Does the use of drugs affect the genetic makeup of an individual?

Drug usage has been happening for many centuries, dating first to the Ancient Greco-Roman period, where several people used opium or wormwood (Crocq and Marc-Antoine). The research on drug usage didn’t start until the 19th century, During the 60s, when the war on drugs first started and the harmful effects of drugs were brought to light. Drugs can have a variety of impacts, including behavioral changes like fluctuating emotions or increased hostility toward others, impact on sleep or insomnia, Cognitive difficulties, A decline of appetite, or failure to consume a well-balanced diet(Sinha). These are the most common effects of new to moderate users. It is known that the longer you use illicit substances the more severe the effects become causing permanent damage to the body. A lot of people can have a higher possibility of getting addicted to certain drugs because of genetics. Though it’s known that a lot of children, who have drug addicts as parents have traits of addiction. Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome is when a newborn is exposed to drugs in the womb and it causes them to be born to be addicted to drugs(Ross et al.). The baby then has to go through withdrawal after being born. Furthermore, drug usage leads, to a lot of changes in the genetics of an individual and their DNA itself. Thus, this raises the question of, does someone’s genetic composition changes as a result of drug use?

While publicly believed to be a physical reaction to drug usage over time, In reality, it’s a chronic relapsing brain disease(Gelernter and Kranzler). Drug addiction plagues millions of people in the U.S., these people demonstrate substance dependence or abuse. While the first stage of drug abuse is, the initial usage of it, there are several stages of it later. After the initial use, it goes on to regular use and then finally addiction and relapse after trying to stop the addiction. Addiction, in broader terms, is the development of the drug use throughout a certain amount of time, which only can change due to tolerance, and intake amount. Drug misuse changes physiological systems, helping to maintain the addicted state and influencing withdrawal and relapse(Gelernter and Kranzler). Addiction susceptibility and persistent addiction are impacted by a confluence of genetic, social, biological, and environmental variables. 

The term epigenetics is the study of heritable traits and the changes that could happen to them(Weinhold, Bob).  While it is widely believed that our genetics and DNA don’t change from the second we are born, this isn’t true. Our DNA changes as we age, the DNA is altered but doesn’t affect the genetic sequence but epigenetic changes affect how genes are expressed (Weinhold). Then this helps regulate the cells in different parts of the body using the same genetic code. This gene expression is very important because it is the process in which where the cells have the blueprint to make RNA and proteins. While genetic code doesn’t change, even if the DNA is altered, the epigenetic changes affect whether or not the genes are “on” or “off”(Abuse, National Institute on Drug). The epigenetic changes that happen in the DNA after continuous drug use are the modification to methylation and chromatin (Nestler, Eric J). Methylation in broader terms is what brings in the proteins involved in gene expression, which regulate gene expression. Methylation is very important for other functions in the body like the regulation of long-term storage of memory, which further relates to the biological clock of humans. Chromatin is essentially a combination of DNA and types of protein, like histones, that form the chromosomes found in cells in the body(Nielsen, David A, et al). Chromatin is essential in creating the nucleus in every cell in the body because it’s a condensed version of the DNA produced (Ducci, Francesca,David Goldman). This then helps it seamlessly go through cell division.

Subsequently, Genes are very dependent on DNA, they have a different reaction to drug abuse. While drug abuse affects gene expression by affecting certain molecules in DNA, like Methylation, Drug Abuse also affects the alleles, which are in simpler terms variations of Genes(Gelernter,Joel,Henry R. Kranzler). The allele of the dopamine receptor DRD2 is produced and this variation affects the way the body reacts psychologically to drugs(Bevilacqua, L,D Goldman). In the sense that the Reward deficiency syndrome is implicated. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is responsible for producing hormones that cause an individual to be happy. The reward deficiency syndrome is when the body involves dopamine resistance, to produce a deprivation in the brain reward mechanisms(Mavrikaki,Maria). In a Drug usage scenario, someone’s brain will configure into a reward pathway, where they would have to keep taking drugs to feel better. Furthermore, Abusing drugs triggers channels of signaling that activate protein kinases, causing modified gene transcription and protein synthesis(Lee, Anna M.,Robert O. Messing). Nevertheless, there isn’t much data on it to be certain that drug use affects the genes of the user, but there is data that it affects the user’s offspring.

Every year there are approximately 20,000 babies who are born with an addiction to illicit substances, and prescription drugs and are suffering from neonatal abstinence syndrome(NAS)(“New Framework to Curb Births of Babies Born Dependent to Drugs​​​​​​​”). NAS is essentially when a newborn is suffering from withdrawal after being born because they were exposed to drugs while in the womb. It happens after birth because they aren’t receiving the drug from the mother’s bloodstream anymore. This also brings to question if a baby’s genes and DNA can be altered after being exposed to drugs while in the womb. Other than developmental consequences and brain stunts, It can alter the production of cells, due to protein function being affected by the substances(Lee, Anna M.,Robert O. Messing). Drug abuse stimulates signaling pathways that activate protein kinases, resulting in altered gene transcription and protein synthesis(Lee, Anna M., Robert O. Messing). Just like adults it can affect Chromatin and Methlanylation production for cells.

In Conclusion, other than the physical and neurological effects of drug usage, Illicit substances can cause an individual’s genetics to change because they affect the DNA, and that changes the genes in the body. Drugs may affect a person’s behavior in a number of ways, such as how they affect sleep or cause insomnia, how they affect one’s ability to think clearly, how they affect their hunger, or how they fail to eat a balanced diet. The most common adverse reactions for new to moderate users are listed below. It is well-recognized that the longer you take illegal drugs, the worse the effects are and the more harm you do to your body over time. Abuse of drugs alters physiological systems, contributing to the maintenance of addiction and impacting withdrawal and recurrence. Although DNA changes as we age, genetics and DNA do not change from the moment we are born. Epigenetic modifications, on the other hand, impact how genes are expressed. Furthermore, addiction causes a lot of the offspring of the user to inherit traits relating to addiction. Last but not least, drug use causes a person’s genetic makeup and DNA to alter significantly.