essay about illegal drugs

Understanding the Demand for Illegal Drugs (2010)

Chapter: 1 introduction, 1 introduction.

A merica’s problem with illegal drugs seems to be declining, and it is certainly less in the news than it was 20 years ago. Surveys have shown a decline in the number of users dependent on expensive drugs (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2001), an aging of the population in treatment (Trunzo and Henderson, 2007), and a decline in the violence related to drug markets (Pollack et al., 2010). Still, research indicates that illegal drugs remain a concern for the majority of Americans (Caulkins and Mennefee, 2009; Gallup Poll, 2009).

There is virtually no disagreement that the trafficking in and use of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine continue to cause great harm to the nation, particularly to vulnerable minority communities in the major cities. In contrast, there is disagreement about marijuana use, which remains a part of adolescent development for about half of the nation’s youth. The disagreement concerns the amount, source, and nature of the harms from marijuana. Some note, for example, that most of those who use marijuana use it only occasionally and neither incur nor cause harms and that marijuana dependence is a much less serious problem than dependence on alcohol or cocaine. Others emphasize the evidence of a potential for triggering psychosis (Arseneault et al., 2004) and the strengthening evidence for a gateway effect (i.e., an opening to the use of other drugs) (Fergusson et al., 2006). The uncertainty of the causal mechanism is reflected in the fact that the gateway studies cannot disentangle the effect of the drug itself from its status as an illegal good (Babor et al., 2010).

The federal government probably spends $20 billion per year on a wide array of interventions to try to reduce drug consumption in the United States, from crop eradication in Colombia to mass media prevention programs aimed at preteens and their parents. 1 State and local governments spend comparable amounts, mostly for law enforcement aimed at suppressing drug markets. 2 Yet the available evidence, reviewed in detail in this report, shows that drugs are just as cheap and available as they have ever been.

Though fewer young people are starting to use drugs than in some previous years, for each successive birth cohort that turns 21, approximately half have experimented with illegal drugs. The number of people who are dependent on cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine is probably declining modestly, 3 and drug-related violence has appears to have declined sharply. 4 At the same time, injecting drug use is still a major vector for HIV transmission, and drug markets blight parts of many U.S. cities.

The declines in drug use that have occurred in recent years are probably mostly the natural working out of old epidemics. Policy measures— whether they involve prevention, treatment, or enforcement—have met with little success at the population level (see Chapter 4 ). Moreover, research on prevention has produced little evidence of any targeted interventions that make a substantial difference in initiation to drugs when implemented on a large scale. For treatment programs, there is a large body of evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness (reviewed in Babor et al., 2010), but the supply of treatment facilities is inadequate and,

perversely, not enough of those who need treatment are persuaded to seek it (see Chapter 4 ). Efforts to raise the price of drugs through interdiction and other enforcement programs have not had the intended effects: the prices of cocaine and heroin have declined for more than 25 years, with only occasional upward blips that rarely last more than 9 months (Walsh, 2009).

STUDY PROJECT AND GOALS

Given the persistence of drug demand in the face of lengthy and expensive efforts to control the markets, the National Institute of Justice asked the National Research Council (NRC) to undertake a study of current research on the demand for drugs in order to help better focus national efforts to reduce that demand. In response to that request, the NRC formed the Committee on Understanding and Controlling the Demand for Illegal Drugs. The committee convened a workshop of leading researchers in October 2007 and held two follow-up meetings to prepare this report. The statement of task for this project is as follows:

An ad hoc committee will conduct a workshop-based study that will identify and describe what is known about the nature and scope of markets for illegal drugs and the characteristics of drug users. The study will include exploration of research issues associated with drug demand and what is needed to learn more about what drives demand in the United States. The committee will specifically address the following issues:

What is known about the nature and scope of illegal drug markets and differences in various markets for popular drugs?

What is known about the characteristics of consumers in different markets and why the market remains robust despite the risks associated with buying and selling?

What issues can be identified for future research? Possibilities include the respective roles of dependence, heavy use, and recreational use in fueling the market; responses that could be developed to address different types of users; the dynamics associated with the apparent failure of policy interventions to delay or inhibit the onset of illegal drug use for a large proportion of the population; and the effects of enforcement on demand reduction.

Drawing on commissioned papers and presentations and discussions at a public workshop that it will plan and hold, the committee will prepare a report on the nature and operations of the illegal drug market in the United States and the research issues identified as having potential for informing policies to reduce the demand for illegal drugs.

The committee drew on economic models and their supporting data, as well as other research, as one part of the evidentiary base for this

report. However, the context for and content of this report were informed as well by the general discussion and the presentations in the workshop. The committee was not able to fully address task 2 because research in that area is not strong enough to give an accurate description of consumers across different markets nor to address the questions about why markets remain robust despite the risks associated with buying and selling. The discussion at the workshop underscored the point that neither the available ethnographic research nor the limited longitudinal research on drug-seeking behavior is strong enough to inform these questions related to task 2. With regard to task 3, the committee benefitted considerably from the paper by Jody Sindelar that was presented at the workshop and its discussion by workshop participants.

This study was intended to complement Informing America’s Policy on Illegal Drugs: What We Don’t Know Keeps Hurting Us (National Research Council, 2001) by giving more attention to the sources of demand and assessing the potential of demand-side interventions to make a substantial difference to the nation’s drug problems. This report therefore refers to supply-side considerations only to the extent necessary to understand demand.

The charge to the committee was extremely broad. It could have included reviewing the literature on such topics as characteristics of substance users, etiology of initiation of use, etiology of dependence, drug use prevention programs, and drug treatments. Two considerations led to narrowing the focus of our work. The first was substantive. Each of the topics just noted involves a very large field of well-developed research, and each has been reviewed elsewhere. Moreover, each of these areas of inquiry is currently expanding as a result of new research initiatives 5 and new technologies (e.g., neuroimaging, genetics). The second consideration was practical: given the available resources, we could not undertake a complete review of the entire field.

Thus, we decided to focus our work and this report tightly on demand models in the field of economics and to evaluate the data needs for advancing this relatively undeveloped area of investigation. That is, this area has a relatively shorter history of accumulated findings than the more clinical, biological, and epidemiological areas of drug research. Yet it is arguably better situated to inform government policy at the national level. A report on economic models and supporting data seemed to us more timely than a report on drug consumers and drug interventions.

The rest of this chapter briefly lays out some concepts that provide a basis for understanding the committee’s work and the rest of the report.

Chapter 2 presents the economic framework that seems most useful for studying the phenomenon of drug demand. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the responsiveness of demand and supply to price, which is the intermediate variable targeted by the principal government programs in the United States, namely, drug law enforcement. Chapter 3 then examines changes in the consumption of drugs and assesses the various indicators that are available to measure that consumption. Chapter 4 turns to the program type that most focuses specifically on reducing drug demand, the treatment of dependent users. It considers how well these programs work and how the treatment system might be expanded to further reduce consumption. Finally, Chapter 5 presents our recommendations for how the data and research base might be built to improve understanding of the demand for drugs and policies to reduce it.

PROGRAM CONCEPTS

A standard approach to considering drug policy is to divide programs into supply side and demand side. This approach accepts that drugs, as commodities, albeit illegal ones, are sold in markets. Supply-side programs aim to reduce drug consumption by making it more expensive to purchase drugs through increasing costs to producers and distributors. Demand-side programs try to lower consumption by reducing the number of people who, at a given price, seek to buy drugs; the amount that the average user wishes to consume; or the nonmonetary costs of obtaining the drugs. This approach has value, but it also raises questions.

The value of this framework is that it allows systematic evaluation of programs. A successful supply-side program will raise the price of drugs, as well as reduce the quantity available, while a demand-side program will lower both the number of users and the quantity consumed, as well as eventually reducing the price. As noted above, this report is primarily focused on improving understanding of the sources of demand.

There are two basic objections to this approach. First, some programs have both demand- and supply-side effects. Since many dealers are themselves heavy users, drug treatment will reduce supply, just as incarceration of drug dealers lowers demand. Second, there is a collection of programs that do not attempt to reduce demand or supply; rather, their goal is to reduce the damage that drug use and drug markets cause society, which are generally referred to as “harm-reduction” programs (Iversen, 2005; National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2010). 6 Nonetheless, the classifi-

cation of interventions into demand reduction and supply reduction is a very helpful heuristic for policy purposes, as well as being written into the legislation under which the Office of National Drug Control Policy operates.

What determines the demand for drugs? Clearly, many different factors play a role: cultural, economic, and social influences are all important. At the individual level, a rich set of correlates have been explored, either in large-scale cross-sectional surveys (such as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse) or in small-scale longitudinal studies (see, e.g., Wills et al., 2005). Below we briefly summarize the complex findings of those studies.

Less has been done at the population level. It is known that rich western countries differ substantially in the extent of drug use, in ways that do not seem to reflect policy differences. For example, despite the relatively easy access to marijuana in the Netherlands, that nation has a prevalence rate that is in the middle of the pack for Europe, while Britain, despite what may be characterized as a pragmatic and relatively evidence-oriented drug policy, has Europe’s highest rates of cocaine and heroin addiction (European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 2007). There is only minimal empirical research that has attempted to explain those differences. Similarly, there is very little known about why epidemics of drug use occur at specific times. In the United States, for example, there is no known reason for the sudden spread of methamphetamine from its long-term West Coast concentration to the Midwest that began in the early 1990s. There are only the most speculative conjectures as to the proximate causes.

A DYNAMIC AND HETEROGENEOUS PROCESS

The committee’s starting point is that drug use is a dynamic phenomenon, both at the individual and community levels. In the United States there is a well-established progression of use of substances for individuals, starting with alcohol or cigarettes (or both) and proceeding through marijuana (at least until recently) possibly to more dangerous and expensive drugs (see, e.g., Golub and Johnson, 2001). Such a progression seems to be a common feature of drug use, although the exact sequence might not apply in other countries and may change over time. For example, cigarettes may lose their status as a gateway drug because of new restrictions on their use. 7 Recently, abuse of prescription drugs has emerged as a possible gateway, with high prevalence rates reported for youth aged 18-25;

however, because of limited economic research on this phenomenon, this report’s focus is on completely illegal drugs.

At the population level, there are epidemics, in which, like a fashion good, a new drug becomes popular rapidly in part because of its novelty and then, often just as rapidly, loses its appeal to those who have not tried it. For addictive substances (including marijuana but not hallucinogens, such as LSD), that leaves behind a cohort of users who experimented with the drug and then became habituated to it.

An important and underappreciated element of the demand for illegal drugs is its variation in many dimensions. For example, the demand for marijuana may be much more responsive to price changes than the demand for heroin because fewer of those who use marijuana are drug dependent (Iversen, 2005; National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2010). Users who are employed, married, and not poor may be more likely to desist than users of the same drug who are unemployed, not part of an intact household, and poor. There may be differences in the characteristics of demand associated with when the specific drug first became available in a particular community, that is, whether it is early or late in a national drug “epidemic.”

There are also unexplained long-term differences in the drug patterns in cities that are close to each other. In Washington, DC, in 1987 half of all those arrested for a criminal offense (not just for drugs) tested positive for phencyclidine, while in Baltimore, 35 miles away, the drug was almost unknown. Although the Washington rate had fallen to approximately 10 percent in 2009 (District of Columbia Pretrial Services Agency, 2009), it remains far higher than in other cities. More recently, the spread of methamphetamine has shown the same unevenness: in San Antonio only 2.3 percent of arrestees tested positive for methamphetamine in 2002; in Phoenix, the figure was 31.2 percent (National Institute of Justice, 2003). These differences had existed for more than 10 years.

The implication of this heterogeneity is that programs that work for a particular drug, user type, place, or period may be much less effective under other circumstances, which substantially complicates any research task. It is hard to know how general are findings on, say, the effectiveness of a prevention program aimed at methamphetamine use by adolescents in a city where the drug has no history. Will this program also be effective for trying to prevent cocaine use among young adults in cities that have long histories of that drug?

This report does not claim to provide the answers to such ambitious questions. It does intend, however, to equip policy officials and the public to understand what is known and what needs to be done to provide a more sound base for answering them.

Arseneault, L., M. Cannon, J. Witten, and R. Murray. (2004). Causal association between cannabis and psychosis: Examination of the evidence. British Journal of Psychiatry, 184 , 110-117.

Babor, T., J. Caulkins, G. Edwards, D. Foxcroft, K. Humphreys, M.M. Mora, I. Obot, J. Rehm, P. Reuter, R. Room, I. Rossow, and J. Strang. (2010). Drug Policy and the Public Good . New York: Oxford University Press.

Carnevale, J. (2009). Restoring the Integrity of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Testimony at the hearing on the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s Fiscal Year 2010 National Drug Control Budget and the Policy Priorities of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Under the New Administration. The Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. May 19, 2009. Available: http://carnevaleassociates.com/Testimony%20of%20John%20Carnevale%20May%2019%20-%20FINAL.pdf [accessed August 2010].

Caulkins, J., and R. Mennefee. (2009). Is objective risk all that matters when it comes to drugs? Journal of Drug Policy Analysis , 2 (1), Art. 1. Available: http://www.bepress.com/jdpa/vol2/iss1/art1/ [accessed August 2010].

District of Columbia Pretrial Services Agency. (2009). PSA’s Electronic Reading Room—FOIA. Available: http://www.dcpsa.gov/foia/foiaERRpsa.htm [accessed May 2009].

European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction. (2007). 2007 Annual Report: The State of the Drug Problem in Europe. Lisbon, Portugal. Available: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/annual-report/2007 [accessed May 2009].

Fergusson, D.M., J.M. Boden, and L.J. Horwood. (2006). Cannabis use and other illicit drug use: Testing the cannabis gateway hypothesis. Addiction, 6 (101), 556-569.

Gallup Poll. (2009). Illegal Drugs . Available: http://www.gallup.com/poll/1657/illegal-drugs.aspx [accessed April 2010].

Golub, A., and B. Johnson. (2001). Variation in youthful risks of progression from alcohol and tobacco to marijuana and to hard drugs across generations. American Journal of Public Health, 91 (2), 225-232.

Iversen, L. (2005). Long-term effects of exposure to cannabis. Current Opinion in Pharmacology, 5 (1), 69-72. Available: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/long%20term%20cannabis%20effects.pdf [accessed July 2010].

National Institute of Justice. (2003). Preliminary Data on Drug Use & Related Matters Among Adult Arrestees & Juvenile Detainees 2002 . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.

National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2010). NIDA InfoFacts: Heroin . Available: http://www.drugabuse.gov/infofacts/heroin.html [accessed August 2010].

National Research Council. (2001). Informing America’s Policy on Illegal Drugs: What We Don’t Know Keeps Hurting Us. Committee on Data and Research for Policy on Illegal Drugs, C.F. Manski, J.V. Pepper, and C.V. Petrie (Eds.). Committee on Law and Justice and Committee on National Statistics. Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Office of National Drug Control Policy. (1993). State and Local Spending on Drug Control Activities . NCJ publication no. 146138. Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President.

Office of National Drug Control Policy. (2001). What America’s Users Spend on Illegal Drugs 1988–2000 . W. Rhodes, M. Layne, A.-M. Bruen, P. Johnston, and L. Bechetti. Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President.

Pollack, H., P. Reuter., and P. Sevigny. (2010). If Drug Treatment Works So Well, Why Are So Many Drug Users in Prison? Paper presented at the meeting of the National Bureau of Economic Research on Making Crime Control Pay: Cost-Effective Alternatives to Incarceration, July, Berkeley, CA. Available: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c12098.pdf [accessed August 2010].

Trunzo, D., and L. Henderson. (2007). Older Adult Admissions to Substance Abuse Treatment: Findings from the Treatment Episode Data Set . Paper presented at the meeting of the American Public Health Association, November 6, Washington, DC. Available: http://apha.confex.com/apha/135am/techprogram/paper_160959.htm [accessed August 2010].

Walsh, J. (2009). Lowering Expectations: Supply Control and the Resilient Cocaine Market. Available: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/graficos/pdf09/wolareportcocaine.pdf [accessed August 2010].

Wills, T., C. Walker, and J. Resko. (2005). Longitudinal studies of drug use and abuse. In Z. Slobada (Ed.), Epidemiology of Drug Abuse (pp. 177-192). New York: Springer.

This page intentionally left blank.

Despite efforts to reduce drug consumption in the United States over the past 35 years, drugs are just as cheap and available as they have ever been. Cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines continue to cause great harm in the country, particularly in minority communities in the major cities. Marijuana use remains a part of adolescent development for about half of the country's young people, although there is controversy about the extent of its harm.

Given the persistence of drug demand in the face of lengthy and expensive efforts to control the markets, the National Institute of Justice asked the National Research Council to undertake a study of current research on the demand for drugs in order to help better focus national efforts to reduce that demand.

This study complements the 2003 book, Informing America's Policy on Illegal Drugs by giving more attention to the sources of demand and assessing the potential of demand-side interventions to make a substantial difference to the nation's drug problems. Understanding the Demand for Illegal Drugs therefore focuses tightly on demand models in the field of economics and evaluates the data needs for advancing this relatively undeveloped area of investigation.

Welcome to OpenBook!

You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

Show this book's table of contents , where you can jump to any chapter by name.

...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

Switch between the Original Pages , where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter .

Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

View our suggested citation for this chapter.

Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

Get Email Updates

Do you enjoy reading reports from the Academies online for free ? Sign up for email notifications and we'll let you know about new publications in your areas of interest when they're released.

We use cookies to enhance our website for you. Proceed if you agree to this policy or learn more about it.

• Essay Database >
• Essay Examples >
• Essays Topics >
• Essay on Drugs

Example Of Illegal Drug Abuse Essay

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Drugs , Drug Abuse , Emotions , Bullying , Commerce , Violence , Family , Health

Words: 1900

Published: 12/28/2019

ORDER PAPER LIKE THIS

Drug addiction is a growing serious problem that has drastic physical and emotional effects on the user and family and a long road to recovery

Illegal Drug Abuse

Undoubtedly, drug abuse and addiction is one of the leading factors in causing psychological, emotional, and physical problems among individuals. While abuse of drugs is a disorder that causes significant problems due to the destructive patterns of drug use, drug addiction is a disease that affects individuals making them incapable of withdrawing from the use of the substance. Substances that cause euphoric feelings are more likely to be used. No finger can be pointed to specific factors as being the major factors that cause drug addiction, but several risk factors have a likelihood of developing dependencies on chemical substances. Drug addiction is a growing serious problem that has drastic physical and emotional effects on the user and family and a long road to recovery. This leads to detrimental and drastic effects to individuals with respect to the execution of their user and family functions. Equally, drug related disorders inflict misery trails to the community in addition to inflicting direct damage and harm to victim. Huge costs are often incurred in efforts aimed at reducing the challenges caused by drug related problems by the society and the government. Such costs include health care, crime, and at the worst of circumstances, death(Zimic, & Jukic, 2012).

Drug addiction and Drug abuse

As mentioned above, drug abuse refers to a disorder caused by the continued and destructive pattern of using drugs. Many a drug consumed in this pattern are believed to relieve users of persistent pains in addition to acting as stimulants for conditions such as Attention Deficit Disorder and relieving stress (Zimic, &Jukic, 2012).While drug abuse refers to a substance disorder, drug addiction refers to a disease characterized by dependence on substances. Drug addiction is a complex disease that affects the brain leading uncontrollable and compulsive tendencies to seek the use of drugs. This can be attributed to the effects occurring from the prolonged use of drugs. Other people may experiment with drugs less often, in very low amount,and experience little or no effect on their lives, families, and relationships. This however is not the case. No matter how little or less oftenyou engage in drug related habits, it causes some problems at the work place or elsewhere. Drug use moves from casual to problematic but varies with an individual(Zimic, & Jukic, 2012).

Emotional and physical effects on the user

The addicted patient is affected emotionally, psychologically and physically in a number of ways. This change usually occurs after the addiction has taken place.Nevertheless, different patients may exhibit different problems on different levels. After a research was conducted, it was noted that most users became violent to their family members(Orford, et al, 1992). Such violence is caused by agitation because of the drug use in some cases. Conversely, such violence is experienced when the users are asking for money to go buy more drugs. A recorded case was of Sandra a woman taking part in the research who revealed that her son user once damaged the whole house and even threatened her using a machete though never hurt her in search of money to go buy more drugs. Unpredictable behavior is also change noted on addicts(Orford, et al, 1992). This is due to the mood swings caused by the drug use and especially when the drug lacks in the users body system. This is because drugs interfere with the brain and one’s ability to think clearly and controlling their behavior. This therefore results to upredictability and therefore no one can rely on the user for anything since they wouldn’t know how the patient will be the next time they are needed. Stealing or selling property is another change noted in most users(Orford, et al, 1992). This is because drug addiction is an expensive habit.Since most users are teenagers who have no means to fend the habit or adults who have lost jobs due to the addiction they result to stealing and selling property. The most affected are the family members and friends because they have easy access and have an established rapport. Once the family members realize the disappearance of processions and take caution, the addict s result to stealing from the rest of the community and that is how most of them result to crime. This leads to many addicts dying while committing crimes and they few lucky ones result in doing time. A number of addicts spend long periods in bed. This is due to the release of the dopamine hormone in the brain that makes addicts find the normal day-to-day activities of a productive human being non-welcoming. This hormone makes the patient uninterested in eating working and cleaning and only interested in keeping to themselves trying to enjoy the high of the drugs. Some may stay in bed due to the shame they fell when they meet people who know of their addiction and therefore opt to keep away.

Emotional and physical effect on the family’s user

Research has shown drug use has serious consequences on the welfare of the family and the community. The most affected are the parents and the spouses if married. There has been very little research conducted on the managing of addicts by the close family and the negative effects the drug use has on them. Majority of family members have revealed that the member’s addiction has had negative effect on their own emotional health. In most cases, the women were noted to suffer more and consequently more sortpsychiatric help. This caused family split, problems in marriage and sibling relationship. Otherfamily members recorded financial strain because of a member’s addiction. This is common in cases where the addicted was the major financial support of the family and thereby prioritizes the drug use to the family. In cases where the addict sells, the family property to support his drug use caused financial strain to the rest of the family members.Another reason is the strain caused by the expensive treatment sort to help in rehabilitating the addict especially in the absence of insurance. This entire are the expenses incurred that would have been avoided if the addict led a normal life. Betrayal and loss of trust is another form of emotional ramifications to the family members of the addicts. According to Jackson, Usher and O’Brien’s research paper, the relationship between the family members and addicts became entangled with deceit stealing, dishonesty and broken promises. The addicts can never be entrusted with family chores and responsibilities. The addicts become very good liars and though at first the family members live in denial and disbelieve on the reports brought on the deeds of the addicts, they soon accept the changes and take precautions. The addicts also take some family processions and steal money and therefore this contributes to the loss of trust and betrayal. The parents and spouses in most cases feel responsible for the addictions. This takes an emotional toll on the affected members of family with the thought that their actions pushed the addicts to these habits. Jackson, Usher, & O’Brien, (2006) attributes this to the direct affect members feel that their actions directly reflect the previous relationship they had with them. In the case of Sandra, a participant in Jackson, Usher and O’Brien’s research, her mother and sister directly apprehended her for supporting her boy but she felt she needed to do some of these things to keep him alive (Jackson, Usher, & O’Brien,2006). In the case of Betty, she felt that in the past she had been blind. She blamed herself for not noticing the addiction earlier. Another effect is the isolation, disgrace, and humiliation. This is because the shame they experienced due to the embarrassing acts of the addicts as well as their criminal activities. The members feel stigmatized, humiliated, and shame of dealing with the drug use. This makes it difficult for them to look for help and they feel that they are on their own. They carry this burden on their own and may sometimes lead to depression and other health related problems. Resentment of siblings and anger is also an effect that leads to dysfunctional family members. The addicted sibling causes conflict in the home when they take the other sibling belongings to fend for their addiction. Another cause is the abusive nature to the younger siblings as a way to release the tensionand due to the mood swings caused by the hormones secreted after the drug use. The parents become very concerned with the safety of the other siblings and most of the times choose to separate the addicted member from the other siblings causing a drift in the family relationships.

Ways of coping with addiction and conclusion

Some of the methods that the affected family members of the addicts result to at times be very beneficial while others may be very destructive to both the addicted victim and the family member. The most common coping mechanisms are control: the family member feels that there must be some way to help the addict and try to control them. This in most cases does not help the user because the develop ways to deceive the concerned family members. Avoidance is another common strategy that creates drifts in the family and keeps the other family members safe from the violent activities of the addicted member. Tolerance is coping method that is exercised by family members that feel that they might be responsible for the addiction. This however may cause the affected family member to go deep into depression. Confrontation is a method that is easiest to adopt but the most depressing fact is that the addicted members will not heed to any advice given or even care (Orford, et al, 1992). Drug addiction is a very emotional taxing complication that does notspare anyonein the community. The family members are however, the most affected and should choose the method of coping that lest affects the addicted member but they should not compromise their own life and happiness. Counseling for the affected family members is also recommended as well as support groups that will ensure an easier adoption of measures to help the addicted members in overcoming the addiction since it is the desired result.

Jackson, D., Usher, K. & O’Brien, L. (2006). Fractured families: Parental perspectives of the effects of adolescent drug abuse on family life. Contemporary Nurse 23: 321- 330 Orford, J,.Rigby, K., Miller, T., Tod, A., Bennet, G., &Velleman, R. (1992) Ways of coping with excessive drug use in the family: A provisional typology based on the accounts of 50 close relatives.Journal of Community & Applied social Psychology2:163-183 Saad, L. (2006). Families of drug and alcohol abusers pay an emotional Toll: Alcohol addiction just upsetting as drugs. Princeton, Zimic, J. I. &Jukic, V. (2012).Familial Risk Factors Favoring Drug Addiction Onset. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 44 (2): 173-185

Cite this page

Share with friends using:

Removal Request

Finished papers: 1103

This paper is created by writer with

If you want your paper to be:

Well-researched, fact-checked, and accurate

Original, fresh, based on current data

Eloquently written and immaculately formatted

275 words = 1 page double-spaced

Get your papers done by pros!

Other Pages

Science literature reviews, traveler argumentative essays, ferry argumentative essays, gait argumentative essays, overheard argumentative essays, drill argumentative essays, solicitation argumentative essays, embarrassment argumentative essays, displacement argumentative essays, photographer argumentative essays, graft argumentative essays, example of american government essay 2, reducing drug induced deaths article review sample, example of essay on the natural rate of unemployment rise, finance case study examples, good example of essay on leadership characteristics of nelson mandela, good essay on what is meant by the ethics of care, free code cloning is harmful for maintainability essay sample, christian worldview essay sample, foucault and criticism essay sample, new tax conformity rule article review samples, good essay on how nelson changed my hopeless life to an inspirational teacher in waiting, sample literature review on plato and aristotle art and rhetoric, effective presentation research paper samples, sample essay on how does music influence politics, dubai expo 2020 research paper samples, example of essay on this is what it means to say phoenix arizona, my last duchess as a feminist poem essay sample, good example of corporate executive essay, sample research paper on grief and nursing personnel, business plan on new hair care products, good essay on china, good example of blog writing creative writing, free social perception essay example, colomb essays, driller essays, cervarix essays, elliptic essays, fiber optic essays, amsa essays, ellis essays, amara essays, fasciae essays.

Password recovery email has been sent to [email protected]

Use your new password to log in

You are not register!

By clicking Register, you agree to our Terms of Service and that you have read our Privacy Policy .

Now you can download documents directly to your device!

Check your email! An email with your password has already been sent to you! Now you can download documents directly to your device.

or Use the QR code to Save this Paper to Your Phone

The sample is NOT original!

Short on a deadline?

Don't waste time. Get help with 11% off using code - GETWOWED

No, thanks! I'm fine with missing my deadline

Drug and Substance Abuse Essay

Introduction, physiology and psychology of addiction, prescription drug abuse, depressants, hallucinogens.

Drug and substance abuse is an issue that affects entirely all societies in the world. It has both social and economic consequences, which affect directly and indirectly our everyday live. Drug addiction is “a complex disorder characterized by compulsive drug use” (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2010).

It sets in as one form a habit of taking a certain drug. Full-blown drug abuse comes with social problems such as violence, child abuse, homelessness and destruction of families (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2010). To understand to the impact of drug abuse, one needs to explore the reasons why many get addicted and seem unable pull themselves out of this nightmare.

Many experts consider addiction as a disease as it affects a specific part of the brain; the limbic system commonly referred to as the pleasure center. This area, which experts argue to be primitive, is affected by various drug substances, which it gives a higher priority to other things. Peele (1998) argues that alcoholism is a disease that can only be cured from such a perspective (p. 60). Genetics are also seen as a factor in drug addiction even though it has never been exclusively proven.

Other experts view addiction as a state of mind rather than a physiological problem. The environment plays a major role in early stages of addiction. It introduces the agent, in this case the drug, to the abuser who knowingly or otherwise develops dependence to the substance. Environmental factors range from violence, stress to peer pressure.

Moreover, as an individual becomes completely dependent on a substance, any slight withdrawal is bound to be accompanied by symptoms such as pain, which is purely psychological. This is because the victim is under self-deception that survival without the substance in question is almost if not impossible. From his psychological vantage point, Isralowitz (2004) argues that freedom from addiction is achievable provided there is the “right type of guidance and counseling” (p.22).

A doctor as regulated by law usually administers prescription drugs. It may not be certain why many people abuse prescription drugs but the trend is ever increasing. Many people use prescription drugs as directed by a physician but others use purely for leisure. This kind of abuse eventually leads to addiction.

This problem is compounded by the ease of which one can access the drugs from pharmacies and even online. Many people with conditions requiring painkillers, especially the elderly, have a higher risk of getting addicted as their bodies become tolerant to the drugs. Adolescents usually use some prescription drugs and especially painkillers since they induce anxiety among other feelings as will be discussed below.

Stimulants are generally psychoactive drugs used medically to improve alertness, increase physical activity, and elevate blood pressure among other functions. This class of drugs acts by temporarily increasing mental activity resulting to increased awareness, changes in mood and apparently cause the user to have a relaxed feeling. Although their use is closely monitored, they still find their way on the streets and are usually abused.

Getting deeper into the biochemistry of different stimulants, each has a different metabolism in the body affecting different body organs in a specific way. One common thing about stimulants is that they affect the central nervous system in their mechanism. Examples of commonly used stimulants include; cocaine, caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines and cannabis. Cocaine, which has a tremendously high addictive potential, was in the past used as anesthetic and in treatment of depression before its profound effects were later discovered.

On the streets, cocaine is either injected intravenously or smoked. Within a few minutes of use, it stimulates the brain making the user feel euphoric, energetic and increases alertness. It has long-term effects such as seizures, heart attacks and stroke. Cocaine’s withdrawal symptoms range from anxiety, irritability to a strong craving for more cocaine.

Cannabis, also known as marijuana , is the most often abused drug familiar in almost every corner of the world, from the streets of New York to the most remote village in Africa. Although its addiction potential is lower as compared to that of cocaine, prolonged use of cannabis results to an immense craving for more.

It produces hallucinogenic effects, lack of body coordination, and causes a feeling of ecstasy. Long-term use is closely associated with schizophrenia, and other psychological conditions. From a medical perspective, cannabis is used as an analgesic, to stimulate hunger in patients, nausea ameliorator, and intraocular eye pressure reducer. Insomnia, lack of appetite, migraines, restlessness and irritability characterize withdrawal symptoms of cannabis.

Unlike stimulants, depressants reduce anxiety and the central nervous system activity. The most common depressants include barbiturates, benzodiazepines and ethyl alcohol. They are of great therapeutically value especially as tranquilizers or sedatives in reducing anxiety.

Depressants can be highly addictive since they seem to ease tension and bring relaxation. After using depressants for a long time, the body develops tolerance to the drugs. Moreover, body tolerance after continual use requires one use a higher dose to get the same effect. Clumsiness, confusion and a strong craving for the drug accompany gradual withdrawal. Sudden withdrawal causes respiratory complications and can even be fatal.

Narcotics have been used for ages for various ailments and as a pain reliever pain. They are also characterized by their ability to induce sleep and euphoria. Opium, for instance was used in ancient China as a pain reliever and treatment of dysentery and insomnia. Some narcotics such as morphine and codeine are derived from natural sources.

Others are structural analogs to morphine and these include heroin, oxymorphone among others. Narcotics are highly addictive resulting to their strict regulation by a majority of governments. Narcotics act as painkillers once they enter the body.

They are used legally in combination with other drugs as analgesics and antitussives but are abused due to their ability to induce a feeling of well being. Their addiction potential is exceptionally high due to the body’s tolerance after consistent use, forcing the user to use and crave for more to get satisfaction. Increase in respiration rate, diarrhea, anxiety, nausea and lack of appetite are symptoms common to narcotic withdrawal. Others include; running nose, stomach cramps, muscle pains and a strong craving for the drugs.

Hallucinogens affect a person’s thinking capacity causing illusions and behavioral changes especially in moods. They apparently cause someone to hear sounds and see images that do not exist. Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which commonly abused hallucinogen, has a low addiction potential because it does not have withdrawal effects. They also affect a person’s sexual behavior and other body functions such as body temperature. There are no outright withdrawal symptoms for hallucinogens.

Isralowitz, R. (2004). Drug use: a reference handbook . Santa Barbara, Clif.: ABC-CLIO. Print.

National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2010). NIDA INfoFacts: Understanding Drug Abuse and Addiction . Web.

Peele, S. (1998). The meaning of Addiction : Compulsive Experience and its Interpretation . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, December 18). Drug and Substance Abuse. https://ivypanda.com/essays/drug-and-substance-abuse/

"Drug and Substance Abuse." IvyPanda , 18 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/drug-and-substance-abuse/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Drug and Substance Abuse'. 18 December.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Drug and Substance Abuse." December 18, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/drug-and-substance-abuse/.

1. IvyPanda . "Drug and Substance Abuse." December 18, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/drug-and-substance-abuse/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Drug and Substance Abuse." December 18, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/drug-and-substance-abuse/.

• Hallucinogens: Addiction and Treatment
• Common Hallucinogens and Dissociative Drugs
• Main Categories of Drugs and Its Mechanism of Action
• Hallucinogens, Inhalants and Prescription Drugs Effects
• The Psychology of Addiction and Addictive Behaviors
• Alcohol as the Most Common Depressant on Earth
• Prescription Painkillers, the New Drug Abuse of Choice
• Sedatives or Depressants in Individuals With a Mental Health Problem
• Using Depressants During Sleep Time
• The Role of CBT in Managing Severe Depressant Patients
• Post Incarceration Syndrome
• Psychoactive Drugs
• Adolescent’s Drug Abuse and Therapy Success
• Analysis of the Video “Effects of Alcoholism on Children: An Oral History Video”
• Child Sexual Abuse: Impact and Consequences