Substance Abuse and Addiction Essays - Psychiatric Diagnosis

Substance Abuse and Addiction Essays - Psychiatric Diagnosis Substance Abuse and Addiction Substance Abuse and Addiction By: HHS4UO Ms. Campbell Monday, June 2, 2014 This study is to show the impact on substance use and addiction on families, and the individuals involved. This topic is important because it will contain detailed information about the causes and effects of drug use, and the impact of substance abuse on society. Substance use is the consumption of low or infrequent doses of alcohol and other drugs, sometimes called experimental, casual, or social use, such that damaging consequences may be rare or minor. Addiction is the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity. In a CAMH 2009 study, 17.8% of Ontario students in gr. 7-12 use prescription pain relievers non-medically. That's just under 200,000 students - and that's just Ontario! Prescription drugs are the third most commonly abused substances by students in Ontario behind alcohol and marijuana. This research will explain the different types of substance abuse such as, no use, experimental use, social or occasional use, meditational use, har mful use and dependence. Substance abuse can include, alcohol, prescription drugs, street drugs and any form of opioids. These types of substances when abused can lead to criminal penalty, and can harm the user physically, socially, and psychologically. My main research questions is: How does substance abuse and addiction affect an individual and the society? A potential answer to this question can be it effects the persons health, social life and can cause financial issues through rehab treatments or supporting the addiction. Substance abuse affects the society because it is linked to homelessness, crime rates, and also influences violent and risky behavior which is costly to society. Other questions that will be answered include: What Are the Harmful Consequences of Drug Use? Why Do People Use Drugs? What is addiction? These three questions will go more in depth to the main research question, which will lead to a better understanding of substance abuse and addiction and its effect on a person and society. What Are the Harmful Consequences of Drug Use? Drugs are not considered harmful when used for medical purposes, illegal drug use causes harmful consequences such as, physical, mental, legal, economic and social problems. Safety hazards are a main concern for drug users, because they can distort reality, and can cause impaired sense of memory,and attention.This can cause the user harm to themselves or others around, ex, driving under the influence is a danger to an individual and the society. Knowing the tolerance level is another main factor for an individual using, users tend to increase their drug dosage in order to get the same effect, the body does not have always adapt to the new tolerance level, which leads to organ failure and overdose (OToole, 2014). Overdose can be fatal and may cause death depending on what drug and how much it is consumed, if survived from an overdose it leads to many metal and physical disabilities. Excessive use of substances lead to physical and mental health problems. Physical problems vary from what kind of substance being abused, alcohol will damage the liver, smoking tobacco or marijuana will damage the lungs, using needles to inject may cause HIV or Aids, and sniffing any form of powered drugs will damage the nose tissues. Drugs can also cause lung cancer, leukemia,and ovarian cancer( Associated Press, 2014). Mental health can include behavior problems, anxiety, depression, memory loss, and learning disability. Mental and physical health problems are the most harmful consequences an addict will have to face. According to a study published this month in The Lancet by Dr. Ben Kim, alcohol and tobacco rank among the ten most dangerous substances used by humans. Both alcohol and tobacco have been assessed to be more dangerous than illegal drugs like marijuana or ecstasy. Substance abuse and addiction can be just as harmful to the society as it is to the individual. Crime and violence correlate with substance abuse, in many studies and investigations it shows that most crime offenders have or use drugs. Date rape is a common example to show the correlation between drugs and crime, drugs such as Rohypnol, Ketamine and GHB. The drugs can make the victim have loss of muscle control, sight