The Dangers of Prescription Drug Abuse Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the dangers of prescription drugs when not taken as prescribed by your physician or pharmacist. Central Idea: Prescription drugs can cause serious mental and physical health problems if they are taken incorrectly or abused. Introduction I. I want you to imagine for a minute that you are in physical or mental pain, you are struggling very bad with your school work, or that you are going through something in your personal life that is taking its toll on you. II. The personal problems that I just asked you to imagine are the main triggers of prescription drug abuse. Victims of prescription drug abuse are just like all of us, and they deal with the same things that all of us deal with. III. There …show more content…
Among teens in the United States, some of the most commonly abused drugs are prescription drugs. A. Prescription drug abuse is defined as a person taking a prescription drug in ways other than prescribed by their doctor or by taking someone else’s prescribed drug. 1. Within the United States, prescription drug abuse is the most common among students and teenagers. 2. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse for Teens, students abuse prescription drugs for several reasons, but they are most commonly abused in an attempt to get high, reduce pain, or to assist them with their school work. B. There are also many other reasons why teenagers abuse prescription drugs. 1. According to KidsHealth.org, a survey conducted in 2012 showed that 24% of teens have taken a prescription drug without a prescription from the doctor. 2. Why do teenagers do this? One reason is that many teenagers believe that prescription drugs are safer than street drugs, such as, marijuana or cocaine. (The motive behind a teenager abusing a prescription drug correlates directly with the types of abused medications. I would now like to inform you about the most commonly abused prescription
Prescription and pharmaceutical drug abuse is beginning to expand as a social issue within the United States because of the variety of drugs, their growing availability, and the social acceptance and peer pressure to uses them. Many in the workforce are suffering and failing at getting better due to the desperation driving their addiction.
There are many reasons people misuse the drugs like to feel good or get high, to relax or relieve tension by using painkillers and tranquilizers, to reduce appetite by using stimulants, to experiment, to be accepted by peers and succumb to peer pressure, to be safe, it is a false belief that prescription drugs are safer than street drugs, to be legal it is a mistaken thought that taking prescription drugs without a, prescription is legal, and (once they do it for a while) to feed an addiction. And there are many more reasons why people miss use the
More than often, American’s argue that if we have the technology to gain access to these “miracle meds”, then we should take advantage of it. To receive an opposing view, the National Institute of Drug Abuse asked teens around America why they think prescription drugs are overused, and the results were shocking; 62%: “Easy to get from parent's medicine cabinets”, 51%: “They are not illegal drugs”, 49%: “Can claim to have prescription if caught”, 43%: “They are cheap”, 35%: “Safer to use than illegal drugs”, 33%: “Less shame attached to using”, 32%: “Fewer side effects than street drugs”, 25%: “Can be used as study aids”, and 21%: “Parents don't care as much if caught”. I believe the major problem here isn’t the medication, but instead the fact that our nation is extremely uninformed on the “do’s and dont’s” of prescription medication. When “the United States is 5 percent of the world’s population and consumes 75 percent of the the world's prescription drugs” (CDC), there is a problem present, no matter the reason. Clearly, many critics believe the breathtaking amount of pills we consume in America is simply for the better good, but tend to forget the effects that are soon to follow.
It has been said that addiction is the plague of the 21st century. In an age of unprecedented life expectancy and medical breakthroughs, people are dying from both disease and overdose that are self inflicted and the cure is currently out of reach. Implementing progressive ideas such as safe injection sites have been a battle, both for caring social workers and front line emergency workers looking to minimize the health risks associated with risk taking behaviors that inevitably occur with intravenous drug use. While the addicted population currently uses considerable government funding by way of shelter services as well as prison and jail time, safe injection sites are a necessary step in the battle against drug abuse as is a major prevention
The most common prescription drug that many teenage drug abusers may be stealing or trying to purchase online would be opioids, also known as narcotics, which include drugs such as OxyContin, morphine, and Percocet (5). Narcotics are drugs that are used to relieve pain, triggering a sense of euphoria from the brain’s pleasure center. Many teens may abuse narcotics to feel that sense of pleasure (5). Another prescription medication that teenagers commonly abuse are stimulants, such as Adderall, Ritalin, and Dexedrine. These drugs stimulate dopamine production in the brain, lifting moods and calming anxiety, which is why it is a commonly abused prescription drug (5). Due to the easy accessibility with some of these prescription medications and their high potential for abuse, teenagers who abuse them are putting their mind’s and bodies at risk for the many side effects that come along with abusing drugs, which can sometimes be fatal.
Another growing fad in the United States is the abuse of prescription drugs. The abuse is being done by not only adults but by teens. The most current trend today is the misuse of cough syrups and prescription medications to produce a “high.” Other medications abused today are stimulants (Ritalin), and benzodiazepines (Xanax). Health Watch (2004) state girls tend to lean towards the medi...
According to the Michigan Institute for Social research, reported the results of their 1992 and 1993 national survey of nearly fifty thousand American high school students across the country ages thirteen through eighteen. Studies show that a gradual decrease in the use of most illicit drugs by younger people. The peak year for illicit drug use by high school seniors was in 1980. The 1992 and 1993 surveys reported an alarming shift, a modest but statistically significant increase in the use of several drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and inhalants. This survey attributes the increase in drug use to students’ perceived risk or danger in using a particular drug. In 1992, thirteen year-olds were less likely to see cocaine, crack and marijuana as dangerous. But in 1993, there was a significant increase in marijuana use by seventeen and eighteen year olds and a significant increase in marijuana use by thirteen year-old students. Cocaine use by seventeen and eighteen year olds declined in 1992. However there was a significant increase in cocaine use by thirteen year-old students between 1991 and 1992.
Typically, almost everyone in the world has taken drugs at some point in their life. Whether it be over the counter medication or prescription drugs. People get sick, they have illness, allegories, sexually transmitted diseases or other aches and pains. As you may already know, there is medication for each aforementioned problem. This is called drug use, which is using drugs for its intended purpose. However, the real dilemma happens when people began to misuse and abuse drugs.
Runaway’s teens often encounter problems with drugs such having an addiction. An addiction is a chronic brain disease that causes a person to find drugs in unwanted places, despite how harmful they are to them (Addiction p.4).Taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, research shows that in earlier stages a person using drugs is more likely to be more seriously
Furthermore, mental illness and drug addiction are conditions that often occur together. This is a person who has two brain disorders that influence one another, and which both need treatment. Some say that certain drugs may actually cause mental illness in individuals with a weak genetic profile (Genetic Science Learning Center, 2011).With that being said, symptoms may get worse, but drugs do not necessarily cause mental illness. Some people may begin using drugs of abuse as a form of self-medication. For instance, drugs of abuse may temporarily relieve some of the symptoms associated with stress, anxiety, or depression, but the problems will still exist. Therefore, the form of self-medicating when using drugs can lead to harmful effects in a person’s mental health. People who have been undiagnosed may also suffer from serious mental disorders. So they may take drugs to relieve their symptom which is known as self-me...
Drug abuse has been a hot topic for our society due to how stimulants interfere with health, prosperity, and the lives of others in all nations. All drugs have the potential to be misapplied, whether obtained by prescription, over the counter, or illegally. Drug abuse is a despicable disease that affects many helpless people. Majority of those who are beset with this disease go untreated due to health insurance companies who neglect and discriminate this issue. As an outcome of missed opportunities of treatments, abusers become homeless, very ill, or even worst, death.
Not only can adults become addicted to drugs, teenagers can become addicted to them too. From the ages of 18 to 25, those people are using illegal drugs “Addiction Statistics - Facts on Drug and Alcohol Addiction. Retrieved from https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/addiction-statistics/”. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s(SAMHSA’s) National Survey on Drug Abuse, in 2009 about 23.5 mil people from the ages 12 yrs old and up had to get treatment because they were using illegal drugs. But only 11% got the help that they needed. “Treatment Statistics. Retrieved, from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/treatment-statistics”. Drug addiction has been for some time an issue world wide.
The national institute of health which defined the Substance drug abuse as “chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences”. The NIH found that the most common substances abused by teenagers are: Alcohol, Marijuana, K2 or spice, opioids such as hydrocodone and oxycodone, stimulant such as Adderall and Ritalin, and tranquilizer such as Xanax. However, substance abuse consider an epidemic health problem affects millions of adolescent in the united states which return in sever long term consequences (National institute of health,
Certain drugs can be injected via a syringe or needle, smoked, ingested through the nasal cavity, and even laced into certain foods and eaten. Unfortunately, in certain areas, drugs can be very easily obtained in an unsafe environment. Usually, drugs affect teenagers the most who are in their high school and college years. It is reported that teenagers can get their hands on narcotics at a myriad of places in their daily lives. They can be found: In the medicine cabinet, at home, at a neighbor’s house, online, a friend, at schools, and at parties. Nowadays, with rapid advancement in drug development, kids as young as 16 can cook and grow their own drugs in their homes. Neglect of strict attention or drug awareness among parents can result in teenagers buying or selling drugs routinely in their
The use of drugs is a controversial topic in society today. In general, addicts show a direct link between taking drugs and suffering from their effects. People abuse drugs for a wide variety of reasons. In most cases, the use of drugs will serve a type of purpose or will give some kind of reward. These reasons for use will differ with different kinds of drugs. Various reasons for using the substance can be pain relief, depression, anxiety and weariness, acceptance into a peer group, religion, and much more. Although reasons for using may vary for each individual, it is known by all that consequences of the abuse do exist. It is only further down the line when the effects of using can be seen.