Genetics, Inheritability Factors and Addiction

Abstract

Addiction along with drug use disorders requires exposure to addictive agents. The renowned addictive agents include drugs such as alcohol, nicotine, and other hard drugs. Individuals who are susceptible to addiction include those who are increasingly exposed to the addictive agents. Nicotine use and abuse of alcohol are the most abused substances in the globe. These substances are responsible for the increasing mortality in both developing and developed worlds. The risk factors for addiction range from genetic factors to environmental factors. Alcohol dependence is mostly attributed to the short (S) allele. Similarly, this dependence is also linked to the environmental factors. Like alcohol, nicotine dependence is also linked to genetic factors. Various genetic studies indicate that nicotine dependence is heritable as there are many genes responsible for inheritance of smoking behavior. This study however notes that addiction to drugs is as a result of either heritable or inheritable factors. The study used 2000 smokers, 3000 alcohol addicts and 3000 cannabis dependents as the population for research. The researchers evaluated the contributions of genes to substance dependence. The results of the study showed that genetic and environmental factors contributed significantly to the addiction disorder.