The Effects Of Substance Misuse On The United Kingdom From My Native Zimbabwe

The drug misuse and dependence policy, aims to support people misusing drugs to live safe and free from a drug dependence life (Department of Health, 2015). With this policy in place drug treatments are becoming more successful with 18% of people staying in treatment and leaving drug free (Department of Health, 2015) this shows the policy is successful and works with people to reduce drug dependency (HM Government, 2012). 193,198 people aged 18 and over were in treatment for drug use during 2013 to 2014, 29,150 of these patients completed treatment and have overcome their drug dependency (Public Health England, 2014). From when the policy was first introduced, drug use is at its lowest since measurement began in 1996 (Featherstone, 2013).

I have chosen to discuss this culture because drugs are one of the most common leading and contributing factors in almost all crimes. Whether it is youth, women or men it is a common factor in their decision-making processes at the time of their offence. I will be starting my directed field placement with Calgary Probation at the SE office. It is guaranteed that, the cliental in whom I will be interacting with and trying to rehabilitate successfully will have had some form of addiction previous to the offence, at the time or within their time in a correctional facility. Because drugs are still a huge part of society, if not even more than ever before, upon release the client will be faced with adversities and challenges with sobriety.

It should be noticed that in the recent few decades, the science developed at an astonishing pace, and the problem of substance abuse cause a huge public concern. Currently, substance abuse has already become a pandemic around the world. It costs individuals substantially, and it of their family as a whole. It is essential for the society to help those people who struggle with drug addiction to get rid of their pain and get back their health and balance life. Therefore, I understand the substance abuse is a tough area, and people who are struggling with addiction really need help. During the course of the interview, I

Although these clients will still be abusing illegal substances, Sheon (2004) indicated that any reduction of harm is a step in the right direction, and the amount of success is measured by the client’s quality of life and well-being (as cited in Brown et al., 2005). “Harm reduction is about being respectful in somebody else’s world” (Georgina Perry, Service manager and co-author, England as cited in Cusick et al., 2010). By not respecting somebody else’s choices, the clients feel they must lie about their unhealthy lifestyles, which prevents the clients from getting assistance because they were trying to protect themselves from the real situation (Georgina Perry, Service manager and co-author, England as cited in Cusick et al., 2010). A way to reduce the harm from illegal substance abuse is clean needle exchange, and teaching clients how to properly inject themselves (Brown et al., 2005). The needle exchange is a program where clients exchange their used needles for clean ones, which helps reduce the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS (Brown et al., 2005). With continuation of these programs the harm from abusing illegal substances is reduced and the spread of life threatening diseases, such as HIV,

There are many ways in which people who are addicted to intravenous drugs are perceived by our society. People sometimes believe the addicted person is to blame for their circumstance and substance dependence and some feel serious drug addicts are a “lost cause” due to a lack of values or flawed character. “Persons who struggle with addictions often are depicted as criminals or prostitutes, weak, lazy and morally corrupt” (Bartlett, R., Brown, L., Shattell, M., Wright, T., Lewallen, L. (2013). These stereotypes paint people with addiction negatively; a percentage of people who live with serious addiction are capable of recovery with the right attitude, support and healthcare. Street level healthcare services such as; safe injection sites, provide accessable resources at street level for people to make the choice to live healthier lifestyles. Govement funding and support is needed to make these projects possible to improve the health of Canadians. Safe injection sites are proven to be positive contributions to communities, save lives, reduce harm and open doors towards recovery for people from the grip of addiction.

Addiction to any substance whether it be alcohol ,drugs prescribed or illegal or even the new legal highs can have turbulent effect on a person’s life, whether it be work, social or family life. It has been said that addiction in any form can be treated through intervention by relevant bodies, such as NHS Trust, Twelve Step Programs, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), to help the person overcome this compulsion through time and guidance, working towards a future clean and sober minded life. Drugs, alcohol, or any other chemical, artificially induced into the body, affects the way people see, speak, walk and hear. Albeit, theorists such as Dr Peele are staunch critics of the 12 steps model as advocated by Alcoholics Anonymous.

I talked to the man, who asked to go by “Richard”, after the meeting concluded. We sat outside the conference room and drank coffee while he told me about his lifelong battle with alcohol and drugs. I think what struck out the most to me was just how sad and regretful his tone of voice was as he told his story to me. He recalled how he first shot up with heroin at the age of fourteen, and how his life was a vicious cycle of drugs and depression afterwards. “Richard” told me that he was in and out of juvenile halls throughout his teenage years and how, when he was supposed to be in school, would skip classes to drink on the curb or inject himself with heroin in some dirty gas station bathroom. “I was in and out of prisons too, once I got old enough.” I remember him telling me. After two three year stints in prison on drug and alcohol related charges, the correctional

Although, there are many efforts to reduce the stigma of addiction, false concepts among individuals still persist. Many individuals may describe drug addicts as “people who are morally weak and cannot control their impulses”, or simply just “people who cannot get their life together”. Such misconceptions suggesting that

Your beliefs of heroin addicts are quite similar to my own; that once you’re addicted to heroin, it would be impossible to get clean. However, basing this on my experience with my uncle, I found out that this was not the case at all. Sure it was a struggle not only for him but for us as well. Once we realized that it was ok to say no to him any time he begged us for money and that we were doing it because we loved him not because we wanted to see him fail, things began to change. It took almost ten years of being in and out of rehab facilities, prison and seeing him look like death was knocking at his door, but he finally made it to what we in our family like to call, “clean living.” He still shows some side effects from being a

After interviewing my friend Bob, I really learned about him, and the struggles of overcoming an addiction. Bob’s abusive relationship with his father caused him to become very angry, and he projected it by turning to violence. Bob was in and out of prison, and that’s when he picked up his addiction to heroin. When Bob, was placed on parole, living in a treatment center helped Bob detox, but when he left, he was having a hard time adjusting to life. He almost gave up, and start abusing again, but the fear of going back to prison and wanting to change his life really motivated him to stay on the right path. Now Bob is staying busy by helping the employees at 7/11, and living off tips and General Relief. Bob prefers staying homeless, because

This new dynamic was seen initially in 1971 by the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) spearheaded by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The survey indicated that many illegal drug users were employed full or part time. The initial survey was used to try and understand the scope of the problem,

A study conducted by Her Majesty’s Chef Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales for the annual report showed that 29% of prisoners openly said that when they entered prison they had a drug problem and 31% admitted how getting drugs into prison is very simple (Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales Annual Report, 2011, p36) . Prison does not just have offenders with drug problems enter it also can be the reason prisoners take drugs. In England and Wales it’s reported that almost one fifth of prison, who use heroin, first tried it when they were in prison (Ministry of Justice, Compendium of reoffending statistics and analysis, 2010, p132). This is not helping some of the drug addicts rehabilitated if they have access to drugs in prison and it is causing problems by creating drug addicts. The drugs in prison can be split into three different groups;

I happened to grow up on a street in which drug abuse among youth is more common than anywhere else in the Islands of Zanzibar. I grew up seeing so many brothers and sisters involving in the use of drugs and eventually destroying their lives, some of my playmate and schoolmates who were less fortunate to finish their formal education to the University level the way I did, were also engaged in the drug abuse.

Alcohol is a commonly abused substance in most continents and Africa is no exception. Unlike the United States which has alcohol as the second most commonly used drug, in Africa it is the foremost abused substance. This could be attributed to the fact that most cultural or traditional ceremonies utilize alcohol in one way or another. In Ghana – West Africa – for example, during the naming ceremony of a newborn, the baby is given a drop of alcohol and then a drop of water with the belief that the child will recognize the difference when he grows up. It is common to find alcoholic beverages being served at functions such as birth, death, marriage and promotion on one’s job (Dordoye, 2009).

."In many cities the crowd around the bar is so thick that instead of filling glasses from the old-fashioned beer pumps, the hotel staff takes the beer to the glasses by long plastic hoses a dreadful sight to those unused to it (lawcom.govt.nz)