Drug Abuse And Its Effects

The use and misuse of illicit drugs in today’s society can be blamed on both individual, and societal factors. With the use of societal factors researchers can show the effect for a larger population, and provide better information of the population. Blaming the individual for developing the addiction will not fix issues that lie in society that worked against the individual, the underlying issues of poverty and addiction, many scholarly articles mention bad neighborhoods, low income, and loose family ties with future drug use. I will be using evidence from articles involving both teen and adult drug use and addiction, as the effect on society is noticed in both age brackets. “Substance use is considered a problem by individual addicts who seek treatment, by institutions within society (such as the police or the medical system) that deal with substance use and its consequences on a day-to-day basis, and by national organizations such as governments or supranational organizations, such as the International Narcotics Control Board (a United Nations agency located in Vienna). (Adrian) I will be using scholarly articles to explain the sociological reasoning behind drug use, with theories involving low-income neighborhoods, leading to lessening of family involvement which can lead to drug use. “Drug abuse affects a community 's living conditions and economy, its youth, and the environment for crime.” (Watts)

Families everywhere are affected by someone close to them abusing drugs. Substance abuse no matter what it may be, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, takes a huge toll on the health of the user and the family as well. The number of overdoses on heroin in West Virginia hit an all-time peak last year with twenty-seven in four hours. Having a parent who is too busy out doing drugs rather than spending time or taking care of their children is one of the worst feelings in the world. Having a son or daughter who is out all night, or gone for days, is one of the scariest feelings. Past trauma sometimes causes addiction. That damage gets spread to those close to the abuser, and passed down to their children. There are many reasons that a person may become

Drug abuse in America is at an all time high across the country. Most people start out with a legit medical issue that leads to a prescription for pain, anxiety, stress, or even trouble concentrating. After repeated prescriptions, the body tends to get use to the medicine, with then leaves the body craving more. In fact, prescription drug abuse is the highest drugs abused my both men and women. Research shows that young adults ages 18 to 25 are the prime abusers of prescription drugs, ADHD drugs as well as anti-anxiety drugs. There several reason why this age group abuse these types of drugs. The reasons include getting high, to feel good, better study habits, stress, and weight loss.

“Prescription drug abuse is the use of a medication without a prescription, in a way other than as prescribed, or for the experience or feelings elicited.” Prescription Drugs are ranked number two in drugs abused (Volkow 7).

The consequences of alcohol include short-term and long-term effects. The short-terms effects include memory loss, recklessness, impaired judgement, drowsiness, and nausea. The long-term effects include decrease in brain size, liver disease, cancer, malnutrition, cardiovascular disease, alcohol poising, and death (American Addiction Centers, 2018).

Drug abuse is a major public health issue that impacts society both directly and indirectly; every person, every community is somehow affected by drug abuse and addiction and this economic burden is not exclusive to those who use substance, it inevitably impacts those who don't. Drugs impact our society in various ways including but not limited to lost earnings, health care expenditures, costs associated with crime, accidents, and deaths. The use of licit or illicit drugs long term, causes millions of deaths and costs billions for medical care and substance abuse rehabilitation and the effects of drug abuse extend beyond users, spilling over into the society at large, imposing increasing social and economic costs.

Drug use in America is a major public health problem that impacts society on many levels, either directly or indirectly. Drugs take a tremendous toll on our communities and our families. It affects all of us, those who abuse these substances and those who don't. Many of America's top medical problems can be directly linked to drug abuse. Cancer, heart disease and HIV/AIDS are just a few. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drugs are involved in 10 to 22% of traffc accidents. At least half of individuals arrested for violent crimes like homicide and assault are under the influence of illicit drugs.

According to Dictionary.com, substance abuse is defined as a “long-term, pathological use of alcohol or drugs, characterized by daily intoxication, inability to reduce consumption, and impairment in social or occupational functioning; broadly, alcohol or drug addiction (dictionary.com).” Substance use can include anything from alcohol to any variety of drugs, prescription or illicit. Responsible alcohol use is considered being no more than 3 drinks for a woman and no more than 5 for a man in a single setting. Proper prescription medication use means only using the medication as it is recommended, or prescribed, by a doctor. Any other use of the medication falls under substance abuse and can put a person on the substance use disorder

Substance abuse has a tremendous effect on society. It not only impacts the individual, it affects families, communities and taxpayers. It discriminates against no creed anybody can become a victim to drugs, legal or illegal. According to Matthew David O’Deane, he describes substance abuse as the following: “Substance abuse is the overindulgence in and dependence of a drug or other chemical leading to effects that are detrimental to the individual’s physical and mental health”. Chemical dependency can cause young people to join a gang or maintain their allegiance to the gang because it’s a means of making money to support their habit.

Monique, interesting reply addiction in the family can cause both short term and long term harmful affects .You mentioned the harsh affects of substance abuse often have on youngsters; which in my opinion can be very devastating on a child/children. I have seen it recently firsthand. Your post reminds me of a case that was bought before the judge where a young lady had been using a heavy substance for quite some time now and had 3 small children ages 3-1 years of age. Some one had reported how the Mom often left the children home unattended quite often: roaming the neighbor hood, in need of food and unkempt. The case was bought before the judge due reckless behavior. The women was taken away by authorities and her 3 small children given over to child protective services due to neglect, until they could find relatives to take them in for a few months or until the mother agreed to straighten out her life.

Substance abuse is thought to have two major causes which caused substance abusers. Statistically, a full 100% the abuser start to abuse to feel good which have a great role in making a person start abuse, according to the united states news that 90% of abusers start before age of 18. According to the NIH most abusers abuse drugs which produce a great feeling of pleasure and happiness .This initial sensation of euphoria comes before the other effects which differ from the type of the drug used . Also people who suffer from social anxiety and depression start to abuse drugs to feel better as a result the people around abusers either family or people living around them will suffer from losing the abusers or being hurt because of the abuser

If you had a choice whether you wanted to alter your brain forever for the worse or keep it the way it is, what would you choose? Pretty easy question right, most people would chose to keep their brain the same. That is not the case. Drugs are a colossal problem nowadays for teenagers and adults, Drugs can alter the brain permanently, and it can be almost impossible to recover from addiction, especially as a teen. Addiction is a chronic relapsing disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and abuse and long lasting chemical changes in the brain. People who are addicted to certain kinds of drugs are lead onto a long and hard path of drug abuse and dependence.

Whenever someone thinks of what an addict should be, many different images come to mind. It could be the homeless man on the street, the raging adolescent who is struggling, the majority of the prison population. My grandfather himself dealt with his own addiction. He struggled for many years with alcoholism as well as an opiate addiction. Many of my family members cast him out and told him that if he really wanted to stop he would. His addiction went on for years before he was admitted to rehab and even after years of sobriety, he still thinks it was his fault for getting involved in drugs in the first place. It seems as though this is a common theme, in which people believe the addict is the one to blame and they just lack the willpower to stop. However, this is not the case. Continual drug use has the power to drastically affect the addict’s mind and only make it harder to stop substance abuse. Most addicts don’t even know this and soon believe that this is their fault when it’s not. In other words, it’s necessary to deem addiction as a chronic, relapsing disorder that affects the brain and its cognitive processes as this definition can lead many addicts to recovery and a shame free life.

A drug is a chemical substance applied into treating, diagnosing and preventing one from disease infections or a substance that is used by a person to enhance his or her physical and mental state in the perceived effect. Drugs used for different purposes and their effect depend on which cause for usage. It causes both positive and negative consequences directly to the user and in the long-run it affects the whole society or community. Drug addiction is the activity of uncontrollable dependence on a substance by the user no matter the harm caused by its usage. It is a habit that has been in many years hard to curb especially among the youths. “We must recognize that substance abuse and addiction is a disease, not a moral failing or easily abandoned self-indulgence,” (Califano, 2008).The cases of drug abuse have been on the rise over the recent years and resulted in crimes. The cases have a great effect affected the society in general since the reliable energetic youths have turned to drug abuse. However, some measures have been initiated to mitigate, curb and treat drug addiction in the society as outlined in the essay.

According to National Institute on Drug Abuse, iIn 2013, a survey reported that an estimated 24.6 million Americans aged 12 or older had used an illegal drug in the past month. The first time someone uses a drug, it is usually voluntary. This first use is usually to mask certain emotions that they are currently going through. Repeated use can lead to changes in the brain that challenge an addict’s self control and interfere with their ability to resist the temptation of a drug, this addiction makes them feel better about themselves and forget about the problem they are dealing with at the time. According to the Mayo Clinic, drug addiction, also called substance use disorder, is a dependence on a legal or illegal drug or