Marijuana Abuse in Australia - Essay Example

Marijuana Abuse Name Date Course Background to the Issue Marijuana is one of the most commonly abused drugs in the world. Australia has the highest marijuana prevalence rate in the world (Large, et al, 2011). The drug is widely abused by the indigenous population in Australia. Marijuana is illegal in Australia as a result of the harm that it causes to the users. It has the potential of causing mental problems as well as some other forms of health complication. The abuse of marijuana usually leads the users to other hard drugs. It is reported that about 33.5% of adults above the age of 22 years have smoked marijuana. About 750,000 people in Australia smoke marijuana on a weekly basis while about 300,000 are addicts and they smoke on a daily basis (Barratt, et al, 2013). Of major concern is that about 2.7% of children below the age of 15 years smoke marijuana. 15% of adolescents aged between 16 and 17 years also smoke marijuana. This is devastating compared the negative effects that the drug has. The future of the children who smoke the drug may be impacted negatively and hence the major concern. The productivity of the marijuana addicts is quite low and this has seen most of the addicts failing to secure and maintaining a steady source of income. The abuse of marijuana has also been linked to other social problems such as crime and violence (Meier, et al, 2012). The group that has been choose to address the problem includes police officer, doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, social workers, community leaders, public health officers, teachers and the recovered addicts. The drug is relatively easy to obtain in Australia despite being illegal. The report is therefore an action plan that may be used to deal with the problem. Objectives of the Action Plan 1. To reduce the use of marijuana among the adolescents in Australia. 2. Create awareness of the dangers and effects of the drug among the general population. 3. Minimize the use of the drug among the indigenous people. 4. Provide support and information to the addicts to enable them stop the abuse of the drug. Proposed action Objective Proposed action 1. To reduce the use of marijuana among the adolescents in Australia. Promote educational programs targeting the elimination of the abuse of marijuana by the adolescents. Providing online information about the effects of use and abuse of the drug. Incorporating the drug based education in the school curriculum targeting the adolescents. Providing information to the parents to assists in curbing the problem among their children. 2. Create awareness of the dangers and effects of the drug among the general population Carrying out awareness campaigns among the community members. Developing advertisements highlighting the effects of the marijuana abuse. Liaising with the church leaders, community leaders, schools and law enforcement officers in the campaigns. Carrying out capacity building among the members of the society. Providing the information directly to the known marijuana addicts. Using the social media to inform the people about the dangers of marijuana abuse. 3. Minimize the use of the drug among the indigenous people Holding informative meeting with the indigenous people and providing information about the dangers of marijuana. Liaising with the law enforcement officers to raid and destroy the marijuana grown in the farms. Working closely with the community leaders to identify the sellers and have them prosecuted. Working with other stakeholders to solve the social injustices and problems among the indigenous people that contributes to the use of drugs. Promoting education among the indigenous people. 4. Provide support and information to the addicts to enable them stop the abuse of the drug. Working closely with other stakeholders to develop more rehabilitation facilities. Working with the correctional services department and judiciary to ensure the incarcerated addicts are rehabilitated. Identifying the addicts in the society and providing them with free rehabilitation services. Developing and circulating brochures about the effects of marijuana abuse among the members of the society. Anticipated outcomes Objective Anticipated outcome 1 Adolescents being able to fully understand the effects of marijuana and avoiding its use. Cooperation between the parents and the authorities to identify the adolescents using drugs. Behaviour change among the adolescents who are abusing marijuana. Facilitation of early intervention among the adolescents using and abusing marijuana. 2 Increase in public awareness of the dangers associated with the abuse of marijuana. More discussing in schools, churches and community meeting about the dangers and effects of marijuana abuse. Easy access to the information about the use and abuse of marijuana. Reduction in the number of marijuana users in the community. Increase in the number of addicts seeking help at the rehabilitation facilities. An increase in arrests of marijuana a seller and their decrease in the community. 3 Enlightenment of the members of the indigenous community. Reduction of the use of marijuana among the indigenous community. Reduction the production, supply and use of marijuana among the indigenous people. Improved productivity among the indigenous people. Increase in number of educated and enlighten members of the indigenous societies. 4 Easy access to the rehabilitation services by the marijuana addicts. Increase in number of people who can be offered the services in the community. Rehabilitation of the prisoners who are marijuana users. Reduction of access to marijuana in the correctional facilities. Reduction in the number of marijuana addicts in the society. Key roles and responsibilities The police officers involved in the program will mainly be responsible for arresting the marijuana sellers and ensuring that any crop in the field is destroyed. The social workers and public health officers will work together during the awareness campaigns and visits to the schools. Public health officers are better experienced in creating awareness among the community members about the problems such as marijuana abuse. The doctors, nurses and psychiatrists will mainly be involved in the treatment of the marijuana addicts during the rehabilitation process. Drug addiction is considered as a disease and hence the involvement of doctors. Since marijuana affects the mental health if the addicts, the psychiatrist are required during the rehabilitation process (Room & Reuter, 2012). The community leaders will be involved in creating awareness among the community members. They will also play an important role in the mobilization of the community members during the campaigns. The community leaders will also act as a link between the police and the community members to ensure that the marijuana producers and sellers are arrested. The teachers will mainly be involved in the provision of the information to the students as the program will target adolescents. Teachers will also be responsible for coordinating the mobilizing the students during campaigns at the schools. The recovered marijuana addicts will act as volunteers and their main role will be speaking to the members of the public about their experience during the meeting and awareness campaigns. Organizational chart Timelines and Resources Required Objective Timelines Resources required 1 Short term goals 6 months Long term goals 48 months Government funding to facilitate the required activities. Vehicles for transportation and movement to different parts of the country. Volunteers who will be involved in awareness campaigns. 2 Short term goals 6 months Long term goals 48 months Financial resources from the government and other stakeholders from the private sector. Human resources including the officials who will be involved in the campaigns. Public address system, computers, and stationary equipment. Vehicles for transportation. 3 Long term goals 6 months Short term goals 48 months Financial resources to support various activities including police raids and mobilization of the community members. Human resources to support in the mobilization of the community members. Vehicles for transportation. 4 Long term goals 6 months Short term goals 48 months Financial resources to build more rehabilitation centers and recruit personnel. Human and financial resources to train the personnel at the correctional facilities. Computers and electronic equipment. Key risks The major key risk is the lack of cooperation from the marijuana users and addicts. Any dug related program is mainly dependant on the behavior and attitude change by the users (Solowi, et al, 2011). Most of the users are not ready to stop using the drugs due to various problems including poverty and isolation by community members. Among the indigenous people in Australia, it is almost like a tradition and this posse a high risk as it is difficult to change the tradition of the community members. Some of the addicts are also too arrogant and may refuse to embrace the program and thus contributing to its failure. In Australia, there have been campaigns to legalize the use of marijuana (Solowi, et al, 2011). This is a major risk for the programs in case the campaign is successful. Some of the legislators have also expressed their support for legalization of marijuana. The drug has been legalized in some of the developed countries and state and hence piling a lot of pressure on the authorities in Australia. Lack of adequate finance for the program may also lead to its automatic failure. Evaluation method Objective Proposed action Evaluation method 1 Promoting education programs Accessing the number of schools visited after every six months. Provision of online information Establishing the number of people who have accessed the sites after every 3 months Incorporation of the program in the curriculum Establishing the compliance levels by schools after 6 months Provision of information to parents Establishing the number of parents who supporting the program 2 Awareness campaigns Establishing the behavior change after the campaign. Capacity building Determining the number of addicts trained. Liaising with stakeholders Establishing the number of targeted stakeholders on board. Use of social media Analysing the feedback 3 Meetings with indigenous people Number of meetings held and resolutions made Destruction of the marijuana plants Number of acres destroyed. Arrest Number of sellers arrested and prosecuted. Social injustices Number of social issues addressed Promotion of education Number of students enrolled in schools. 4 Development of rehabilitation facilities Number of new rehabilitation centers developed. Working with correctional department Number of prisoners fully rehabilitated. Identification of marijuana addicts Number of addicts identified and rehabilitated. Reduction in number of addicts Surveys carried out after every six months to establish the number of users. Bibliography Barratt, M. J., et al. 2013. Patterns of synthetic cannabinoid use in Australia. Drug and alcohol review, 32(2), pp. 141-146. Meier, M. H., et al. 2012. Persistent cannabis users show neuropsychological decline from childhood to midlife. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(40), PP. E2657-E2664. Large, M., et al. 2011. Cannabis use and earlier onset of psychosis: A systematic meta-analysis. Archives of general psychiatry, 68(6), pp. 555-561. Room, R. & Reuter, P., 2012. How well do international drug conventions protect public health? Lancet, 379(9810), PP. 84-91. Solowi, N., et al. 2011. Verbal learning and memory in adolescent cannabis users, alcohol users and non-users. Psychopharmacology, 216(1), pp. 131-144. Read More