Substance abuse means essentially the same as drug abuse, except that the term "substance" (shortenedform of psychoactive substance) avoids any misunderstanding about the meaning of "drug". Many people regard as drugs only those compounds that are, or could be, used for the treatment of disease, whereas "substances" would also include materials such as organic solvents, MORN-ING GLORY SEEDS or toadvenoms, that have no medical applications at present but are "abused" in one or more of the senses defined above.
The best general definition of drug abuse is the use of any drug in a manner that deviates from the approvedmedical or social patterns within a given culture at a given time. This is probably the concept underlying the official acceptance of the term abuse in such instances as the names of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (USA) and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. Such official acceptance, however, does not prevent the occurrence of ambiguities such as those mentioned in the next section.
Recreational or Casual Drug Use
These two terms are generally understood to refer to drug use that is small in amount, infrequent, and without adverse consequences, but these characteristics are not in fact necessary parts of the definitions.
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