Illicit Drug Use Is A Prevalent Issue Today 's Society

A great deal of harm is caused by illicit drugs, particularly to dependant users. Drug use damages the user and diminishes an individual’s social cohesion. An individual’s dependency on illicit drugs places a heavy burden on the Australian legal system, welfare(Centrelink), the justice system(lawyers) and the medical system. The many burdens caused by the manufacture, supply and use of illicit drugs effect the efficiency of Australia. The Drugs misuse and trafficking Act 1985 (NSW) applies to over 240 drugs, including

The addiction of methamphetamine amongst juvenile’s and adults has reached epidemic proportions that affect the individual, families and communities. Methamphetamine abuse has crossed all social economic boundaries that have negatively impacted law enforcement, social and clinical services. According to Anglin, Burke, Perrochet, Stamper and Dawud-Noursi (2000), methamphetamine, also known as meth, crystal, or speed, is a substance that affects the central nervous system creating a stimulant effect that can be injected, smoked, snorted, or ingested orally. Individuals who use meth for an extensive period of time tend to become addicted and will likely need to continue to use meth at high levels for its effects to continue to provide the euphoric symptoms and sensations. Anglin, et al, also describe methamphetamine as a derivative of amphetamine, this form of amphetamine was often used for medication purposes in the 1950’s and 1960’s to treat symptoms of depression and obesity. Durell, Kroutil, Crits-Christoph, Barchha, and Van Brunt (2008), also stated that illicit methamphetamine use is a public health concern in the United States with an increase use among teens and young adults in the 1990s. The Mental Health Services Administration conducted a national survey on meth use in the United States and found that currently as least a half a million of Americans used or have used methamphetamine. Meth use is an epidemic that is slowly becoming a destructive

23. The illicit manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine in the United States today is due to the involvement of…

Methamphetamine also affects the user’s mouth. This is often referred to as “meth mouth.” There are several factors which, when combined, create an environments that destroys the teeth, the blood supply and supporting tissues. Methamphetamine users are unable to take care of daily tasks, such as brushing and flossing, due to the crash affect of this drug which can last many days. When they are awake for long periods of time the energy bursts they experience do not allow them to concentrate

Methamphetamine is the most addictive drug used today. It appeals to people of all ages, and is not a respecter of person. It is creating a society with no future. Unless we as a society can contain and stop this issue, there will be no hope. What is the federal government doing to stop this problem? How are Pharmaceutical companies reacting to this issue? What are the effects on the general public? This is just some of the issues that were discussed in Frontline’s ‘The Meth Epidemic’ video. We will attempt to answer these questions throughout this paper.

Meth users try to get the drug in their system in many different ways. For an immediate rush from the drug, the user will smoke or inject the drug. Taking the drug orally, the user has to wait at least 20 minutes for the drug to take effect. (Buxton & Dove, 2008, p. 1537) Some users may insert the drug rectally or take the drug orally.

Methamphetamine is a stimulant that is used as a recreational drug that affects the central nervous system (CNS). In 1983, laws were passed in the United States prohibiting possession of precursors and equipment for methamphetamine production. But imagine if this addictive drug was as commonly sold in front yards as lemonade and Girl Scout cookies. Imagine if large neon signs and bold lettering titled “Drugs” and “Meth Lab Inside: Free Samples” were displayed in front of suburban homes with guests arriving to sample and purchase meth.

The drug ice can leads to change people’s behaviour and increase violence and crime. It is commonly believed that “methamphetamine users had committed a violent crime in the preceding year” (Darke, Kaye, McKetin & Duflou, 2008, p. 258). There a strong relationship between HIV risk and using methamphetamine which leads to increase ability to crime (Mcketin, Dunlop, Holand, Sutherland, Baker, Salmon & Hudson, 2013, p. 82). According to Taylor et al. (2011, p. 318) meth users tend to make several crimes and violence activities which is common between meth users in drug market. Those users cannot control their aggressive expressions ( Darke et al., 2008). The rate of dependence and suicidal behaviour has been increased among methamphetamine users (Darke et al., 2008, p. 259). According to Mcketin et al., (2013, p. 80) “ It has been estimated that there are 97000 Australians dependent on stimulant drugs”. In fact, Taylor et al. (2011, p. 324) assert that personal relationships can be affected among addicted people with

First of all meth is a super strong kind of speed that packs a punch three and half times more powerful than cocaine. As mentioned in the documentary it shows how meth is a cheap drug that can be catastrophic to one. A quarter gram can cost as much as twenty five dollars. The documentary says users can smoke it, snort it, swallow it, or shoot it straight up their veins. Out of twenty-six million that use this drug only twelve millions Americans say they have tried meth. In Australia over seventy-thousand people are addicts. Australia's population is only twenty-three million so seven hundred-thousand is a good amount of civilians to show that over 4 cities in Australia can be overly filled with meth heads. As mentioned before meth has a lot of street names such as crank. Crank came from bikers who would hide all there meth in crank boxes of their motorcycles. Another street name, ice, came from how meth looks because of its crystal like features and because of its pure white color. Although meths popularity exploded during the late 90’s and early 2000’s, it has been around since the

President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency Thursday, ordering his administration to act in addressing addiction and opioid misuse though not providing government agencies with additional financial resources for the matter.

Since the early 1960’s there have been an alarming increase in drug use in the United States in 1962, four million Americans had tried an illegal drug. By 1999, that number had risen to a staggering 88.7 million, according to the 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

However, despite these claims the media seldom reference any reputable data to support this. Whilst 13% of Australian’s reported using an illicit drug in 2016, the overall use of illicit drugs remained steady, but the use of methamphetamines had significantly decreased (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017). Furthermore, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2018) found that illicit drug offences had actually decreased for the first time since 2008, and that overall offences proceeded against by police had decreased for the first time in five years. These findings suggest that media reports about dramatic increases in illicit drug use and related crime appear to lack any real merit. Despite this, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2017) reported that the number of people reporting victimisation from an illicit drug-related event rose by 11%, to levels where one in 10 Australians were victims of an illicit drug-related event. This data highlights that illicit drugs may actually be responsible for a greater proportion of crime, even if the actual crime volumes have

In the span of 2013-14 the reports of drugs in Australia increased. There were record high reporting’s of many types of illicit drugs at the border patrol. Furthermore, many other illicit drugs had their second highest reporting in history. Cannabis is the most common drug in Australia. The number of detections of cannabis in 2013-2014 decreased, but the total weight of detected cannabis at the border control increased dramatically and was the biggest cannabis find in the last decade (Australian Drug Commission 2014). In the draft for the National Drug Strategy 2016-2025 cannabis is mentioned as a priority drug as it is the most common used illegal drug (Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs 2015). As the recent news that the Australian government is planning to legalise growing of medical cannabis there a gap in the policy of how to regulate medical cannabis and cannabis used as an illicit drug (Yaxley 2015).

Drug use in America is one of the major issues we face and the problem has skyrocketed over the past three decades. Heroin and painkiller addictions exceed all other countries. It is important that we address some of the causes that lead to the abuse, how to treat the abuse, and how to prevent the distribution of illegal prescription drugs.

Illicit drug use is a prevalent issue in today’s society. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the global increase of death and disease can be largely attributed to the illegal use of drugs (Illicit Use of Drugs, 2013). Though the rates of illegal drug use have remained constant in recent years, there has been a shift in the use of specific drugs (Illicit Use of Drugs, 2013). One drug that has received a lot of attention due to an apparent increase in usage is Methamphetamine. Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant drug that has been a source of controversy within Australia. Though the usage of methamphetamine in Australia has remained constant over the past few years, there has been a significant change in the preferred form of the drug (Illicit Use of Drugs, 2013). For example, the usage of methamphetamine powder saw a significant decrease from 2010 to 2013. In contrast, the use of the crystalline form- more commonly know as ice- nearly doubled in the same time frame (Illicit Use of Drugs, 2013). Due to the increase of ice usage, as well as the highly addictive nature of the drug, many are concerned that Australia is in the midst of an ice epidemic. This essay will examine methamphetamine’s pharmacokinetic properties, its pharmacological mechanisms, the long and short-term effects of use, as well as discuss the prevalence of ice in Australia.