Do you or someone you know, know a teenager who engages in unhealthy habits such as poor nutrition, misuse of drugs or alcohol, and practices unsafe sexual habits? Keeping programs that help adolescents tackle these issues in an informed manner are all necessary to help model positive behaviors in everyday life. Programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) and The Boy and Girls Club of America help to educated children and teens in terms of making informed decisions on their overall health and wellbeing. Research studies provide evidence that promoting and establishing healthy behaviors for younger people are more effective, and often easier than efforts to change unhealthy behaviors already established in adulthood. It is in the communities best interest to properly educate teens on the importance of maintaining a healthy and safe lifestyle through the use of classes and other educational programs in schools, community outreach programs, and through public service announcements such as television and other forms of media. To begin, public health has a longstanding history in attempting to get involved in the daily lives of people in our society. In 1919, prohibition began the first attempt at government interference when it came to drugs an alcohol. After the abolishment of prohibition, drugs became a main focus as far as public health was concerned. The United States faced its first drug epidemic in the beginning of the 20th century, and its second during the 1970's. During the discovery of new drugs such as morphine, heroin, and cocaine, our society has attempted to find a solution for drug abuse and addiction in the country. During the 1960s, drugs like marijuana, amphetamines, and psychedelics gained popula... ... middle of paper ... ...-414. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 2, 2014. Kumar R, O'Malley P, Johnston L, Laetz V. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use Prevention Programs in U.S. Schools: A Descriptive Summary. Prevention Science [serial online]. December 2013;14(6):581-592. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 3, 2014. Landau, Elizabeth, CNNMoney's Melanie Hicken, Aaron Smith, Jen Christensen, and Miriam Falco. "CVS Stores to Stop Selling Tobacco." CNN. Cable News Network, 05 Feb. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. . Stigler M, Neusel E, Perry C. SCHOOL-BASED PROGRAMS TO PREVENT AND REDUCE ALCOHOL USE AMONG YOUTH. Alcohol Research & Health [serial online]. June 2011;34(2):157-162. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed aFebruary 3, 2014.
Drug use has been an ongoing problem in our country for decades. The use of drugs has been the topic of many political controversies throughout many years. There has been arguments that are for legalizing drugs and the benefits associated with legalization. Also, there are some who are opposed to legalizing drugs and fear that it will create more problems than solve them. Conservatives and liberals often have different opinions for controversial topics such as “the war on drugs,” but it is necessary to analyze both sides in order to gain a full understanding of their beliefs and to decide in a change in policy is in order.
Implications of implementing this approach may be “to reduce the dangers of drug use for the community and the individual, and to shift the focus of illegal drugs as primarily a criminal justice of medical issue to a social and/or public health iss...
Did you know tobacco and alcohol use cause over 475,000 deaths in the U.S. annually? To assist young people in avoiding these harmful behaviors, the D.A.R.E. program enhances the knowledge and awareness of the hazards regarding dangerous substances throughout a ten week program. The acronym D.A.R.E. stands for drugs, abuse, resistance, and education. D.A.R.E. ensures the safety of adolescents in various situations and instills beneficial strategies, techniques, and tips to aid young people in making responsible decisions.
The war on drugs in our culture is a continuous action that is swiftly lessening our society. This has been going on for roughly 10-15 years and has yet to slow down in any way. Drugs continue to be a problem for the obvious reason that certain people abuse them in a way that can lead to ultimate harm on such a person. These drugs do not just consist of street drugs (marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy), but prescription medications as well. Although there are some instances where drugs are being used by subjects excessively, there has been medical research to prove that some of these drugs have made a successful impact on certain disorders and diseases.
However, before the specific outcomes of Congressional influence and policy impact can be evaluated it becomes important to first review the general history and current situation of drugs today. Our present drug laws were first enacted at the beginning of the century. At the time, recreational use of narcotics was not a major social issue. The first regulatory legislation was for the purpose of standardizing the manufacturing and purity of pharmaceutical products. Shortly after, the first criminal laws were enacted which addressed opium products and cocaine. Although some states had prohibited the recreational use of marijuana, there was no federal criminal legislation until 1937. By contrast, the use of alcohol and its legality was a major social issue in United States in the early 20th century. This temperance movement culminated in the prohibition of alcohol from 1920 to 1933. Recreational drug use, particularly heroin, became more prevalent among the urban poor during the early ?60s. Because of the high cost of heroin and its uncertain purity, its use was associated with crime and frequent overdoses.
We need to understand that adolescents are going through physical, emotional and cognitive changes. By making preventative measures such increase involvement of families, schools and raise awareness among community. I believe the rate of teens involve in drinking and unhealthy risk behavior will decrease.
The public health model differs from traditional health practices, as its focus is on the health of the public instead of one patient. It uses a “3 prong approach to prevention and intervention” “known as the agent, host, and the environment.” This is because threats to public health require a susceptible host, an infectious agent, and a supportive environment that allows the spread of infection. By doing this, professionals are able to develop preventions against issues of public health. This would include teaching children to say no to drugs at a young age in order to prevent addiction in the future, as they are susceptible hosts to becoming addicts. Also making drugs illegal to keep the agent from being accessible to people who could become addicts. The approach is useful in all areas of public health, and has been proven to intervene in the likeliness that something will become
According to McKeganey (2012) harm reduction policy is driven by two main concepts: public health and human rights. He states, “Public health approaches have emphasized the need for identifying specific harms, the need for interventions to be evidence-based and targeted at the need to adopt realistic goals rather than pursue unattainable aspirational goals such as a drug-free society.” He also states, “Harm reduction is based on human rights especially the rights of drug users to life and security, and to health protection against harms from the community and
The current situation of drug control in the United States is imperfect and inadequate. Millions of men and women, both young and old, are affected by illicit drug use. It costs the United States about $6,123 every second because of drug use and its consequences (Office). Moreover, 90 percent of all adults with a substance use disorder started using under the age of 18 and half under the age of 15. Children who first smoke marijuana under the age of 14 are five times more likely to abuse drugs as adults than those who first use marijuana at age 18. Finally, the children of alcoholics are four times more likely to develop problems with alcohol (Prevent). Current legislation that has to do with the United States’ drug control policy is the Controlled Substances Act, which regulates the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of certain substances (Shannon). In 1966, Congress passed the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act also known as the NARA. This legislati...
Drug abuse has changed over the years due to the trends that Americans face from the encouragement of different cultures. The abuse of substances creates many health problems. The following will discuss the past and current trends of drug use and the effects these drugs have on the health of the individuals who abuse the drugs.
Health education is often regarded as too inappropriate for children to be learning, but critics need to realize that these issues are being experienced at earlier ages than ever before. Children are being exposed to the dangers of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, and other subjects that are typically considered to be adult topics. Health education makes students aware of these issues, the consequences that are associated with them, and the dangers that they face if they choose to take part in any of them. Health educators cannot stop students from using any of these products, but they can teach them to think twice and potentially save many lives.
Perhaps most substance abuse starts in the teen years when young people are susceptible to pressure from their peers. One of the main concerns when dealing with substance abuse is the long term problems with substance such as addiction, dependency and tolerance. The physical state of an individual, who is addicted to a substance, will deteriorate over a long period of time. This is due to the chemicals that are being put into an individual body. One of the most important aspects of the effect of substance abuse on society includes ill health, disease, sickness, and in many cases death. The impact of substance abuse not only affects individuals who abuse substances but it affects our economy. Our government resources are negatively impacted by individual who abuse substances. According to (Lagliaro 2004) the implication of drug users extend far beyond the user, often damaging their relationships with their family, community, and health workers, volunteer and wider
Throughout history drugs have been nothing but a social problem, a burden per say. From Edgar Allen Poe smoking opium in an attempt to make his poetry more creative, to Vietnam soldiers coming back from the war addicted to heroin. Narcotics was not a serious issue at the time, only a small hand full of people were actually doing the drugs, and they were just simply looked down upon. It was not until the late nineteen sixties when recreational drug use became fashionable among young, white, middle class American citizens, that the United States Government “put it’s foot down”. (pbs.com) They started slowly ,developing agencies like the (BNDD) Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, which was founded in 1968 by the Linden Johnson administration. Congress also started passing laws like the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act in 1970.
The question that is being explored in our presentation asks what drugs are doing to our society. This means exploring the various groups that use recreational drugs their reasons for this the effects that drug use has and the methods to help prevent and stop use of drugs. By recreational drugs we mean such substances as marijuana and heavier more addictive drugs as heroin and cocaine. For which the use of these has increased throughout society over time.
Drugs are something that has been prevalent in our society for many decades now. It seems that as our population continue to grow, drugs seem to continue to have a major impact throughout our society, then used by drug seem to have been influenced by many things, either through social or cultural factors and it have affected people in many different ways such as their behavior, their attitude and just basically their livelihood. Today our society is deeply infected with the issue of drugs, we look around our society and we see young kids are being consume by drugs, we see workers, and executive people are also being consumed by drugs. Drugs continue to play a huge role in our society because while most people