Substance Abuse : A Social Problem

 A person in an impoverished situation may abuse drugs or alcohol as a way to cope with the dangerous environment he or she may live in, a way to deal with her financial stresses or a way to cope with physical or emotional abuse. Many times,

The consequences that follow the use of any drug are unfavorable. Although many individuals may see drug addiction as a mere lifestyle choice, it is a problem that many individuals suffer from and inevitably a growing issue that leaves major social and economic impacts.

Growing up in the household under substances influence can cause severe damage to the child. Parental substance abuse has a significant impact on family function, and it may also contribute to child maltreatment. It heightens the risks to both of the physical and emotional safety of the children, and it generates children’s problematic outcomes. Children who grow up in such families may also experience mental health issues, social isolation, financial difficulties, and exposure to stressful life events and so on.

Substance abuse is a very widely known public epidemic in today's society. Many people are unfortunately plagued by this issue. According to Emedicinehealth.com (2012), “People abuse substances such as alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs for varied and complicated reasons, but it is clear that our society pays a significant cost,” (para. 1). People that are affected by substance abuse includes a very different range of people. Many that abuse the substances end up having health-related problems which in turn increases the need for health care. Other people that are affected by substance abuse are the family members and friends of the abusers because they have to deal with the person abusing the substances. Things that can be abused are

The Center for Disease Control reports about 3.4 million children being abused or neglected in the United States in 2012 and 1 in 4 children will experience some form on abuse, maltreatment or household dysfunction while growing up. (Campbell, 2015).Past research has shown a relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences and substance abuse as an adult. Risk factors in the form abuse and neglect as child may cause a higher likelihood of substance abuse as an adult. Font and Jack (2015) also says that poor socioeconomic circumstances are associated with poor health conditions. Someone who scores with multiple adverse childhood experiences may report social and economic problems as an adult, such as financial hardship, homelessness and not making it through high school or an undergrad program (Font and Jack, 2015).

Since “parents are a crucial part of their child’s environment” (Sharma, 2016), it is no surprise that their behavior can affect how their children grow up to be. While yes, people who end up addicted to drugs can come from all sorts of lives there are some circumstances that may help to influence a person’s choice to turn to drugs. The likelihood that a person turns to drugs increases if they experience a traumatic event such as sexual, emotional, or physical abuse (Mirlashari, Demirkol, Salsali, Rafiey, & Jahanbani, 2012). Depending on the level of trauma can influence the level of drug addiction a person may have. If a person witnesses’ violence in their family or they are sexually victimized they are more likely to not only use drugs but to turn to hard drugs like

Substance abuse is the harmful or dangerous use of any psychoactive substances including drugs, alcohol and even tobacco. The term ‘Substance Abuse’, as understood today was first used in 1987’s DSM-IIIR, before that social & cultural factors were not considered. Even with that change, many Americans still today consider drug and alcohol abuse to be moral weakness or character defect.

Along with illegal behavior often a substance abuser will find themselves as homeless, spending their paychecks on their habits of using substances (Tracy, 2005). Children of abusers are affected by both possessing negative role models that set the example that drug use is not wrong and sometimes the children are placed into the care of the community because of neglect and abuse by the substance user (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Adolescent and School Health [CDC], 2009). Other medical, social, and economic issues also are being experienced from substance abuse and use.

For instance, if an individual lives in the ghetto, they are mostly connected in some way to the use of illicit drugs and alcohol use. Indeed, this can be due to the numerous amount of bars located in a low-income neighborhood or sale of illicit drugs within the community. In the article Five Stereotypes about Poor Families and Education, Valerie Strauss asserted, “We also should realize that when these problems do exist in low-income families, they have the potential to be particularly devastating because people in poverty who are struggling with substance abuse generally do not have at their disposal the sorts of recovery opportunities available to wealthier families. Nor do they have access to preventative medical attention that might catch and treat growing dependencies before they become full-fledged additions.” (Strauss, 2013) Therefore, instead of labeling poor individuals as the responsibility of the drug and alcohol abuse epidemic, a solution can be given to assist these individuals with these problems before the addiction grows and becomes out of hand to

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.

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

The social model of addiction tries to recognize and repair systematic problems within society that could impact a person’s choice about substance use (Doweiko, 2015). Cultural, environmental, and family components of a person’s life are all a part of the social model. These influences can either enable the development of addiction or increase resistance against addiction. For instance, in distinct cultures and environments, the manufacture, sale, and distribution of illicit drugs are considered as acceptable behaviors for a person to prosper and gain respect (Doweiko, 2015). Social aspects such as poverty, community immersion, unemployment, and family structure either influence or guard the person from substance abuse. Identification of adverse social influences so that these concerns can be attended to will decrease the probability of the individual relapsing or the continued abuse of substances (Doweiko, 2015).

In recent years, numerous studies have focused on the conditions and influences of substance use in the development of adolescents worldwide. Current studies are discovering multiple pathways and important risk factors that contribute to the increasing usage of substances surrounding adolescents. Specifically, considerable data referring to the influence of adolescent’s self-esteem to substance abuse. In order to fully understand the complexity of substance abuse, one must consider multiple factors that impact an adolescent’s life greatly, such as their environment and self-esteem. In order to consider the single influence of substance abuse to an adolescent, research must focus on finding similar patterns among substance use, environments, and self-esteem. Research shows that children affected by substance abuse show similar patterns of low self-esteem. These substance abusive experiences include specific socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods, homes with parents that use substances, and adolescent’s own substance abuse struggles. These three different pathways of substance abuse have an equifinal deficit of an adolescent’s self-esteem.

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

Substance abuse is one of the most detrimental social problems found in all societies. It has been the leading cause for generational breakdowns of families and communities, and is probably the most controversial social problem when developing corrective solutions. Substance abuse can be defined as the chemical dependence, or pattern of usage of both legal and illegal substances, that has adverse physical, psychological, and psychomotor effects on the human body. The use of substances does not always have to be a drug, but can also be anything taken into the body that can cause a mood-altering effect, such as inhalants or solvents. Additionally, substance abuse has many different faces and is the one social problem that crosses all