Drug Abuse Essay - 1546 Words

Thesis: Drug abuse, also known as substance abuse, is a patterned use of a drug in which the user consumes the substance in amounts or with methods which are harmful to themselves or others. Many teens turn to marijuana, prescription drugs, club drugs, alcohol, or other substances as a means of coping with stress, peer influence, and failure of parents to prevent their children from making unreasonable decisions. According to the yearly â€Å"Monitoring the Future† survey of high school age teenagers in the United States, by the time our kids complete high school, a minimum of 40 percent have consumed an illicit drug and 70 percent have consumed alcohol. A. Drug addiction is defined as a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes†¦show more content†¦2. Parental substance abuse interrupts a child’s normal development, which places these youngsters at higher risk for emotional, physical and mental health problems. Because parents who abuse alcohol or other drugs are more likely to be involved with domestic violence, divorce, unemployment, mental illness and legal problems, their ability to parent effectively is severely compromised. III. According to the Mental Health Center of California, more than 8 million children live with at least one parent who’s addicted to alcohol or drugs. A. This number includes 14% of children younger than 2, 12% aged 6 to 11 years old, and 10% of youth between the ages of 12 and 17. B. Children of substance abusing parents are at risk for a wide variety of other negative outcomes, including emotional, social, and behavioral adjustment problems as well as challenges in cognitive and academic functioning. Risk for poor emotional and behavioral among children living with a parent who has a substance abuse history are reported among those as young as 2 to 3 years of age. 1. Of these children, approximately 6.3 million lived with a parent whoShow MoreRelatedPrescription Drug Abuse Essay1136 Words   |  5 Pageshard transition in his life from the elementary levels of school to high school. Along the way, he started hanging out with the wrong crowd and doing all sorts of drugs like smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. In his senior year he realized he wanted to do something different with his life and he joined the boxing team and quit drugs, but one Saturday night that all ended. David was offered a patch that was supposed to make him feel an extremely good feeling. He didnt know what was in the patchRead MorePrescription Drug Abuse Essay1852 Words   |  8 PagesPrescription drug abuse has become an epidemic in the United States especially among the youth of our country. The Partnership for a Drug Free America says that 2,500 teens a day abuse prescription drugs. Abuse of these narcotics can lead to serious mental and physical consequences . Why is this such a problem, what can we do to solve it, and how is it affecting our social lives? First we must explore what prescription drugs are being abused. The most popular abused drugs fall into three categoriesRead More Cost of Drug Abuse on Society Essay923 Words   |  4 PagesDrug abuse is a rampant problem in the United States. Drugs can be abused in a variety of different ways by people from every walk of life. Most of us have been affected by drug abuse either directly or indirectly. Drug abusers harm themselves, as well as their families and communities. Drug abuse takes an enormous toll on our society at many levels. The cost of drug abuse on our society is astronomical, not only financially but also personally, emotionally, socially and professionally. Read MoreNegative Effects Of Drug Abuse Essay1141 Words   |  5 Pagesstruggle everyday with addiction. Addiction can surely be a life sentence to people who let it consume them. 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It is difficultRead MoreEssay Drug Abuse and Mental Health 1194 Words   |  5 PagesSubstance abuse complicates almost every aspect of care for the person with a mental disorder. When drugs enter the brain, they can interrupt the work and actually change how the brain performs its jobs; these changes are what lead to compulsive drug use. Drug abuse play s a major role when concerning mental health. It is very difficult for these individuals to engage in treatment. Diagnosis for a treatment is difficult because it takes time to disengage the interacting effects of substance abuse and theRead MoreEssay on Abuse of Legal and Illegal Drugs2374 Words   |  10 Pages Drug abuse is â€Å"a maladaptive pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress† (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p.114-115). The difference between using drugs and abusing drugs depends on three things, what the drug is for, how much of the drug is used, and the effect that the drug has on the person. Drug abuse typically relates to one using drugs in an excessive manner, whether the drug is legal or illegal. For example, marijuana is illegal in some statesRead MoreEssay on Drug Abuse In the Nursing Profession2211 Words   |  9 Pageshave it. It’s the only disease I know that argues with you and says, ‘ Look, despite all the evidence, you don’t have a problem’ (Kunyk and Austin, 2005, p. 385). All over the world, people suffer from the addictive properties of the many varieties drugs. In the recent decade, increasing amounts of nurses have begun to see the effects of substance usage while on the job. This unpublicized problem that is sweeping nurses in America is a problem that should not be ignored as they are the frontline ofRead MoreEssay about The Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis1690 Words   |  7 PagesThe rate of death due to prescription drug abuse in the U.S. has escalated 313 percent over the past decade. According to the Congressional Quarterly Transcription’s article Rep. Joe Pitt Holds a Hearing on Prescription Drug Abuse, opioid prescription drugs were involved in 16,650 overdose-caused deaths in 2010, accounting for more deaths than from overdoses of heroin and cocaine. Prescribed drugs or painkillers sometimes condemn a patient to lifelong addic tion, according to Dr. Tom Frieden,Read MoreEssay on Effects of Parental Drug Abuse on Children1750 Words   |  7 PagesHeather Swenson Mandy Jesser English Composition I 1 May 2013 Effects of Parental Drug Abuse on Their Children As soon as birth, children are exposed to new things; new life experiences that will develop the path of which direction their life will take. Adolescence is the most important time in a child’s life because it is where they learn appropriate behavior from their family and the outside world. Some children are able to use these experiences to differentiate at an early age what is