Preview

Effects of Drug Abuse

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1437 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Effects of Drug Abuse
Effects of Drug Abuse

Effects of Drug Abuse
COM/156
February 9, 2014
Amanda Yates

Effects of Drug Abuse

Drug abuse is a growing issue all over the world, and while the concentration on drug awareness has dramatically increased over the years, the number of families effected by drug use continues to rise at an alarming rate.

Drugs are defined as “: a substance that is used as a medicine: an illegal and often harmful substance (such as heroin, cocaine, LSD, or marijuana) that people take for pleasure.” ("Merriam-Webster", n.d). People that abuse drugs and the effects of this abuse can happen to anyone, in any walk of life and it happens all over the world every day. Drug abuse has happened to a great deal of people regardless of social status, financial stability, gender, or race. Drug abuse has been in in all societies for ages and it seems that the number of people effected by drug abuse continues to grow more each day. More and more people are becoming addicted to drugs and more and more families are being effected. Just as we start to learn about a one type of drug, another one is created. Drugs are imported into countries, exported out, smuggled in and out and some drugs are made at home and could be the house right next door. Drug abuse not only effects the person abusing the drugs but the people around them as well. The effects of drug abuse has many layers and sometimes can be a vicious cycle that lasts for generations.

I grew up as a child that was around drugs from the day I was born. There is not a time in my childhood that drugs were not involved at some point. I was around so many different things that I actually thought it was normal. As I got older I realized that it was not right, but it was what I had always known so I didn’t think it was a big deal. When I moved out of my mother’s house at the age of 15 it was then that I realized just how abnormal my childhood was. My mother abused heroin,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    • Research 3 – 5 peer-reviewed journal articles related to how drug abuse affects families when one or more adult members are addicted to illicit and/or prescription drugs, and the various treatment options available to addicted families.…

    • 307 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Week 3 Appendix J

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Drug abuse plays a key part in numerous social tribulations. Drugs abuse can escort to drugged driving, violence, stress, child abuse, homelessness, crime, missed work, and difficulty with keeping an occupation. Drug abuse can hurt unborn children and devastate relatives.…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Transtheoretical Model

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Substance abuse and dependency persist as a major health and social concern in America. Author Joseph A. Califano, a former secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare notes, “it is hard to find an American family or circle of friends that substance abuse has not touched directly (Califano, J. A., p. 1, 2008).” Califano further explains that although Americans are 4 percent of the world’s population, Americans consume 65 percent of the world’s illegal drugs. Furthermore, one in four Americans will have an alcohol or drug disorder at some point in his or her life. Most of these individuals have parents, children, siblings, friends, community and colleagues who will “undergo psychological and social harm" (Califano, J. A., p. 1, 2008.).” Authors…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Substance abuse related issues can be treated effectively with a family-based treatment. (Gladding, 2015). According to Gladding (2015), some of the most effective approaches in treating substance-related disorders in families are structural-strategic, Bowen, behavioral, Adlerian and multifamily therapy. The behavior of substance abusers or dependents of substance might have difference interacting with others, whom they come in contact with (Gladding, 2015). Substance abuse effects the entire family. The parent who grown up in a substance abuse home might find it challenging to have a long-lasting and intimate relationship (Gladding, 2015). Whereas, the child who lives in in setting with a substance abuse are more likely to develop social and…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Substance abuse in the United States has changed over the years, and comes in many forms, such as prescription pills, non-prescription pills, powder cocaine, crack-cocaine, meth, heroin, marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol. Today, there are advertisements sending out messages about how drugs can harm an individual, their families, and their future. There are people who admit to doing drugs, and there are those who do not want to admit doing drugs. Many cultures use drugs for medical reasons or for religious purposes. There are also health and social problems that occur when doing drugs or addicted to drugs.…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drug abuse is a complex problem thought to result from a combination of hereditary, psychological, and environmental factors. It affects people from the neonatal stage to old age. Infants of abusers may suffer from neglect or the effects of parental drug use. As they grow into childhood, they may demonstrate antisocial behavior, and signs of malnutrition, poor self-esteem, depression, or attention deficit disorder. This may lead an adolescent to use drugs, have unwanted pregnancies, and drop out of school. Identification of drug abuse is a difficult first step on the road to recovery because of the methods many abuses use to hide their addiction, the inability of family members to recognize or accept the…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    These effects are reduced after three or four hours. However, marijuana hangs around in your system for as long as a month after smoking. The lingering effects mean you 're impaired for several days to weeks after the high wears off.…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Dual Diagnosis Mental Health

    • 2263 Words
    • 10 Pages

    This impact on family members sorely relies upon the different roles and responsibilities, for example: the parents of the drug abuser suffer more impact than the rest of the family members (Banard 2006). It affects them in several various ways such as: physical illnesses, education and employment and psychological illnesses. There is a strong possibility that family members experience negative emotions such as anger, shame, confusion, hurt and despair due to lack of knowledge of how to get help or lack of intervention or support from services (Templeton et al 2006). Children or siblings who undertake a caring role can face a risk of loosing their childhood, which can have a negative impact on schoolwork, health, conduct and friendships (Velleman and Templeton 2007). The provision and of services to meet the needs of family members and their involvement in the care of drug users, results in the enhancement and effectiveness of services and drug treatment and plummeting abuse (Velleman and Templeton 2007). It is imperative that services which are designated to offer expert help to family members and carers of drug users implement methods to amplify motivation and resilience because there is a tendency of loosing hope in the process (Templeton 2007). According to Banard (2006), family members play a vital role in influencing people with substance misuse problems to seek or accept help from services. Stanton and Heath (2005), believes that most partners of drug abusers experience physical violence, manipulation, pressure to release money to fund drugs and lying. Family members adults and children equally experience inevitable risks of developing numerous chronic problems such as substance misuse in their own right, physical sicknesses, involvement in arrangement of anti-social behaviours…

    • 2263 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    One main problem that drug abuse can cause is children growing up in one-parent homes because of a parent incarcenration for drug-related charges. One of the most common crimes for parents to serve time in a federal prison is drug-related offenses and one-third of the parents incarcerated in state prisons stated that he or she was under the influence of some type of drug when he or she committed the crime convicted of (BJS, 2000). The percentage of drug-addicted parents reveals that many children grow up in one-parent households, live with other family members, or in foster care. Thirty-three percent of mothers and 19% of fathers incarcerated committed his or her crime to obtain money to buy drugs. Over 50% of both mothers and fathers reported that he or she has used drugs in the month before committing his or her crime. Parents have a big influence on his or her children lives. Drug abuse can run in the family. Some children believe if his or her parent used drugs, he or she will use drugs. In most households, if both of the parents are addicted to drugs, the chances of the child using drugs will…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marriages are ruined because they spouse may spend money on the drugs, have affairs, and ruin and hurt their children. There are a lot of ways that the user may abandon their responsibilities. Jobs do not want to have a person that is not independent and self motivated. Employers need a worker that is capable for accomplishing their tasks and if a person does not have that capability because they are so invested in the drug that they will lose their job. Which may result in stealing and losing…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    substance abuse paper

    • 579 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Drug abuse is one of the leading struggles that people face every day in society. There are different types of drugs rather it is a recreation drug, prescription or over the counter drug, either can cause a wear and tear on a human’s health. People have their own reasons for why they want to experience drugs. Some people tamer with recreational drugs for the first time out of curiosity. Their either are influence by friends and significant others and mostly start by watching family members growing up. Growing up in a city where there were drugs being sold on every corner and seeing close love ones addicted to drugs like cocaine and heroin I had a chance to witness firsthand the effect that drugs have on people.…

    • 579 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Family Substance Abuse

    • 1452 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Drug abuse can cause an addict to become violent and physically or emotionally abuse the child or sexually abuse them and cause damage that will stay with the child for the rest of their lives (Nichols, 2015). Another negative effect that drug addiction can cause is serious emotional damage for the child (Nichols, 2015). The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) reports that 35.6 million children in the United States under the age of eighteen lives in a home where a parent drinks or uses illicit drugs (CASA, 2009). Studies show that nearly eighty percent of all child abuse and neglect cases are a result of the parent being involved with drugs or alcohol (CASA, 2009). Many children of addicts can suffer from long-term emotional or psychological damage that causes serious effects on their mental health (Nichols, 2015). These children tend to be diagnosed with behavioral problems, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression (CASA, 2009). Children to lose respect for the parent who is abusing substances as they are no longer able to properly take care of the child (Nichols, 2015). The home may be lacking in any kind of structure and rules, causing the child to turn to abusing substances in order to escape from the pain of their reality (Nichols, 2015). Children of substance abusers have four times greater risk of developing an alcohol or drug problems than children of non-users (CASA, 2009). Substance abuse not only has a negative effect on the individual family member, but it can affect the family as a…

    • 1452 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Addiction: The Disease

    • 1424 Words
    • 4 Pages

    I have often wondered why I turned out the way I did, an addict. I wonder if circumstances in my life influenced or contributed to that first time I decided to alter my state with a drug. Honestly, I don’t think it did. I had a normal childhood, in a loving family. We did not have a lot of money, but we had enough. We ate dinner together every night, we went camping in the summer, and took frequent family vacations. Even though there were no traumatic events to blame, I became an addict. But, I am not alone.…

    • 1424 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drugs are all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Right? Isn’t that the way the saying goes? It’s all fun and games, it is all good and dandy, until drugs overtake someones life. When someone is getting pushed down constantly, the solution is not to depend on drugs. The solution is to stand up, be strong, fight for themselves. In life, it is hard to truly block out what other people say. It is truly hard to make themselves feel better when they have felt nothing but the worst. Drugs take them to a place in their minds where they are not focused on what is going on outside of that. Drugs have this impact where it doesn't make people, not care, but not care to a point where it makes them feel good. Drugs create a mindset where the world is…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Legal Prescription Abuse

    • 2398 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Illicit and legal prescription abuse is an ongoing problem in the United States and it affects millions of people across the country. Many research studies have been conducted on the number of individuals who abuse illegal and legal drugs, from various cultures and social economic backgrounds, but much of the research has been found to be bias, stating it mostly affects minority groups and low income families. Substance abuse whether it’s used illegally or through prescribed medications from a person’s physician affects individuals across his or her lifespan starting in the utero. Drug abuse affects everyone pregnant women and un-pregnant women across the world as well as men and children. It does not matter what geographical area a person…

    • 2398 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays