preview

Substance Abuse Is A Serious Condition

Decent Essays

Substance addiction afflicts one in twelve Americans and involves millions more family members and friends. The statistics are scary; in the United States an estimate of 88,000 deaths a year is a result of excessive alcohol abuse while deaths from cigarette smoke exceed 480,000 a year. About 100 Americans per day died from drug overdose in 2013(Kane, G. 2015). Substance abuse is a serious condition that should not be ignored or minim- ized. It is a devastating disease with serious social consequences and a relatively high death rate (Volkow, K. 2015). If untreated, substance abuse can develop into alcoholism or drug dependence. It is very important to recognize the symptoms and signs of substance abuse early (www.ncadd.org). It can be difficult to diagnose a drug or alcohol problem, and it takes time to determine what might be a drug or alcohol problem and what might be a mental disorder (Kane, G. 2015). Substance abuse is a family disease that affects everyone close to the abuser.
Not only does the substance abuser need help so do you, even if you don’t think so at the time. Help, education, and support is needed for everyone involved enabling them a way to find healthy methods to overcome the negativity of the disease. In this paper I will discuss the concerns we should have when dealing with substance abuse. Substance abuse threatens not only one’s personal health but the communi- ties’ stability which cost an estimated 600 billion dollars a year in the United States.

Get Access