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An essay on the effects of drug abuse
An essay on the effects of drug abuse
Biological psychology and addiction
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All drugs negatively affect the brain. That is why drugs can make your body feel high, low, slow, or fast, or make the user see things that are not truly there. Some drugs can hurt your brain and affect how you act and how your body feels. These problems might last just a little while, or for the rest of your life. Drug abuse and addiction will often change your brain chemistry (Effects of Drug Abuse). The amount of time the drugs has been abused, will significantly impact the amount of damage done and the harder it will be to go back to “normal” after they have stopped taking the drugs (Drug Abuse Symptoms, Facts, and Statistics). Some drugs will make your moods change quickly. The user might get sad, angry, or scared for no reason or they …show more content…
This statistic is partly because drug abuse and mental health problems affect the same parts of the brain. If someone begins to feel really bad, they might try to make it better by using drugs. Unfortunately, that does not usually work for very long. Instead the person may become addicted to the drugs, and then feel even worse than before. The drug problem can make the initial mental health problem worse than before the user began trying drugs. Someone with both types of problems needs treatment for both in order to get better and live drug free after treatment (Effects of Drug …show more content…
These people die from overdoses, accidents, illness, and other causes. Drug abuse keeps people from having the best lives they can. Drug abuse can hurt your health, your ability to work, and your relationships. Treatment can help an individual’s drug addiction problem if they are dedicated and continue to live drug free after the treatment has ended. But the best protection from the dangers of drugs is to not start in the first place. Parents should explain to their children how taking drugs can hurt their health, their family and friends, and their future. Share with them the endless effects that drugs has on your body and also teach the child how to refuse drugs if there ever comes a time that they are offered drugs, they know how to properly tell the user no.
Drug abuse is a major problem in our society today, however many users are unknown of the physical, emotional and economic problems that come along with addiction. There are many addicts who regret ever trying the drug they are now addicted to. These users never imagined the damage that comes along with addiction and they never thought they would be the ones to become addicted. Many people believe that drug abuse among younger children will only worsen as time goes on, and the only way to stop the horrible habit is to stop it at the
Drug addicts lie and steal from their families, lose jobs, and do not live stable lives. Abuse of Prescription medication and marijuana is among one of the greatest concerns in the United States, especially in young people because drugs are causing issues between families, money, etc. Addicts find ways to create different drugs. This is making drug abuse difficult to control and ultimately change. In addition, addiction is not only a physical dependence, but also mental. Drug abuse has various causes, effects, and treatments. Based on the pamphlet, “Another Look,” published by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc., states “If we can find greater agreement on what addiction is not, then perhaps what it is may appear with greater clarity” (3). If people can see drug addiction for what it really is, a sickness, then an addict’s family and friends would better understand that addicts do not choose to become addicted to drugs. Addiction is a routine of compulsive behavior (3). In addition, recovering addicts feel very restricted with freedom because they are afraid of abusing drugs again, but want to be free to do as they please at the same time (3). Addicts have a need to control everything because they fear there will be obstacles in life that they may not be able to handle (3). If addicts can find ways to deal with their problems, they may not use drugs as a way to escape reality. There are many ways for addicts to cope with life, such as, counseling, drug rehabilitation centers, family and friends support.
The brain controls pretty much everything you do, even while asleep. When drugs enter the brain, the substance can disturb the organ and change how the brain performs its duties to function. These changes are what lead to a continuous yearning for drugs or addiction. The signals a drug sends to the brain get confused with that of a euphoric chemical called dopamine, which makes you feel good. After repeated use of drugs the brain in most cases becomes damaged and irreparable. Adolescents are more prone to addiction due to the fact that their brains are not yet fully developed. The lack of maturity of the brain give health specialist the theory that drug use at an older age will reduce the chances of addiction.
Drugs cause an overall disturbance in a subjects’ physiological, psychological and emotional health. “At the individual level, drug abuse creates health hazards for the user, affecting the educational and general development of youths in particular” (“Fresh Challenge”). In youth specifically, drug abuse can be triggered by factors such as: a parent’s abusive behavior, poor social skills, family history of alcoholism or substance abuse, the divorce of parents or guardians, poverty, the death of a loved one, or even because they are being bullied at school (“Drugs, brains, and behavior”) .
Drug abuse is part of everyday life, most of us know someone who is or was abusing drug at some point. A way to simplify a difficult time in our life, we find an exit in a product that numbs our brain to the surrounding. People find addiction through drugs, activities and action that creates chemical reaction within our bodies. Whether you love jumping off the empire state building or inject yourself with a drug, you are looking for a high that your body enjoys. The body creates chemicals which stop our self-control. According to the CDC website, “Deaths from drug overdose have been rising steadily over the past two decades and have become the leading cause of injury death in the United States.” (Birnbaum HG, web).
In the final analysis, kids today are turning away from the street drugs and abusing the “prescribed” drugs that are that are at their very own home, thus causing numerous amounts deaths and harmed bodies of young teenagers, not only did teenagers abuse medication. Adults do to, as we have seen in steroids or sleeping pills, this is an issue that people need to be aware of and, the parents of children need to a stronger control on what medicine is at home.
Most people do not understand how a person become addicted to drugs. We tend to assume that is more an individual problem rather than a social problem. However, teen substance abuse is indeed a social problem considered a priority for the USA department of public health due to 9 out of 10 Americans with addictions started using drugs before the age 18 (CASA Columbia University). Similarly, 1 in 4 Americans with addictions started using the substance during their teenage years, which show a significant different with 1 in 25 Americans with addiction who started using at 21 or older (CASA, 2011).
Many children that are in these family situations may end up in foster care due to their parent’s inability to properly care for them due to their addictions. If children grow up in families, with issues such as these, it will most likely affect them throughout the remainder of their
Drugs affect your brain and in turn can alter your moods and behavior. Drugs are chemicals that tap into our brain’s communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells receive, send and process information. Drugs interfere with the exchange of information in the brain producing changes that promote repeated drug use. Drugs can imitate the brain’s natural chemical messengers, or they over stimulate the reward circuit of our brain.
Over 23 million people who are 12 years of age and older need special care for an unlawful drug addiction, according to the 2009 Mental Health Services Administration’s survey on drug addiction. Only 2.6 million of the people who need treatment received it through a special facility (“DrugFacts: Treatment Statistics”). Drugs can have many negative effects on teens. There is a long list of reasons teens turn to drugs such as: popular media, rebellion, escape and self- medication, and peer pressure.
Controversies over drugs and the effects they have physically, mentally, and emotionally have been around for centuries. Some argue the fact that smoking marijuana has no health effects on the body. Some also say that other drugs have no long term mental consequences to suffer. Now, thanks to technology and hours of studies, answers have came to show the true long term health effects of drugs on the human body and mind.
It has been discovered that most people who struggle with drug addiction began experimenting with drugs in their teens. Teenage drug abuse is one of the largest problems in society today and the problem grows and larger every year. Drugs are a pervasive force in our culture today. To expect kids not to be influenced by the culture of their time is as unrealistic as believing in the tooth fairy (Bauman 140). Teens may feel pressured by their friends to try drugs, they may have easy access to drugs, they may use drugs to rebel against their family or society, or they may take an illegal drug because they are curious about it or the pleasure that it gives them.
Before being capable of fighting the use of drugs and alchol, one must come to an understanding of why some people use drugs. The decision to ultimately use drugs is influenced mainly in childhood. Whether in a poor ?ghetto? neighborhood, or in a middle-class suburb, all children are vulnerable to the abuse of drugs. Most high-risk children are effected by personal and family circumstances (Falco 51). If a child?s parents are substance abusers, then it is a fairly safe prediction that the child will abuse drugs later in life. Also, early-life experiments with drugs greatly increases the chance of abuse later in life. Academic problems, and rebellious, anti-social behavior in elementary school are also linked to drug problems, in addition to truancy, delinquency, and ear...
Drug addiction is a very big problem in today’s society. Many people have had their lives ruined due to drug addiction. The people that use the drugs don’t even realize that they have an addiction. They continue to use the drug not even realizing that their whole world is crashing down around them. Drug addicts normally lose their family and friends due to drug addiction.
Drug abuse has been a hot topic for our society due to how stimulants interfere with health, prosperity, and the lives of others in all nations. All drugs have the potential to be misapplied, whether obtained by prescription, over the counter, or illegally. Drug abuse is a despicable disease that affects many helpless people. Majority of those who are beset with this disease go untreated due to health insurance companies who neglect and discriminate this issue. As an outcome of missed opportunities of treatments, abusers become homeless, very ill, or even worst, death.
The use of illegal drugs in the United States and other countries around the world is one of the biggest problems in today community. Illegal drugs are drugs that are restricted by the government. Moreover, some medical drugs have chemicals that can help people with pain and stress. But when people are under the influence of illicit drugs, they can experience many side effects such as: liver cancer, heart, and brain disease. Illegal drugs are being used by many types of people around the world; they cost a large amount of money and negatively affect people both psychologically and physically.