or a counsellor. Check out the Getting help for drug use fact sheet for more info. The Who can help you section of the site also has more info about help available for you.

More information

Phone numbers within Australia

NSW

Alcohol and Drug Information Service (ADIS) - 02 9361 8000 OR 1800 422 599

ACT

ADIS - 02 6205 4545

VIC

Direct Line (Drug Advice) - 1800 888 236
Family Drug and Alcohol Help 1300 660 068 or 03 9573 1730

QLD

ADIS - 07 3837 5989 OR 1800 177 833

TAS

ADIS - 1800 811 994 or 03 416 1818

SA

ADIS - 08 8363 8618 OR 1300 131 340

WA

ADIS - 08 9442 5000 OR 1800 198 024

NT

ADIS - 1800 629 683 or Darwin 08 8922 8399 or Alice Springs 08 8951 7580

Amity Community Services - 1800 684 372

Family Drug Support
Helpline: 1300 368 186
Website: www.fds.org.au