Drug-related Cognitive Impairment

Is drug use associated with cognitive impairment? The answer to this is clear: yes. Sooner or later, drug use affects the brain in one way or another. And on top of that, the impact is always negative.

Globally, a large number of people die prematurely as a result of excessive alcohol use. We must not forget that alcohol is also a drug. The difference between alcohol and other drugs is that society has alcohol for its use. But what about other drugs?

In Spain, for example, more than 4,000 people are hospitalized each year for drug-induced psychosis. This trend is becoming more common. According to the “National Strategic Action Plan” on Drugs, over the past ten years, people’s hospital admissions for drug-induced psychosis have increased by 103 percent.

Several studies have been conducted to support the idea that frequent drug use leads to significant harm. In addition to this, it seems that the effects of drug use are difficult to reverse, drug use then began at any age.

Why do people use drugs?

This question is not easy to answer. In fact, it would be impossible to calculate each case for one reason. It is true that there is genuine social concern associated with drug use, but we still do not know much about it. There is a lot of talk about drugs and drug use, but the talk is not very public. People repeat a lot of misinformation and say things that make no sense.

People tend to associate drugs with two things: youth and crime. The information we receive as such is quite prejudiced right from the start. Drug abuse leads to serious health problems. In addition to this, drug use is the beginning of many different crimes and family problems.

The general and violent use of drugs definitely affects the body. But on the other hand, we cannot isolate these substances used for entertainment from the society that has made this use possible. Social circles so often lead to drug use and are even motivating factors for it. Our society has normalized drug use.

How does drug use lead to cognitive impairment?

Drug use can cause morphological changes in brain structure. These changes have the following effects:

• Loss of brain volume.
• Decrease in gray area.
• Decreased cerebrospinal fluid.

• Enlargement of the periocortal space and both lateral ventricles.
• Nerve cell depletion.
• Nerve cell death.
• Brain atrophy.

At the same time, drug use causes damage to the metabolic rearrangement of the synaptic connectivity circuit. Metabolic rearrangement occurs as a result of tolerance, retention, and withdrawal symptoms.

These processes are common in all dependencies. They induce biochemical adaptations in the systems that control dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline. These mediators work with glutamate receptors. They may prevent the strengthening and repressive mechanisms of the long-lasting hippocampus and pleasure center.

Finally, they can cause changes in cerebrovascular system, vasoconstriction, intraparenchymal and subarachnoid hemorrhage, and cerebral infarction. It seems that the negative effects of drug use are really significant.

What do studies say about drug-induced brain damage?

At this point, we know that drug-induced brain damage is real. But how does drug use affect cognitive performance?

In terms of memory, people who use more alcohol and cannabis than cocaine or other drugs have poorer short-term memory. The longer a drug lasts, the greater the effect it has on memory.

In terms of executive functions, patients who have used cannabis and alcohol for a long time have decreased disorder capacity. This means that they express descended inhibitions for automatic reactions.

We also know that drug users have impaired alternating attention. They need more time to complete activities that require sequential and logical thinking. But alcohol and cannabis users still experience milder side effects in other areas. For example, they can maintain their phonological verbal digestibility.

As we can see, drug use leads to neuropsychological and neuroanatomical changes. These changes result in functional neuroadaptation in cognitive, motivating, behavioral, and emotional functions. As a result, daily psychosocial activities and the quality of life of the drug user are also affected.

These changed activities have to do with the ability to concentrate, integrate, process information, and execute certain action plans. And that’s not all, according to the biopsychosocial explanation, these changes may play an important role. When we look at addiction from a broader and ideographic perspective, addiction serves as a variable that sustains drug use.