When we view substance use disorders, alcohol is the most widely used drug within the United States and 11 percent of workers have drinking problems (Frone, 2006). Over 20 million people used illegal substances in 2006 and 7 million people abused prescribed medications. Of the 18 million drug abusers, 18 years or older in 2006, 13.4 million (74.9 %) were employed full or part time (SAMHSA, OSA). These addiction problems have an expenditure of $276 billion dollars per year with most of this cost from loss of productivity and health care (H. Harwood, D. Fountain, and G. Livermore, 1992).
Drug abuse and addiction not only has negative effects in the lives of the people involved, but also in the lives of their close relatives, friends and immediate society. It leads to disintegration, failure in school, loss of employment and violence. Although intake of drugs is a voluntary and conscious decision initially, continuous intake of drugs changes the brain and challenges the self-control of the “addicted person” and inhibits the ability to resist extreme desire for drug intake.
It has become one of the major social problems of our day, leaving a great number of families and communities within our country devastated and without hope of recuperation for any of their afflicted members and loved ones. Growing to become a big social challenge affecting all aspects of the American society, addiction rates have escalated to enormous proportions within the country as reported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Addiction has been described as a chronic brain disorder,” resulting from adaptations in the brain that leads to changes in behavior”, according to Dr. Nora Volkow, who also assert that it can be treated (NIDA 2006).
Addiction is a complex psychiatric disorder that consists of social and psychological factors, but at its most basic level it is a biological process. Addiction may come in many forms, but its primary choice of substance is drugs. In particular, prescription medications in the form of pills have become a major health problem, not only to those addicted but the clinicians who prescribe them. In order to fully understand this disorder, considering what brain mechanisms and functions are involved with addiction, the next area to look into is the factors that make the prescription drugs so addictive, along with long term effects, and to discover any new treatment options out in practice today, whether it be through medicine and/or counseling.
Substance abuse and addiction have become a social problem that afflicts millions of individuals and disrupts the lives of their families and friends. Just one example reveals the extent of the problem: in the United States each year, more women and men die of smoking related lung cancer than of colon, breast and prostate cancers combined (Kola & Kruszynski, 2010). In addition to the personal impact of so much illness and early death, there are dire social costs: huge expenses for medical and social services; millions of hours lost in the workplace; elevated rates of crime associated with illicit drugs; and scores of children who are damaged by their parents’ substance abuse behavior (Lee, 2010). This paper will look at the different theories used in understanding drug abuse and addiction as well as how it can be prevented and treated.
Substance abuse consists of a vast range of destructive effects on its users, the people surrounding that individual and also society in its entirety. The repercussions of substance abuse has adverse consequences on families, such as finances and emotion turmoil. The abuser is likely to use all available resources to support the addiction they have developed, and disregarding other priorities and leaving them neglected. Due to the altered mental state of these individuals, it is not uncommon for them to initiate tendencies of violence and cruelty towards their family members which can occasionally enable a spouse to take on an unsound role to preserve their relationship. Unfortunately, children of parents who are substance abusers become a higher risk of experiencing physical and emotional trauma and possibly repeating the cycles. Substance abuse impacts society tremendously from every direction. The cost for enforcing drug laws and policies is a very expensive and extensive process, all ranging from street level enforcement, correctional facilities, as well as rehabilitation problems. Crime has always been associated with drugs in a large spectrum scaling from petty crime to more organized affiliations that wish to control drug trades. The violence and crime that these people create seriously disrupt our society and the citizen that abide by the law. Abusing drugs or alcohol is essentially allowing your body to be poisoned slowly over time and has a tremendously impact on multiple areas of one's health and wellness. These long-term abusers have an increased the risk of numerous ailments ranging from heart, liver, lung disease to nerve or brain damage. Substance abuse is seen as one of the most ubiquitous issues facing our nati...
Drug use and abuse has become a common situation with today’s citizens. Drugs are more easily accessible today than they ever were in the past. The drug trend is frightening to say the least. From the legal substances, such as alcohol and tobacco, to the illegal substances, such as marijuana and cocaine, there has been an increase in their use amongst all ages of people. It seems that the ages of the users are getting younger as time goes by. Because of this trend there are more people addicted to substances and who need treatment. There are many treatment programs out there where people can go to get help with their addictions. Programs range from alcohol treatment to substance abuse treatments and detoxification processes. Unfortunately,
Addiction is a disease that affects by ten percent of Americans but countless others, including family and friends, are devastated by it. Addiction is not a choice that a person can make; rather the disease takes away people’s ability to make conscious choice. Science has advanced to show exactly how drugs affect the brain chemically, proving that it is a disease and not a moral failing. Addiction is a disease and should be treated through rehabilitation and community based support groups such as Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), not imprisonment, and the state and federal governments should increase funding and programs for prevention and treatment.
Drugs affect people in many different ways. One person can take abuse drugs, yet never become addicted, while another person has one experience and is immediately hooked to that drug. Drug addiction is defined as a dependence on an illegal drug, or medication. When you are addicted, you cannot control your drug use despite the fact that you know the consequences. The scary thing is that drug addiction can cause a major intense craving of drugs. Even though you want to stop, most people can’t do it on their own it is very difficult, and most need therapeutic help. For many people this is what is going to lead them to their death, or a long term mental/physical disability. Being addicted will also affect your relationships with friends and family as well as your employment status. Illegal drug abuse and addiction cost individual Americans upward of half a trillion dollars annually. This could be through medical, criminal, or even social expenditures. Drug use also contributes to an estimated 440,000 deaths by overdose per year. For the United States government, it costs hundreds of billions of dollars in increased health care, crime, and lost productivity. What can we do to prevent or help hopeless addicts from drug abuse and addictions? And whats our law enforcement officers doing about this situation?
Families and friends are devastated when their loved ones resort to drugs and alcohol. Relationships are ruined when someone is addicted to escaping reality by distorting their mind because an addict will steal and lie to get their next high. Parents want to help, but it reaches a point where they cannot tolerate the mischievous behavior any longer. Friends begin to distance themselves, avoiding contact with the person abusing drugs.
Addiction often time leads to an individual’s health declining, their financial security declines. Drug addicts have a hard time keeping a job, which leads to having trouble with the law, and sometimes even leads to being homeless. Drug addiction is a sickness, if it is not being taken serious, and without the right kind of treatment addicts will just find their way back to using, even after they have served their time in prison. The Administration’s National Drug Control Strategy recognizes that addiction is a disease, and that the criminal justice system can play a vital role in reducing the costs and consequences of crimes committed by drug-involved offenders. If drug addicts received proper treatment and proper help needed to overcome the addiction, which will give those individuals a new opportunity to live a clean healthy life, and will contribute to society in a positive
Drug addiction, whether illegal substance or alcohol, robs an individual of their mental capacity, friends, family, and life, in the most tragic cases. The lack of inhibition a person feels under the influence of alcohol is depressing, literally, their potential to lead a full productive life. A deadly stimulant that seduces with a high that infects the person’s mind and one’s life, meth shows no mercy. Rehabilitation, employment, family definitely help the recovering substance addict, but the years wasted on drugs can never be relived. Please contact us for help a loved one needs today. Children need parents, family is the greatest resource.
Drug abuse dates as far back as the Biblical era, so it is not a new phenomenon. “The emotional and social damage and the devastation linked to drugs and their use is immeasurable.” The ripple of subversive and detrimental consequences from alcoholism, drug addictions, and addictive behavior is appalling. Among the long list of effects is lost productivity, anxiety, depression, increased crime rate, probable incarceration, frequent illness, and premature death. The limitless consequences include the destruction to personal development, relationships, and families (Henderson 1-2). “Understandably, Americans consider drug abuse to be one of the most serious problems” in the fabric of society. And although “addiction is the result of voluntary drug use, addiction is no longer voluntary behavior, it’s uncontrollable behavior,” says Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Torr 12-13).
It has been one hundred years since the U.S. joined the war on drugs and drug use has only been increasing. Increasing at an alarming rate. According to the National Institute of Drug Use “[i]n 2013, an estimated 24.6 million Americans… had used an illicit drug in the past month.” (Nationwide, 2015). Drug use and addiction affect many americans. The approach that America has been taking to fight drug use involves criminalizing addicts and outcasting them from society. In order to reduce drug use and the number of addicts in the U.S, the government must completely change its idea of what addiction is and its policy on dealing with it.
This dissertation investigates how substance and other addictive problems are prevalent in every segment of society today. The issues are concerns that are created cross all ethnic, cultural, educational, socioeconomic, gender, and age barriers. While there has been an upward trend in elder and prescription abuse over the past decade, adolescent rates have stabilized somewhat. Yet, when considering the various forms that substance abuse and addiction can take, the statistics are staggering.