Substance Abuse: A Short Story

It was my senior year in high school when my mom told me that my cousin, Mayra, had given birth to a baby girl. However, child protective services decided that Mayra wasn’t adequate to take care of the child; due to her drug abuse. Child protective services from Mexico were trying to place the baby with close relatives. Sadly, there was only three choices, her grandma, my aunt Gloria, and myself. The choices were few and the family small.

In this paper I’m going to discuss one example of drug use and I’m going to relate it back to the public. While still posing the question “Is this a personal trouble or a public issue?”

Substance abuse disorders are common in our society. It is a disorder that each one of us will most likely experience through a family member, friend, or our self. I felt very drawn to this topic due to the fact that I have a family that has background of substance abuse and I myself have battle the demon. Not until I struggled with my own addiction did I become more tolerable and understanding to those that have a substance abuse disorder. Substance abuse is not something anyone wants to have; it is a disorder that takes control of a person’s life. It is a beast that tears a person apart; from their being to the lives of their loved ones. This disorder is not biased in anyway; rich or poor, male or female, employed or unemployed, young or

Substance abuse is the habitual use of mind altering substances (Substances). Addicts have a false or altered look on reality; they need help seeing what is wrong with the life style they are living. Nikki Sixx once said,” Addiction- When you can give something up at any time, as long as it’s next Tuesday!” Recovery is teaching a person to break old habits. Substance abuse counselors are very important, not only in the mental health field, but in society as well.

Annotated Bibliography Thesis: In the American society today, many families today and individuals are affected by the constant abuse of drugs and alcohol. Both alcohol and drug abuse victimize children and teens of all ages, ruin lives and damage families. Crimando, William, and T. F. Riggar.

There was always a problem in my mind that my parents never came to support me. I always begged them to come see me, until one day my mom said to me “ you're pathetic and making a fool out of yourself”. Over those words i became very distant from everyone and changed me forever like don miguel described “ you were put in a spell over the word”. I became very shy and antisocial. I let any opinion get to me.

Case Vignette Analyzing the biological domain, JL is 37 years of age. She is an Anglo American female who is in the middle class. JL lives in a sober living home and wears a cast due to an injury she had on her leg two months ago. She stated her injury is under control and does not require medical attention at the moment. JL has been residing in a recovery home after giving birth to her first child; her child was born with drugs in his system.

Mark Rodriguez English 3 Honors Christina Nidowicz 29 October 2017 Annotated Bibliography Dr. Tedros. “Substance Abuse.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 2017, www.who.int/topics/substance_abuse/en/. Dr. Tedros, director of the World Health organization, refers to the harmful and hazardous use of psychoactive substances. He explains how the use of these drugs can lead to a change in behavior, a strong desire to take the drug, difficulty in controlling its use, and a severe change in behavior. He then explains the many policies his organization has to prevent the use of non medication cannabis.

An Overview for Substance Abuse, is an article that focuses on whether the use of any kind of substance is recreational use or is it classified as abuse. The purpose of the article is to inform people on whether they are abusing the substance or not. The article lists the most common illegal drugs used and also tells you what legal drugs are addictive. Some of the information is to tell you how many people in the world is addicted and how many people got help. The article talks about why our country has put laws on this situation and it is because of our society. The information for the article was gathered from The World Health Organization, John Hopkins Medicine Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration,

“Catherine” is a 31 year old, divorced female who is currently employed as a receptionist at a local human service organization. Last week, she began a treatment program for alcohol and cocaine dependency. Catherine lives with her 5 year-old daughter, “Joy,” in a home near her place of work. Despite little earnings from her job, she has managed to take care of herself and her daughter without monetary support from Joy’s father. Catherine was married to Joy’s father when she was 25 years old, but they divorced after he started abusing her physically. Joy’s father was an alcoholic, a condition that contributed towards the demise of their marriage. Catherine has not had contact with her former husband since they ended the marriage. Catherine’s mother, a widow, has been of great support. Catherine’s cousins, “Jane” and “Cynthia,” have also been of great help. Catherine stated that Jane and Cynthia, are the only family she feels she can depend on. Catherine is the eldest of four children.

One day when Wes was chasing his sister, Nikki, he finally caught her and didn’t know what to do, so he punched her. This angered his mother, Joy, because her first husband was a violent alcoholic who used to beat her when he was drunk. Wes explains that he has two memories about his father, the first of which was when his father talked to him about hitting his sister and the second was when he died. Wes’s father wasn’t feeling well one day, so he got taken to the hospital. The doctors didn’t know what was causing his symptoms, so they sent him home and told him to rest. He ended up having acute epiglottis and died that night. The death of Wes’s father was very hard for Wes because he became the man of the house at a very young age.

There are many individuals that are incarcerated that are part of a substance abuse program that provides treatments and different methods to help them overcome their addiction. There are often moments where these offenders have characteristics that affect the treatment all due to criminal thinking and criminal value (NCBI, 2005). Many times, these criminal justice clients resist treatment and deny that they have a substance abuse problem, which can create chronic problems for them if they do not seek rehabilitation (NCBI, 2005). Often, offenders usually will have psychosocial problems that can contribute to their substance abuse, which they have no control over after a period (NCBI, 2005). With these psychological issues, it can cause the individual to have a low self-esteem, depression, anxiety; and also enhanced expectations on the use of substances (NCBI, 2005).

Boys face the stereotype of always having to be tough and confident (pg.286). So, Terrel, being an athlete, might start to consume alcohol to show his strength and to appear cool and adult-like to his peers, especially to other boys. He might also take on smoking and consuming alcohol since he has lived with his mother who has these unhealthy habits. Even, when she was pregnant with him, she was smoking and drinking and has not been successful in eliminating these habits. Prenatal exposure to smoking and alcohol raises the likelihood of a child to consume these substances early in life (FindYouthInfo 2013). Terrell grew up to be a quite healthy child despite having had a very high risk of developing FAS or FAE. But his mother continuance with these unheathy habits puts him at great risk of developing substance abuse.

Substance abuse and addiction have become a social problem that afflicts millions of individuals and disrupts the lives of their families and friends. Just one example reveals the extent of the problem: in the United States each year, more women and men die of smoking related lung cancer than of colon, breast and prostate cancers combined (Kola & Kruszynski, 2010). In addition to the personal impact of so much illness and early death, there are dire social costs: huge expenses for medical and social services; millions of hours lost in the workplace; elevated rates of crime associated with illicit drugs; and scores of children who are damaged by their parents’ substance abuse behavior (Lee, 2010). This paper will look at

Alcohol abuse is a serious problem, driving while drunk or under the influence of drugs is an even bigger problem that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Abusing either one of these substances can lead to the death of you or the death of someone else or even cause a major change in their life like Jacqueline’s story, her whole life has been changed because of another person’s ignorance and carelessness. Therefore, you should know the facts about drug and alcohol abuse before you do something you may regret for the rest of your life.