The word 戒毒 is formed by combining two characters: 戒, which carries the meaning of "to abstain from", "to quit", or "to guard against", and 毒, which means "poison" but is used here to mean "drugs" or "narcotics". Conceptually, it paints a picture of an active, conscious act of distancing oneself from or putting up a defense against a toxic substance. It frames the process not merely as stopping a habit, but as a deliberate act of renunciation and self-protection from something poisonous, creating a compound that implies both the action and its moral or physical necessity.