Drug Abuse In Australia

Drug addiction has been an ongoing problem which has been increasing in Australia and other western countries in the past half century, despite there being an increase in wealth and improved physical health in the population. Although though there is no one system which can accurately explain the range of problems which exist from drug use, WHO defines it using the ICD-10 stating, “The criteria for drug abuse entail continued drug use despite resulting in significant problems. The criteria for drug use dependence include, in addition to continued drug use problems, symptoms such as tolerance and withdrawal” (World Health Organisation, 1992). There is not one sole reason why individuals become addicted to drugs. There are a variety of social

determinants – “the ‘environmental’ or ‘societal’ factors that influence the health outcomes of populations” (Marmot, M., Wilkinson, R., 1999) – such as age, gender, socio-economic status, the environment and cultural norms, which have the ability to influence individuals to turn to drug abuse. Regardless of the expenditure on drug prevention, it continues to be a problem due to these various factors, which in turn has increased the emergence of new drug related problems.
One of the social determinants which has a large impact on drug addiction occurring in individuals is their socio-economic status.

A person’s socio-economic status can be described as their “position in society using criteria such as income, level of education, value of property and so on” (Galobardes, B., et al.). It has been proven with much research that those with a low socio-economic status and income inequality are often associated with poor health and well-being, which is partly mediated by the impact of socio-economic factors on drug and alcohol use. Socio-economic status is also interrelated with poverty. Groups of high risk of poverty include people who are earning low wages or are unemployed, those with sole parent families and their children, homeless people, migrants, refugees and Indigenous Australians. In particular, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and sole parents have significantly worse health, well-being and drug-use patterns. This is mainly caused from the cruelty and trauma experienced from European usurpation of their lands which led them to feel inferior and defenceless. This damage has resulted in inter-generational disadvantage and associated negative consequences. Socio-economic factors are difficult to isolate since many aspects interrelate with one another, particularly as the mechanisms by which these issues influence drug-use behaviour and outcomes can be common to multiple socio-economic

factors.
The age of individuals is another detrimental factor which has the ability to influence the development of drug abuse, since different risk factors are salient at different times of life.

The exposure of drug use and its influence is distinct between the age groups of those in their early childhood, middle, adolescent and adult years. In the early years of childhood, it is essential to keep clear of anything related to drugs since it can affect an individual’s learning, mental health and behaviour throughout their lifetime. The period of adolescence is probably the most sensitive one as behaviour during these years is highly predictive of later drug abuse (Guo J, Hawkins JD, Hill KG, Abbott RD. Childhood and adolescent predictors of alcohol abuse and dependence in young adulthood. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 2001;62(6):754-762.). This may be because they spend more time with their peers as well as being prone to hormonal changes, shift in sleep cycle and their cognitive maturation is still developing (Source: Tarter RE. Etiology of adolescent substance abuse: a developmental perspective. American Journal on Addictions 2002; 11:171-191.) The combination of factors highlights the importance of harm reduction at this time. Even though drugs and its abuse is most likely to be prevailed through an individual’s lifetime, their age, especially their early childhood experiences, significantly impacts this

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Additionally, the culture in which one is born into – the norms, beliefs and values which individuals abide by – can further impinge on the exposure of drugs and its abuse. Even though someone’s ethnicity isn’t the actual physical factor influencing them, these ethnic differences are actually largely determined by historical, cultural and socio-economic factors. For example, even though there are positive aspects to Western culture, other features have been detrimental to youth development and contributed to negative outcomes – drug use. The impact on drug use of belonging to an ethnic group appears to be subjective by structural factors that differentially affect the exposure of that group. Probably reword
The effect of drug addiction and abuse is also different in males and males. Like most health related topics, gender differences exist in relation to drug use and drug outcomes. For example, studies show that women who are drug dependent is more likely due to the fact they are affected by personal relationships and are involved in more drug injection practises compared to men
Furthermore, there has been sufficient research conducted on the influence of genetic predisposition on drug use behaviours. Even though it is not a definite certainty that children whose parents are drug addicts will end up drug addicts themselves, ample studies have shown that these children are 8 times more likely to develop an addiction and 50-60% of this addiction is due to genetic factors (reference http://www.addictionsandrecovery.org/is-addiction-a-disease.htm ). Genetic differences appear to influence a number of aspects of drug use, however this acquired addiction is dependent on many things such as the development of tolerance, withdrawal and craving.
Lastly, whether or not individuals have access to health services and public transport can have a major effect, especially on the lives of the poorest communities. Since those who cannot afford transportation or don’t have access to it, they are consequently restricted to places like mental health services and rehabilitation centres. This transport poverty has a great impact on social exclusion and therefore has the ability to exacerbate socio-economic status and health inequalities.
Overall, there a number of social determinants which have the capabilities to impact drug addiction and abuse in individuals. Social categories such as class, gender and ethnicity can influence access to resources result in feelings of hopelessness, as well as those already having a genetic predisposition due to being born into a drug addicted family. The socio-economic status of individuals can contribute to further social exclusion if they live in a disadvantaged community as they are surrounded by the stigma associated with drug dependence and have little access to health services. While there is a great amount of drug prevention and treatment interventions available, there will never be enough to prevent or treat every drug problem since there are multiple, unavoidable social determinants which are able to influence drug addiction and behaviour.