Quoting from the statement made by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), you can get a clear idea when you will call something as a substance abuse. This is same in case of drugs as well.

Routes of drug addiction

When we refer to drug abuse we generally try to indicate the use of those drugs that have been regarded as illicit and illegitimate. Heroin, cocaine and drugs like marijuana normally fall under the category of illicit drugs. When you are dependent on anyone of these drugs you automatically fall under the category of drug abuser. There are some medicines too which when overused can be referred as drug abuse. Excessive consumption of cough syrups without the prescribed mode to treat cough and cold is very much a way of drug abuse.

An abuser of drug after a certain extent of time and over a period of drug use turn out to be drug dependent. At this point it is no more the stage of drug use but more appropriately referred as drug dependency.

Ways to get dependent

The stage of dependence towards a particular substance arises when an overdose of the substance is being regularly used and in spite of critical problems at the physiological level and behavioral pattern, the psychological yearn for the substance cannot be prohibited. The desire is uncontrollable and you simply need it. Without it you react erratically as if you will end up your life. If you have acquired this stage in your addiction of a particular drug it is very much indicating your dependency on the addiction. The DSM-IV also defines drug dependency in the above mentioned way.

The term "normal being" acquires a different definition in case of drug abuse and addiction. The real normal persons will find the drug addict to be abnormal in his behavior and also at the level of physical health. But for the drug addicts their present condition is normal. They are in an instable situation if the supply of the particular drug they have become use to is stopped. Under any circumstance they are unable to inhibit the use of the drugs on their own and for them they are healthy with the drugs.

There is no other way except to get them treated properly in a drug rehab center. For many the outpatient treatment system works if the individual has just become a drug abuser. Or else you must help out the person with a long-term treatment through the inpatient treatment pattern provided by a rehab center. That's the best way to overcome this personal as well as social crisis.