Issue of a Substance Abuse - Essay Example

?Substance abuse, also referred to as drug abuse, is illustrative of an individual’s pattern to seek thrill from psychoactive substance, which has devastating results. In other words, substance abuse is the willful misuse of drugs, whether legal or not, for recreation purposes, as a perceived necessity or convenience. Drugs refer to substances that affect both the mind through the central nervous system, and bodily functions. Psychoactive substances have their effects concentrated in the central nervous system to alter mood, consciousness, perception and behavior in an individual. Under normal circumstances, these drugs are used in treatment of physical, psychological or mental illnesses at an advocated dosage. However, since the body is can tolerate increasing dosages of most substances used, the dosage can be increased to achieve the same effect as before. In such a case, the user is at risk of developing dependency as moderate use accelerates to chronic usage. Dependence and addiction are characterized by a craving for the drug, difficulty in controlling its use, according high precedence to the substance in relation to other activities, and heightened tolerance. There exist wide varieties of substances that are subject to abuse in modern society, and the most common include alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and inhalants. Alcohol is the most abused substance in the world with alcohol-related deaths seen to outnumber other drugs. Health conditions associated with excessive alcohol consumption include liver disorders, heart ailments, and cancer of the pancreas and stomach. Smoking has been associated with respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, chronic airway obstruction, emphysema, lung cancer, among others. About 5 million lives are lost each year due to smoking, which contributes to the increase in number of preventable deaths. Marijuana use is thought to bear positive attributes owing to its underlying benefits to the community, such as in medical and economical fields. However, marijuana’s psychological and physical effects raise concerns of dependency, with research indicating mental and emotional deterioration following long-term use. The active ingredient in marijuana is known to induce euphoria, anxiety and depression (Hanson et al., 2011). Cocaine, also known as crack, or coke, is derived from the coca plant and can be administered through injections, smoking, snorting or taken orally. Cocaine is classified as a stimulant due to its capacity to enhance neural activity in an individual with the intensity and duration of its effects is dependent on the route of administration. The drug has been associated with tachycardia, high blood pressure, altered behavior and impaired judgment. Inhalants are described as volatile substances such as paint thinner, dry-cleaning fluids, gasoline, glues among other, that produce chemical vapors, which when inhaled induce a psychoactive effect. Inhalant abuse is most common among young children seeking the thrill of drug use and serves as an introductory platform. Their use is characterized by rapid excitation, drowsiness, agitation as well as loss sensation if taken in significant amounts. Research has established that the abuse of alcohol and other illicit substance is a critical health barrier in the United States, which serves to cause strain the health care system. In addition to creating an economic burden, substance abuse contributes to the health complications and death of millions of Americans each year. Presently, drug abuse results in more health complications, physical impairments, and deaths than any other preventable health condition (Ericson, 2007). Drug abuse is associated with numerous factors, which have their roots in the individual as well as the society and contribute to the development and sustainability of the vice. At an individual level, persons experimenting with drugs tend to continue using due to the effects they derive from such activity. As such, addiction and dependency demonstrate indicators of drug-related problems. To this effect, one may take drugs to fulfill a valuable need or fill a void in life thus creating a crisis as the drug use gradually increases over time. As a result, that, which began as a voluntary choice, evolves into a physical and psychological need, which affects the performance of duties leading to neglect. Treatment emphasizes on understanding the development of emotional factors, which are associated with addiction as a restorative response (Ruiz et al, 2007). Similarly, drug abuse has been associated with prevailing social environments such as cultural practices and financial status of an individual. Social cultural practices shape an individual’s expectations and form a mechanism for which one is protected from potential substance abuse. Social practices are known to influence the behavior of their subjects by establishing a norm deem acceptable in society. For instance, parents who engage in substance abuse within their households expose their children to their habits. As a result, the children inherit the vice and tend to seek the thrill as their parents do. Research demonstrates strong links between poverty and substance abuse that highlight psychological discomfort, fragile family bonds, and limited community resources, which widens disparities in the society. Poverty may lead to drug abuse where individuals seek relief in drugs in a bid to alleviate the strain and frustrations associated with economic deprivation. This is characteristic of persons at the margins of the society especially such as the homeless. However, drug abuse can lead to a deplorable economic status of an individual as resources are diverted to purchase drugs. In the same regard, drug dependency is attributed reduced productivity, and as such, economic loss may be inevitable (Rathus, 2011). In turn, persons with drug-related problems engage in criminal activities to achieve monetary funding in order to facilitate their daily fix. The above is in line with the social structure theory where individuals from different social stratifications get involved with substance abuse for different reasons. Some seeking thrill while others seek relief from their strain and frustrations in life. Substance abuse is weighed mostly by the consequences rather than the amount and frequency of consumption, and they range from health effects to societal issues that are attributed to increased drug use. High rates of drug abuse are considered as a primary causal factor steering the decline in neighborhood socio-economic status, which has seen residents that can afford to move out of a deprived area do so; leaving behind those with fewer resources. Consequently, this serves to enhance economic disparities hindering economic development. Consequently, the government established policies that are geared towards curbing the sale and distribution of commonly abused drugs (Shaw, 2002). Studies have generated a substantial load of evidence to illustrate the relationship between drugs and crime. This is highlighted by the ever-increasing sense of relative deprivation amongst those at the bottom end of the class structure, which has in turn fuelled crime as individuals seek economic survival. In response to the escalating substance abuse within the community, members have defined a strict stance against the vice. The afflicted society accuses the government of neglecting them and for failing to take decisive legal action on known suppliers. As such, calls for social reforms have intensified with groups lobbying for drug-free zones within their community. This is facilitated through community policing and monitoring of known drug zones. In addition, communities have established rehabilitation as well as recreational centers to cater for social needs. Community rehabilitation centers cater for those willing to change their ways while recreational centers provides getaways for the youth who would otherwise indulge in substance abuse. Psychological and physical health problems, whether acting as a trigger to substance use or a consequence of it, continued to be present during recovery and health problems were the most immediate barrier to (former) substance users’ ability to work and to sustain work. Psychological problems were particularly prevalent among alcohol users. Eroding social networks, homelessness, living in adverse social environments, fluctuating motivation to resist dependency and change one’s lifestyle, are among key barriers to achieving independence. Similarly, the stresses obliged by structural complicatedness are experienced by individuals in a biased and personal way and as a consequence individuals will respond differently to the structural difficulties they face. In conclusion, the psychology of substance abuse focuses on understanding additions as adaptive attempts to alleviate emotional suffering and repair self-regulatory deficiencies. Treatment should be based on psychological evaluation to discover underlying factors attributed to substance abuse in order to establish a restorative response. References Ruiz, Pedro, Strain Eric and Langrod John. (2007). The Substance Abuse Handbook. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Ericson, N. (2007). “Substance Abuse: The Nation’s Number One Health Problem”. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/fs200117.pdf Hanson, G, Venturelli, P.and Fleckenstein A. (2011). Drugs and Society. Burlington, Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Rathus, S.A. (2011). Psychology: Concepts and Connection. Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Shaw, V.N. (2002). Substance use and abuse: sociological perspective. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. Read More