Drug Use Among Young Adults

In the present times, drug abuse is a major cause for concern and has an adverse effect on society in general. Although students comprise of a large section of drug abusers, grown-ups also capitulate to drug abuse. In fact among the middle-aged people there is an inclination to abuse prescription drugs.

The existence of a myriad of social problems among teenagers that both parents and states have to deal with is a factor whose weight ought not to be treated lightly. The increasing level of drug use among the adolescents constitutes one of the ever increasing situations in the society and may, as a matter of fact, be a representation other underlying issues. The level of the situation in the contemporary world, though not discussed as much as it ought to be, has reached alarming levels. There seems to be an increasing predisposition among the use to take the drugs as it's reflected in the escalating trends of drug abuse among this generation of individuals (spooner, 1999). The ever deteriorating levels of this situation coupled with the widespread permissiveness in the society and the absence of attention from appropriate caregivers at different institutions only means that the need to address the problem is paramount. Different avenues of solutions can be applied in reducing the level of the problem and averting the massive negative consequences that come with the phenomena. Dealing with this issue is not a matter of instance as the different parameters of the problems, its causes and possible workable solutions have to be discovered. As such, research on these dynamics is a mandatory undertaking.

Strong parental disapproval of alcohol use was linked to lower rates of prescription drug misuse in African American teens, while parental disapproval of marijuana use was a stronger factor for Hispanic teens. Regardless, of the ethnic/racial background both parents and family members are against misusing substances in general and play a strong role in protecting their adolescents from misusing prescription medicine, whether it be alcohol, marijuana, or tobacco. This illustrates a positive step in moving forward to understanding specific culture factors of substance abuse. Some Caucasian teens having close friends that reject substance use have a lesser rates of prescription drug misuse, though their peer opinions had little influence for African American or Hispanic teens. Parents can help their adolescents navigate towards friends with shared substance use disapproval attitudes .The article confirms racial/ethnic disparities in substance use by adolescents, provides preliminary evidence that disapproval by important socialization factors especially parents has a substantial effect on prescription drug misuse. Those results offer indications how the racial/ethnic deviations are arrived. Some past research of substance use in teens have mainly used race as a rational for observed modifications.

Many sociological studies fail to provide an accurate picture of substance abuse in a society for a number of reasons. In treatment or survey interviews, substance abusing individuals frequently misrepresent or misreport their frequency of use. Those living in poverty are often more transient in their housing than those of middle and upper classes and may, therefore, be excluded from many types of household surveys. Often, statistical information is gathered from treatment facilities; however facilities do not all report into a national database and a large number of addicts never seek services. One final problem with the validity of studies involving substance abuse and poverty is the isolation, in many studies, of one or more drugs. Many researchers have focused on drugs, such as crack-cocaine or heroin and not marijuana or powder cocaine (Jacobson and Ensminger, 2011). While it is difficult to obtain valid data on the actual rate and incidence of substance abuse in poverty ridden communities, researchers have been able to isolate some negative effects of substance abuse and correlate them to socio-economic status.

Sale of drugs as a form of delinquency among the youth and the use of various aspects of social control as a sociological perspective of managing the vice. Victor N. Shaw in the book, Substance Use and Abuse- Sociological Perspectives, discusses fundamental issues relating to Substance Use and Abuse and he addresses the sociological perspectives on this subject matter. His work depicts a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between the two issues and brings to light the fact that Substance Use and Abuse cannot be viewed in isolation. He instead shows that Substance Use and Abuse can be best understood by consideration of several sociological viewpoints. This paper, therefore, seeks to apply Victor N. Shaw’s Substance Use and Abuse model

Anyone can fall victim to substance abuse, but there are groups of special populations to which substance abuse is more prevalent. These groups include women, pregnant women, adolescents, and older adults (Fortinash & Worret, 2012). Many people do not think about older adults as being substance abusers, but it is very common among this age group (Fortinash & Worret, 2012).

In the wake of listening back to my recorded interviews and analyzing my findings I undeniably discovered more about my participants than I expected, and I’m sure all six of my participators could say the same for themselves. From what I observed while interviewing each participant, I noticed each respondent expressed that they never thought of most of the questions I was asking. That was my initial plan for these thought-provoking interviews; to not only ask questions in order to get results back, but to guide participants to gain further insight of their illicit drug use. At one point during my interviews, all of my participants eventually admitted they never examined how much their drug use had impacted their lives, just as I anticipated. My sixth participants “Key”, even humorously claimed, “It never once crossed my mind.” The concepts of my interview questions were what ignited these light bulb moments.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine studied data on drug use from teens aged 12-17 over a 12-year span. What they found was

Among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, 9.8 % are estimated to be current users of illicit drugs, with 4.9 % using drugs other than marijuana. Nearly three quarters of students have started to drink alcohol and nearly half (47%) have tried using an illicit drug (not including alcohol or tobacco) by the senior year of high school.” (Hassan, Harris, Sherritt, Van Hook, & Brooks, 2009)

Drug use is an increasing problem among teenagers in today's high schools. Most drug use begins in the teenage years, these years are the most crucial in the maturing process. During these years adolescents are faced with the difficult tasks of discovering their self identity, clarifying their sexual roles, assenting independence, learning to cope with authority figures and searching for goals that would give their lives meaning. Drugs are readily available, adolescents are curious and venerable, and there is peer pressure to experiment, and there is a temptation to escape from conflicts. The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer pressure, curiosity, and

Club Drug use among Young Adults research study shows six different behaviors among 400 young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 in New York City dance clubs. This study had to do with six different types of drugs; MDMA, Ketamine, GHB, Cocaine, Meth, and LSD. The behaviors with young adults were different when it came to consuming different drugs but it was the same behavior when they consumed the same drug. Cocaine consumer behavior was craving more cocaine, depression while dancing, anger, and anxiety. MDMA behaviors were dehydration, high level of energy, and anxiety. Ketamine behaviors were numbness, depression, hallucination, and anxiety. Meth behaviors were happiness, strong level of energy, and confidence. LSD behaviors were happiness

In examining the use and abuse of alcohol and drugs, many of the studies often focus upon demographics that are predominantly concerned with a person 's socio-economic status. However, in actuality, one 's gender played a significant role as well, not necessarily because of biological issues, but due to social norms and so forth. In order to gain a full understanding about the pathways for alcohol and drugs, it 's necessary to examine its evolving history in the United States from the past few centuries and the roles of wealth and social class, social norms, and availability in combination with gender differences. It will demonstrate the fact that each gender has been more susceptible to using some of these specific substances at differing rates and that drug use that is illegal today was once considered to be normal.

Many middle-class people have obtained a higher education. Though these individuals may consume alcohol, they are less likely to use drugs (Faupel, et al. 202). Also, I speculate that while in college, these individuals learned about drug use in biology, chemistry, and psychology and sociology courses. They many have had personal experiences while in college and “grew out” of

Observations have been made that non-injector drug users are involved in risky behavior such as unprotected sex and exchanging sex for drugs or money. These drug users get high on these drugs and eventually have unprotected sex. Need of money for home, family, food or drugs also lead them to unprotected and risky sexual behaviour. Sanchez et.al (2002), reported that infections related to risky sex behaviour is elevated in people who use crack. This could be attributed to the social network of these people. The behavior could be subjective to communication and exposure to individuals in networks who are involved in risky behaviors (Neaigus et al., 2006). Transition to injecting drug users from non-injector is another concern predicted by researchers. The transition is not difficult for this group of drug users. Some people would inject for a while and

It has been discovered that most people who struggle with drug addiction began experimenting with drugs in their teens. Teenage drug abuse is one of the largest problems in society today and the problem grows and larger every year. Drugs are a pervasive force in our culture today. To expect kids not to be influenced by the culture of their time is as unrealistic as believing in the tooth fairy (Bauman 140). Teens may feel pressured by their friends to try drugs, they may have easy access to drugs, they may use drugs to rebel against their family or society, or they may take an illegal drug because they are curious about it or the pleasure that it gives them.