Applied Social Marketing Project - Essay Example

It is root to many other crimes that are being committed such as robbery, as addicts want money to purchase the drug, violence at home when they are under the effect of the drug and many more such crimes and acts of violence. Throughout the length of this paper, the details related to drug abuse have been discussed. The symptoms that we should look for in a person who is an addict are also mentioned. There are some causes as to why a person would take up the drug such as peer pressure, stress or even violence at home.

These causes are looked into in this paper. We have justified our position as to stop the use of drugs through campaigns that should be launched to increase the awareness of the risks of using and drugs and the health problems that are associated with it. The paper is about social marketing; let's explain what social marketing is: social marketing is an approach through which we try and achieve a social good through behavioral goals which are clearly identified and explained. It is not only a short term process but it also looks at the long term and tries to solve the issue for a longer period of time.

This is done by using marketing techniques which can help achieve the goal. There are six features of this approach: customer or customer orientation, behavior and behavior goals, intervention mix and marketing mix, audience segmentation, exchange and competition. The process involves stages which are: scope, develop, implement, evaluate and follow-up. (http://www.nsms.org.uk/public/default.aspxPageID=10)The social issue that we have focused upon in this paper is drug abuse; drugs are a chemical substance which affects the way a normal body operates.

Drugs can be sniffed, smoked, licked and injected. There are many substances such as mushrooms and alcohol which can be confused as drugs because they also affect the way the body functions. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act definition of "drug" includes "articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man or other animals" and "articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals." (U.S.

Food and Drug Administration, http://www.fda.gov/opacom/laws/fdcact/fdcact1.htm) Drug abuse is when the drugs are consumed more than the required amount and when they are consumed without any medical or health reason for consumption. Drug dependence can take three forms: tolerance, habit and addiction. Tolerance is when the body becomes used to a drug and to achieve the same effect we need to take higher and higher quantities of the drug. The condition worsens when the drug is used continuously for a long period of time.

Withdrawal symptoms are experienced by the addict or dependent person when the use is stopped. Habit is when the person desires the drug. He physically may not require the drug but psychologically he wants to keep having it. The drug becomes a part of life; the person eventually may require the drug to function normally. Addiction is when the person starts to crave for the drug and existence without it seems impossible to the addict. Drugs can be classified into six types:The first type is alcohol and tobacco and their use is extensive by many people.

They are consumed on a daily basis. The effect of these drugs starts to take place after consumption is continued for years. The second