Substance Abuse And Hiv / Aids

According to the Diagnostic Statistic Manual 5 (DSM-5) substance use disorder is when the individual has a dependency on alcohol or drug, followed by penetrating craving and antisocial behavior to acquire the substance. The terms substance abuse and substance dependence refer to substance use disorder, which has been separated into three classifications as follows

There have been several news coverages on TV and social network about drug overdose of different cases recently and they have risen people’s concern about the problems of drug abuse national-wide. The drug abuse and opioid epidemic is not a new problem to the American society, actually it has been a serious problem for many years. So what is the situation of drug epidemic now, and how can we find effective ways to deal with this problem? A few writers who ponder this question are Nora D. Volkow, Dan Nolan and Chris Amico.

Drugs have been a problem in the country for a long time. Issues with drugs even existed in ancient times. However, through the War on Drugs, the media created a panic about the issue, making citizens believe drug abuse was an exponentially growing new epidemic in the United States. Although the War on Drugs was declared in 1982 and was intended to reduce the rates of drug abuse in the US, America’s drug problem increased dramatically over the next years (Bagley, 1988).

There is a debate in the American government system on how to handle the use of drug and alcohol. In the 1960s drugs were uprising along with youth rebellion and in 1971 Nixon declared a “War on Drugs” (Citation a brief). This name is not to be confused with the band War on Drugs, but the term is still popularly used to describe the policies that Government officials are making regarding drugs and alcohol. This debate got reheated when Colorado legalized weed for medical and recreational use, followed by several other states. There has slowly been a shift in mindset from, “alcoholics are drug addicts are all criminals and we (the law) should throw them in jail” to “addiction is a disease.” Even the way that addicts/alcoholics are treated has changed to treatment centers with specialist versus throwing them in the hospital to detox and hoping for a change. Policies that are shifting the penalty from incarceration to treatment reflect these changes and help the individual suffering from the disease to get back on their feet. The war on drugs rings on, but changes are being made.

Substance abuse is known through most populations, particularly acknowledged in the lower economic class. Drug are becoming more popular in this day in time. Drugs are getting the attention of younger teenagers and adults. It is hard to determine if a person is using drugs or not. Substance abuse is a topic that has been spread in the society and is often look upon as the leftover of an inconsiderate acquisitiveness. As you can see on the news more parents are using heroin and other drugs such as cocaine to get a high and will pass out in front of their children. Therefore, heroin and synthetic opioids are driving a recent increase in cocaine-related abuse.

In the US, according to CQ Researcher, the number of those that used heroin had more than doubled between the years of 2002 and 2004 and doubled again between 2011 and 2013. It is a growing issue especially due to

The fact that the United States treats drug use as a terrible crime instead of treating it as a physical problem or illness, and the drug problem is still not going away, shows that the United States is going about drug abuse all wrong. The United States has over 25% of the world's incarcerated population and over half of those are in prison for drug abuse/distribution. Other countries have decriminalized drugs and have seen an extremely positive difference in the drug abuse problem. Therapeutic drug treatments can be offered as an option to drug abusers so they feel safe and not afraid or angry of what is happening. The United States needs to find a new policy on drug abuse because the current policy has failed.

The cost of drug addiction is very high. At the individual level, addicts are losing their lives and talented people are being wasted because of drugs like alcohol, heroin and painkillers. On the world stage, addiction issues are causing government officials to battle crime and poverty in far too many communities. At the end of the day, addiction seems to touch everyone's life

As a nation we face a serious enemy that is not on foreign soil but here at home. The drug problem in this country has truly affected many lives and families. This enemy has no limits and affects our domestic tranquility. All drugs should not be legalized because they have the ability to impair judgment and do much bodily harm. Drugs have been a dark shadow lingering over our country for many years. In recent years, the heroine epidemic has spread throughout the nation; it has taken many lives and hurt many families along the way.

The horrific increase of HIV/AIDS was one of many unintended consequences resulting from the United States Drug Policies to end drug use. Clinton’s decision to put the main emphasis of the policy toward law enforcement played a helping hand in the expansion of spreading HIV/AIDS. When increasing the presence of police on the street this started to drive up the cost of illegal drugs because more individuals were being put behind bars even though production did not increase in price. Majority of the drug abusers could not afford the price of the narcotics which lead them to become prostitutes or enact in criminal activities. The ramification of their actions contributed to the disperse of HIV/AIDS from unprotected sexual activities. A consequence that the United States did not intend on happening with the Drug Policy was drug producers and distributors adapting to interdiction and other tensions against their products. The drug addicts had to learn how to adapt to the change in drugs available to them just like their suppliers. When the United States “forces pushed hard against Afghan poppy-growers, farmers switched to marijuana.” The United States needed to realize that there are always substitutes and alternatives to drugs. Also, when the United States decided to emphasis the law enforcement presence in Miami and the Caribbean’s during the 1980s in hopes of ending the cocaine trade only caused the cocaine trade to relocate. When a drug supplier must relocate this gives them the opportunity to gain new clients and continue to spread narcotics undetected. Both of these consequences were not intended by the United States Drug Policy to end drug use but, occurred. Law enforcement was rushed, harsh, and unbearable which caused Americans to react in questionable ways. The United States Drug policy was an

To summarize, America is in the midst of a drug epidemic. An epidemic that we have been combating, but unfortunately we have not been wining. However, with public opinion shifting regarding punishment, new treatment options available and the medical community recognizing addiction for the disease it is, we are following a path to effectively dealing with this epidemic. Addiction

America’s drug problem has increasingly become an epidemic. In a 2013 study done by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 24.6 million Americans, 9.4% of the population,

The United States is not immune to the worldwide drug addiction epidemic. Drugs pour in from Mexico daily, then distributed to throughout the country. The economic crisis in America is creating an excuse for drug use (e.g., depression, hopelessness). This chemical fix not only creates problems for the addict, but the family and community as well. Every addict has an enabler, a person who makes the addiction possible through various venues of support (e.g., financial, denial). Addicts are only concerned with their next fix and will resort to any means to obtain it (e.g., theft, prostitution, pan-handling). Some have even resorted to extremely desperate measures; for example, murder for inheritance or life insurance proceeds.

It’s easy to lose track of the chaos that happens in the world on a day to day basis when your main priority is deciding what to eat for lunch tomorrow, or even dreading your next shift; yet we can turn on the news and hear about the most recent overdose and not even blink an eye. The blatant disregard for drug addicts today is at an ultimate high. In the past two years alone, more people have died from opiate addiction than they have in the entire Vietnam War. The fact that drug users are seen as lower class members of society as only aided in the increase of addiction and death, killing more Americans than HIV/AIDS did at its peak. Though the epidemic did not occur overnight, it has recently become one of America’s biggest health confrontations. Although there is no absolute solution, in order to decelerate the prevailing wave of usage and overdose/death, decriminalization in correlation to government funded programs could give ease to the definition of the word “epidemic”.

Drug abuse is a major public health issue that impacts society both directly and indirectly; every person, every community is somehow affected by drug abuse and addiction and this economic burden is not exclusive to those who use substance, it inevitably impacts those who don 't. Drugs impact our society in various ways including but not limited to lost earnings, health care expenditures, costs associated with crime, accidents, and deaths. The use of licit or illicit drugs long term, causes millions of deaths and costs billions for medical care and substance abuse rehabilitation and the effects of drug abuse extend beyond users, spilling over into the society at large, imposing increasing