Substance Abuse Papers

Although the English word “drug” was only coined in the early 1300’s, humans have been partaking in the recreational use of substances since prehistoric times. Hallucinogens, alcohol, and opium existed before 6,000 BC; alcohol and tobacco use were common in the 1600’s ; and cocaine, LSD, marijuana, and heroin use rampaged in the last century despite harsh laws put in place.

Drug abuse and addiction remain large and persistent problems. Nationally, addiction and abuse of all substances costs the economy an estimated $600 billion dollars annually. Indeed, over the past decade, illicit drug use appears to be steady or rising (2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health; DHHS). From this we see that prescription and non-prescription opioid use is particularly problematic. For example, prescription pain reliever misuse has remained consistently high for most of the last decade and makes up the largest portion of misuse of prescription drugs (Figure 1). In addition people who report using heroin within the last year has increased by over 50% since 2001 (Figure 2).

Substance abuse is any nonstop pathological use of a medication, drugs, or alcohol. Substance abuse is most likely to be diagnosed among people who have just started taking drugs or medication and is often an early symptom of substance dependence. However, substance dependence can show without any symptoms of substance abuse, and substance abuse can last long periods of time without changing into substance dependence. Substances that are abused are, but not limited to, alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs for varied reasons. Substance addiction symptoms include the need for increasing amounts of the substance to maintain desired effects, withdrawal if drug taking stops, and a lot of time spent in activities related to substance use. Due to substance abuse and addiction our society pays a significant

In the United States, the rise in both illicit drug and alcohol abuse is continuing at an alarming rate. In 2009 alone, the United States saw 23.5 million people over the age of 12 needing treatment for drug or alcohol abuse (National Institute of Drug Abuse, 2011). Per the Drug Enforcement Administration, in the same year (2009), almost 32,000 arrests on drug related charges were carried out (Drug Enforcement Administration, 2015). Even with the threat of prison time, and most federal prisons being filled with inmates on drug and alcohol related charges, 46.4% in 2016 the use and abuse of these substances is still on the rise (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2016). Because of this, and the seemingly ineffective incarceration system, the call for

An estimated 22 million Americans are dependent on or abusing drugs or alcohol, at huge costs to society. Deaths from overdoses due to heroin and other opioids, including the prescription painkillers. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has called a “public health crisis.” (par #1) But some scientist and clinics are calling it a genetic problem or an addiction.

Opium use during the 17th and 18th century the use of opiates was positive and no one saw the harmful effects it could bring. Morphine, heroin, and oxycontin were widely used for helping with pain. In the turn of the 19th century people were having concerns of the side effects of these opiate drugs as well as the health risks that these drugs were bringing about. These drugs were highly addictive and once people were hooked onto the opiate it was very hard to get them off and this was leading to deaths and this was scaring people. Eventually in the 20th century the government saw the risks involved with legal drug use and they started putting regulation over the opiates. They would make the drugs illegal and if people were caught using they

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2016), substance abuse refers to “the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs.” The term substance abuse may congregate images of drugs, such as cocaine, alcohol, and tobacco. However, the current drug afflicting the United States are opioids. Opioids are a category of illegal drugs, which includes heroin and opium, and can be found in pain medications (National Institute on Drug Abuse [NIH], 2014). Since 2000, opioid abuse has increased 200% with more than 47,055 deaths from drug overdose in 2014 (Rudd, Aleshire, Zebell, & Gladden, 2016). Therefore, many of the national bills being introduced this legislation pertain to opioid abuse. Meanwhile

The Unites States is at an epidemic status with substance use disorder patients. There are many reasons to why we all should be concerned as a nation; however, this very problem is an essential topic globally. 230 million drug users are found worldwide and 19.9 million of those are Americans that have used illicit drugs in the year 2007 alone (as cited in Michael’s House, n.d); Furthermore, America makes up 4 percent of the global population and our nation manages to occupy two-third of the illegal drug use worldwide (as cited in Buggle, 2013).

To get to the bottom of this problem we need to go back to the mid 1800’s to the evolution of this problem. During this time there was a serious opium addiction running through our country. Opium dens were popping up all through out what we knew as the “wild west”. Opium was believed to be brought in by the Chinese immigrants coming over to work on the railroads during that time. It did not stop at Opium, along came morphine, which was developed to be a painkiller that is now commonly abused. Morphine was supposed to be a less potent, and less addictive substitute for opium. Morphine was considered a “miracle

History is always repeating itself to show how the world changed with drug abusers by adding federal and state laws. In the 19th century A.D., active substances of morphine, laudanum, and cocaine were introduced (Drug 2015). The physicians prescribed and completely unregulated the drugs freely to the offenders (Drug 2015). During the American Civil War, wounded veterans were using morphine as a freely drug when they arrived home (Drug 2015). In the United States by the early 1900s, it was estimated that 250,000 were addicted to drugs (Drug 2015). The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, was the first national drug law that required labeling for Opium and other types of medicines (Drug 2015). Supreme Courts made it illegal for the doctors to prescribe

Today's changing society has many global problems. Every passing year seems to uncover a new difficulty within the world. One of these many controversial problems is the excessive drug and alcohol millions misuse daily. From drunk driving wrecks to overdoses, today’s abuse problem has skyrocketed.

Substance abuse is one of the expeditious growing public health and convivial quandary that has unpropitiously involved substantial part of population. According to UNODC (2008), 205 million people are involved in substance abuse worldwide. Of these, there were 25 million people who were addicted to substance and were not able to stop without treatment. Injecting drug users are estimated at 13.2 million worldwide.

Drug use in America is one of the major issues we face and the problem has skyrocketed over the past three decades. Heroin and painkiller addictions exceed all other countries. It is important that we address some of the causes that lead to the abuse, how to treat the abuse, and how to prevent the distribution of illegal prescription drugs.

Substance abuse within the US is a very significant issue, with costs “exacting over $600 billion annually” (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2015). Various laws and regulations have been put in place in order to lower the amount of substance abuse cases. This has in turn triggered the establishment of appropriate public administration institutions. Even with these institutions there has been very little relief with the issue of substance abuse.

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