Reflection Paper On Drug Abuse

Many people do not understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. Drug addiction is a complex chronic disease that causes impairment with the mind to express emotion, engage into physical activities and simply being one’s self. In fact, through scientific research, people understand more about how drugs work in the brain more than ever, and they also know that drug addiction can be successfully treated with some help from those who want change in the death rates amongst drug addict Americans. No one will ever truly understand why a person performs such deadly behaviors, but this is their way of crying out for help. It is time to take a stand and help those in need of escape from drugs and

The United States has the world's highest incarceration rate. With five percent of the world's population, our country houses nearly twenty-five percent of the world's reported prisoners. Currently there are approximately two million people in American prisons or jails. Since 1984 the prison population for drug offenders has risen from ten percent to now over thirty percent of the total prison population. Federal prisons were estimated to hold 179,204 sentenced inmates in 2007; 95,446 for drug offenses. State prisons held a total of 1,296,700 inmates in 2005; 253,300 for drug offenses. Sixty percent of the drug offenders in prisons are nonviolent and were purely in prison because of drug offenses (Drug War Facts). The question then arises,

Also when closed minded people come to the program they still can be persuaded by workers to eventually get help. When drug addicts talk about drugs controlling them, they mean it. Its their first priority, then breathing, they food. (Loconte). Drug addicts are enslaved by the drug and nothing else matters.

I truly believe that if you can approach and tackle an issue before it arises you have a better chance of preventing long-term issues that will emerge in the future. Through my studies I have learned that if you educate students on bad choice making and the consequences that come from it you have a better chance for those students not to make those bad decisions. For this Midterm Project I plan to target high school students and inform them about drug use and abuse. In my opinion I think that if we teach high school students the effects that drugs can have on your body and your future maybe we can prevent them from using drugs for the first time or stop the issue before it gets out of hand. Students who are in high school can be hard to talk to but if you use material and language that catches their attention your speech can very influential to them. I want to prevent teens from using drugs. I want and need them to be educated on all the harms that illegal substances do to your body immediately after using them and what long-term effects come with it as well. Students should be shown real life examples of citizens who have lived their lives influenced by drugs and examples of successful people who have chose a

Policy should not be focused on trying to combat the drug cartels but rather at fixing drug dependency. Since the 1971 War on Drugs declaration, the U.S. government has thrown money in attempt to combat the supply side of the drug issue. President Reagan increased funding for drug interdiction from $437 million to $1.4 billion but decreased drug awareness and treatment programs from $386million to $362 million. President Clinton allocated $7.8 billion to combat supply and only $5.4 billion for the demand side. Money needs to be allocated in the right place which means investing in the demand side through “education, prevention, and rehabilitation.” Funds need to be allocated to restructure educational programs, such as DARE, in order to deeply impact the minds of America’s youth. Like alcoholism, drug dependency needs to be viewed as a disease which requires a rehabilitation process. The focus needs to be shifted from imprisoning drug users that are in desperate need of help to keeping society healthy. This can be achieved by decriminalizing (not legalizing) drug use. A great example is Holland’s decriminalization of drugs which has led to a significant decline in hard drugs. Additionally, by building up rehabilitation programs, past drug users will be able to enter the workforce and become productive members of society as well as capable and attentive parents. The National Institute on Drug Abuse

Substance abuse counseling isn’t a one-shot deal, which means drug treatment isn’t either. It took months, even years, to develop the addiction. It will likewise take time to positively address and see tangible results. But the cost and benefits of treatment far outweigh incarceration. Treatment offers the best alternative for interrupting the drug use/criminal justice cycle for offenders with drug problems. Jail or prison should be a place where people can get the help they need, and offenders should ask if treatment is available.

Drug abuse is on the rise. While the use of drugs like cocaine and heroin is in a state of decline in certain parts of the world, prescription drugs abuse is on the rise (UNODC, 2013). Prescription drugs that were prescribed with the intention to do well are now one of the leading causes of self-harm. Drug abuse has no gender or social class, it can affect people regardless of social status and wealth, and now more than ever we need to understand the reason behind the abuse. What psychological factors could cause an individual to abuse drugs in the first place? In this research essay, I will discuss how each one of the major school of psychology perspectives could attempt to explain a

Substance use disorders are relevant to the adolescent development. Abu-Shakra and Cox (2014) describe the pathway by which substance use disorder is effected by externalizing behaviours. Externalizing behaviours include impulsive or aggressive behavers. Many studies contribute to this discourse. In this paper, I will summarize the chapter provided by Abu-Shakra and Cox (2014) and will mention other studies that add to the discourse.

Although some people argue for the legalization of drugs, addiction to these substances has caused a huge increase in violent crimes in the home, at school, and on the street. Many people do not understand why individuals become addicted to drugs or how drugs change the brain to create compulsive drug abuse. They mistakenly view drug abuse and addiction as strictly a social problem and may characterize those who take drugs as morally weak. One very common belief is that drug abusers should be able to just stop taking drugs if they are only willing to change their behavior. This is a false and uneducated belief. Drug abuse may start as a social problem or social escape but one the addiction has taken ahold of a person

Many people in America are faced with the urge to constantly put various types of drugs and liquor into their body, and many of them succeed in doing it. They are faced with America’s silent killer, substance abuse. Substance abuse affects the user and everyone that they are around and most of the time the user doesn’t even realize nor care that it affects other people because they are consumed by the substances. These substances have the power to dramatically change people’s lives, such as the physical toll it takes on our body, the ways in which it corrupts our metal process, and the detrimental effects it has on our social lives.

Prevention methods for substance abuse are taught to children as early in their kindergarten years and follow throughout their lifetime. Current programs available are school-based programs, parent and family, work programs and community and public media campaigns.

If you have ever seen the movie The Wolf on Wall Street, there is no doubt you have seen the effects drugs can have. Leonardo DiCaprio portrays a high-strung stock broker reliant on a multitude of illegal drugs to keep up with his hectic life style. His addiction gets so severe that at one point in the movie, he is lying on the floor, unable to move due to the drugs’ effects on his body. Even though the movie is set in the 90’s, a decade infamous for its use of drugs, today, drug usage and abuse has never been more of an issue. According to Alice Park (2016), “More people died of drug overdoses in 2014 in the U.S. than in any other year” (p.49). What people fail to realize is that drug abuse effects more than just the individual that uses them. The loved ones trying to support the user, the community the user is in, can all be affected by drug abuse. In fact, all members of society are affected by the abuse of drugs. In short, no one benefits from drug abuse. In the words of the Nation Institute of Drug Abuse, “Drug abuse is a major public health problem that impacts society on multiple levels. Directly or indirectly, every community is affected by drug abuse and addiction, as is every family. Drugs take a tremendous toll on our society at many levels” ( Magnitude, 2016).

I attended Drug Court held at the Dunklin County Justice Center in Kennett, Missouri. Court was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on June 14, 2017. I contacted Julie Spielman who serves as the Drug Court Administrator ahead of time to inform her of the assignment and to find out when the next meeting was. She was very helpful in providing me with various options of dates and times of available court hearings. She gave me directions to follow once I arrived at the Justice Center. Julie made me feel comfortable in attending. Observing Drug Court was very interesting and an eye-opening experience. This was my first time attending so I did not know what to expect. I expected to be in a court room with a judge and have various members of the community there to report on their progress. Phillip Britt, serves as the Drug Court Commissioner and he was leading court. He called each member up to the stand to report on their progress in treatment and to sign off that they were in attendance. I feel that Drug Court is very effective for those in treatment to attend. Along with their caseworker and the judge, members are held accountable to attend treatment, various meetings such as AA or NA, and encouraged to make positive choices to ensure sobriety. I observed that the court system works very well with the person in treatment. They work as a team to get the person sober and help them through treatment. The court system has strict guidelines set that each person must follow to graduate the

My reflection paper is on the subject of substance abuse. As the structure of society changes, the acceptability of one drug or another changes. I have dealt with my own experiences of substance abuse personally and through family and friends throughout my community. I believe there are many underlying problems Native people face today that lead to substance abuse. So, drug use and alcoholism is not the problem in my town, those are more like side effects of something deeper. I would have to agree most with the symbolic interactionist perspective as far as the labeling theory goes. There are also many images in the media that depict the use of drugs and alcohol to make it seem like even though it is bad, it is sometimes okay. These images sparked my own curiosity to experience a fun high or a night out with friends and hopefully getting lucky. I had so many questions about drug use and alcohol. My older siblings and cousins were involved in those circles so it was only natural that me and my cousins and peers who I grew up with got into smoking marijuana and buying drinks on the weekends. I did not know at the time about the dangers of underage drinking. I also had very little knowledge of the condition of my mental health at my young age. Eventually I found out that I had an addictive personality and I got myself into a downward spiral of substance abuse.

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.