User refers to a person who uses drugs

Drug use

Drug use may refer to any drug use; or:* Drug abuse* Drug addiction* Entheogenic drug use* Medication* Performance-enhancing drug use* Recreational drug use* Self medication...

 either legally or illegally. The term user is typically used more to refer to illegal drug

Illegal drug trade

The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...

 use by a person who is often part of a subculture

Drug subculture

Drug subcultures are examples of countercultures, which are primarily defined by recreational drug use.Drug subcultures are groups of people united by a common understanding of the meaning and value of the incorporation into one's life of the drug in question...

 of recreational drug use

Recreational drug use

Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...

. Drug users are often referred to as "heads", depending on the drug used, i.e., pothead, acidhead, cokehead, hophead, dopehead, hashhead, crackhead, methhead, etc. .

A drug user may or may not also be a drug abuse

Drug abuse

Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...

r, and may or may not have one or more drug addictions.

See also

• Recreational drug use
  Recreational drug use
  Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
  
  
• drug rehabilitation
  Drug rehabilitation
  Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...
  
  
• self-medication
  Self-medication
  Self-medication is a term used to describe the use of drugs or other self-soothing forms of behavior to treat untreated and often undiagnosed mental distress, stress and anxiety, including mental illnesses and/or psychological trauma...
  
  
• substance abuse
  Substance abuse
  A substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...
  
  
• substance dependence
  Substance dependence
  The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...