Drug Addiction: 3 Most Addictive Substances According to Drug Experts

Drug addiction kills thousands of people in the U.S. every year. Proper education on the different chemical and societal effects of drugs can help families become more aware of the dangers of drug abuse.

Professor David Nutt, a psychiatrist and neuropsychopharmacology director in the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial College, asked a panel of experts about the top 3 most addictive substances, via Medical Daily. The experts made their ranking by measuring the drugs' chemical effects on a person's body and how these addictive substances affect the different aspects of a person's life.

1. Heroin

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Heroin is considered as the most addictive substance. Heroin increased the dopamine levels in the brain of experimented animals by up to 200 percent. Heroin causes a surge of sensation, warm skin, dry mouth, vomiting, itching, drowsiness, and slower breathing and pulse rate, according to Drug Free World. Withdrawal symptoms of heroin include restlessness, bone pains, body aches, diarrhea, vomiting and extreme feelings of discomfort. 2. Alcohol

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"Excessive alcohol use contributes to 88,000 deaths annually in the U.S., and almost 23 percent of those who use alcohol will become dependent at some point in their lives," Medical Daily shared. "Several experts have ranked alcohol as the most damaging drug in society, based on its harm to both users and others."

The fact that alcohol is legal makes it an even more dangerous form of drug addiction because of its great accessibility to the population. This addictive substance also causes an increase in dopamine levels by 40 to 360 percent.

3. Cocaine

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Third on the list of the most addictive substances is cocaine, which is considered by some as a rich man's drug. Cocaine causes severe drug addiction by greatly stimulating the brain's reward system -- producing abnormal amounts of dopamine in the brain. An increase in the number of cocaine overdose deaths in recent years has also been reported.