Current and Past Drug Abuse Trends

Introduction Drug abuse is a serious problem which has affected many individuals in American society for decades. When we take a look into American history, it is apparent the magnificent availabilities of science and technology available today have not always been around. With the lack of scientific knowledge and the once non-existence of drug abuse, it is fair to say our discoveries of drugs were once ingested in some form out of pure curiosity of the human mind. (Levinthal, C. F. 2010)
Current and Past Drug Abuse Trends Today the National Institute on Drug Abuse has established a number of information sources to monitor and track drug abuse trends in America. These information sources include but are not limited to the Monitoring the Future Survey (MTF), and the annual monitoring of illicit drug, tobacco, and alcohol abuse survey known as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2010) Among the concerns of illicit drug use, Americans also face numerous problems in relation to the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs, also referred to as medication. The prescription drugs by the names Vicodin and Qxycontin have been reported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to be the most common abused medication currently in society. According to the Monitoring the Future Survey taken in the year 2009, both prescription drugs Vicodin and Oxycontin have shown an increase in misuse and abuse over the past five years of recorded trends. The majority of these top prescription abusers have been reported within the age group of Americas high school students (10th – 12th grade). (National Institute on Drug Abuse. 2010) The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is another commonly used information source presented by the National Institute on Drug Abuse which obtains information in relation to health risks including drug abuse factors and trends. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is generally provided annually to high

Cited: University of Phoenix PSY 425. (2010) Levinthal, C. F. (2010). Drugs, Behavior, and Modern Society (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson. Retrieved Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9 October 2010. Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. (January 2010). Retrieved October 2010 from www.ok.gov/obndd/ Drug Enforcement Agency. (2010). Retrieved October 2010 from www.jusice.gov/dea US Department of Justics. (January 2010). Retrieved October 2010 from www.justice.gov American Medical Association. (2010). Retrieved October 2010 from www.ama-assn.org Legal history of cannabis in the United States. (2010). Retrieved October 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org National Institute on Drug Abuse. (January 2010). Retrieved October 2010 from www.drugabuse.gov and http://www.drugabuse.gov/infofacts/nationtrends.html **Complete NSDUH survey can be found at http://oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUHLatest.html **Complete MTF survey can be found at http://www.monitoringthefuture.org