What substances can someone become addicted to?

Because addiction is a brain disease, it’s possible to become addicted to any substance that acts on the brain’s reward system. According to the DSM-5, categories of substance use disorders include:

• Alcohol Use Disorder: This involves the misuse of alcohol products like beer, wine, and liquor.
• Cannabis Use Disorder: This involves the misuse of marijuana through the use of flower/bud, THC carts, dabs, hash oil, edibles, etc.
• Phencyclidine Use Disorder: This involves the misuse of substances such as PCP, ketamine, cyclohexylamine, dizocilpine, etc.
• Other Hallucinogen Use Disorder: This involves the misuse of substances such as LSD (“acid”), MDMA, DMT, etc.
• Inhalant Use Disorder: This involves the misuse of substances such as huffing toxic gases like fuel, aerosols, glue, spray paint, whippets, etc.
• Opioid Use Disorder: This involves the misuse of substances such as heroin, fentanyl, codeine, oxycodone, etc.
• Sedative, Hypnotic, or Anxiolytic Use Disorder: This involves the misuse of substances such as benzodiazepines (like Xanax or “bars”) and other prescription anti-anxiety prescription medications, prescription sleeping medication, carbamates, barbiturates, etc.
• Stimulant Use Disorder: This involves the misuse of substances such as cocaine/crack, amphetamine, methamphetamine, prescription medications to treat ADHD, etc.
• Tobacco Use Disorder: This involves the misuse of substances such as nicotine cigarettes/vapes, smokeless tobacco, etc.
• Other (or Unknown) Substance Use Disorders: This involves the misuse of substances that are not able to be identified, drugs sold illegally under the wrong names, or newly developed illegal drugs that have not yet been named.