A major social problem that is in the United States is the usage of drugs among students. Drugs have had a very large growth rate within the past years. Drugs are a major issue that is affecting students and going to school and getting an education. There are a numerous number of reasons of why the young are partaking in drugs. Mostly because they don’t have a very stable and healthy home environment meaning their parents don’t really care for them or discipline them by any means. A big transition for children is when they leave their families and began to start schooling. Then, when they advance from elementary school to middle school, they most likely are experiencing new academic and social situations like learning to get along with a wider group of peers than they may be used to. Functionalism is when the society is stable and the orderly system is composed of a number of interrelated parts that each of which performs as a function and contributes to the overall stability of society. First, drugs are functional as society as a whole because disease and viruses can result from the overage of drugs. Drug addiction affects society as a whole because it’s one of the fastest ways to spread an HIV virus through sharing needles and other drug paraphernalia. The usage of drugs can lead to bad decisions like participating in sexual activity with someone who is infected with it. Second, drugs can have a major affect on crime rates in the United States whether it’s a
Imagine waking up from a warm bed, taking a shower, getting dressed, either went to work, school, or both. These are all basic needs, basic needs that many people in the United States today do not have. Most people would agree that a day like this is fairly ordinary. Shelter, clothes, food, education, and family are all things that are usually taken for granted and things that every person deserves. Unfortunately, these things do not belong to everyone. Far too many people in this country have no homes. They own only the clothes that they wear. They do not know where their next meal will come from and they don't have family or friends to lean on for support. The government should supply resources for the homeless like free education/ job training,
One of the fastest growing epidemics in the United States is prescription drug abuse as reported by the DEA (Partnership for Drug Free Kids, 2013). All ages are guilty of abuse of medications, however, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) (2016) reports young adults abuse these prescription drugs at the highest rates compared to all other age groups. The NIDA reports misuse and abuse is highest among opioid pain relievers, ADHD stimulants, and anti-anxiety drugs (NIDA, 2016). The use of these prescription drugs to treat a variety of physical and mental health issues is quickly becoming a top conservative treatment option. While pharmaceutical companies make extreme amounts of profit off of these physical and mental issues, young adults are increasingly taking on the consequences of addiction and overdose.
In viewing the functionalist perspective, it accentuates the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. It is the inner workings of our society. Basically stating that because we do have an extreme amount of drug use in the world today it provides more of a demand for law enforcement and our judicial system. Street drugs or the over usage of prescription drugs are illegal because they keep people employed. When an instance happens in which a person gets arrested on the account of possession or intent to sell a certain narcotic, they involve an entire group of people. At that first moment, the law enforcement is there to handle the arrest and that person is brought to jail. It is now obvious that the subject is guilty on some account. Therefore, he has to provide a way to prove his innocence which consists of hiring a lawyer and attending several court dates with a judge and a jury of peers. Afterwards they are either sentenced or on some type of probation where the
Prescription drug abuse and misuse is becoming a major public health issue in the United
In 1971, Richard Nixon launched the war on drugs stating, “America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all out offensive” (Sharp, 1994). Since this war was declared 45 years ago the prison population has risen dramatically and has cost tax payers a substantial amount of money, with no end in sight. Nearly sixty five percent of the 2.3 million U.S. prisoners meet the criteria for substance abuse or addiction, yet only eleven percent receives treatment during their incarceration and a large majority of these offenders return to prison within years of being released. Our society needs to become more proactive when fighting this war versus what we have done in the past by being solely reactive. We need to give these nonviolent drug offenders a chance to succeed by offering rehabilitation services instead of sending them to prison (Howard, 2015).
Thousands of years ago, humans first started drinking wine, then later on in around 4000 B.C. narcotics were used, but during the 19th century is when the active substances in drugs were found. Many of these substances were given over the counter and weren 't regulated, which meant that people could easily obtain substances such as morphine, cocaine, landuam, and many others. During the early 1900s, an estimate of about 250,000 people were abusing a substance within the United States. Substance abuse is a serious problem which can affect one 's physical and psychological capabilities, their relationships, and also their daily life overall. Overusing a substance may lead to addiction, which can be hard to overcome, but it 's not impossible.
In the United States of America, we, the people value several things, some of which
In and around most large cities in America, the rising substance abuse epidemic has brought about a renewed interested in determining the root cause of substance abuse, the effects of substance abuse on individuals and societies, and the substance abuse treatment modalities that achieve the best outcomes. In reviewing the current research on substance abuse there seems to be no one clear cause of substance abuse disorders, although there is strong evidence that a number of life circumstances may predispose an individual to a substance abuse disorder, as well as a number of protective factors that may reduce an individual’s risk of developing a substance abuse disorder. One important risk factor that is commonly associated with substance
Drug abuse in America is evidently a huge problem, yet remains to be misunderstood by many people. Elizabeth Foy Larsen writes a strong, informative article about a young woman named Brittany who has fallen to drug abuse. Brittany was a drug free, well rounded student with great potential just like many other young adults in America. However, one occasion flipped her life completely upside down. She had gotten her wisdom teeth removed and received prescription medication to reduce her pain. She soon found the new pain medication to be to her satisfaction. After the pain faded away, Brittany made a decision that would commence her addiction. She used the now unneeded medication thinking it would be her last time. The sensation she felt influenced her to use it again. This occurrence began to repeat itself until Brittany found herself to be dependent on the drugs. “And when you 're under 25, it 's even easier for the drugs to take the wheel, since your brain is still developing--and therefore more susceptible to addiction” (Larsen, ℙ15). She then began to spend her time with a different group of friends, who introduced her to other illegal drugs. Larsen states in the article, “That means that when the prescription drugs become too difficult to find, many once-straightlaced teens turn to illegal drugs, like heroin. In fact, four out of five heroin users started abusing drugs by taking prescription opioids, according to the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids” (Larsen, ℙ15). In
In an attempt to demonstrate the absurdity of the drug abuse problems in the United States, it should be brought to light that the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use Health estimated that “27 million people aged 12 or older have used an illicit drug in the past 30 days” (Hedden, Kennet, Lipari, Medley, & Tice, 2015). As gun violence has become a popular topic in America over the past few years due to its’ related deaths, many Americans’ fail to realize that more people are dying from drug overdose than by weapon. In today’s society, controversy regarding drug abuse has taken a forefront due to various media outlets in our technologically possessed world. In order to grasp the underlying issue of drug abuse in the United States, it is imperative to observe the media’s effects on adolescents in a technologically and socially consumed digital age, how family and peers correlate with drug abuse, and whether or not drug abuse effects criminal activity.
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 669,000 Americans reported using heroin in the year of 2012. The number of people using heroin for the first time is dramatically high, with 156,000 people starting in 2012, doubling from the year 2009 (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014) Those using heroin are typically adults aged between 18-25 years old. The impact of heroin is felt all over the United States affecting many people. Heroin is identified as one of the most important drug issues, therefore this is a social problem that is becoming typical, and more people are coming across negative health effects due to it.
As reiterated by Barbara Bibel, historic data reveals that the worldwide use of mind-altering drugs dates back to 5,000 BCE (Bibel 6). This fact proves that drug abuse is not a new dilemma nor has an effective solution to this age old problem been found. Over the centuries, substance abuse has been proven to be a contributing fact to a slew of social conditions such as the spread of HIV/Aids and increased crime rates, and has made many victims to the addictive properties of drugs. Unfortunately, America is not exempt from the global, dangerous and deadly effects of drug abuse. The abuse of prescription and illegal drugs has devastated American history, the present condition of the family system and projections for America’s future society.
Drug addiction has always been a major concern in the United States. According to a survey conducted by National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) in 2013, 24.6 million Americans aged 12 or older had used an illegal drug including Marijuana, Prescription Drugs, cocaine, Hallucinogens, Inhalants and Heroin in the past month, that is the almost ten percent of the population. Given that this number is 8.3 percent in 2002, it indicates that illegal drug use in the United States has been increasing rapidly over the past decade. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), in 2010, nearly 40,000 people died of drug overdoses, greater than the total deaths of motor vehicle accidents, homicides and suicides. Drugs cost the nation more
health, and the rise in delinquency. Juveniles experimenting drugs often lead to long term use,
It is widely known that the United States in general suffers from a drug abuse problem. This problem, however, is especially bad in the South and Arkansas in particular. There are several approaches currently being advocated for throughout the United States; these solutions range from the advocation of more education about drugs in general to the advocation for more state and federal government provided treatment facilities for drug abusers. In this essay, three such avocations will be discussed including the two aforementioned, as well as, the inclusion of ads and other such forms of educational material that would teach people about the signs of addiction and how to help others, and themselves, cope with it. Likewise in this essay this author