Adolescents Facing the Danger of Drug Addiction - Essay Example

PSY 420 Drug Use and Addiction “Drug use and addiction” People face different kinds of problems in their life like financial, business, social and health problems. They try to face these problems and to control stress and mental strain they start using drugs as a prop. However, drugs are not the solution of any problem, but are the reason of upcoming health and psychological problems. This paper would further discuss the impact of drugs on people’s life. Adolescents Facing the Danger of Drug Addiction Nowadays there are a growing number of adolescents facing the problem of alcohol. It starts as fun takes over you and begins killing you slowly. In other words it can be said that Alcohol is just like a slow poison. I have been drinking alcohol since the past five years and it seems that I am not leaving this habit in the distant future. It started off with family problems and seeing my father drinking it influenced me to start with the habit of drinking. Emotional distress and parental influence was the main reason to start off with the habit. In order to handle the increasing misery which was caused due to many problems (financial and family) I resorted to the drinking of alcohol. At first it provided me a sense of relief but a point came when the distress began to mount all over again. People start the habit of drinking due to many reasons which mainly include emotional distress. According to some theories drinking of alcohol provides relief to increasing stress. (Cooper et al., 1988) A time comes when a person feels like evading himself from the reality and that is the time when he gets the urge to drink.(Wills and Hirky, 1996) Drinking of alcohol is commonly found amongst the young generation. This is because young people start the drinking process thinking that it would lead to the betterment of their frame of mind. (Frone and Windle, 1997) Recent research has proved that if alcohol does not satisfy one’s emotional needs then it can lead to the usage of more alcohol. (Wunschel et al., 1993) To further prove this a ten year model research was conducted to find out about the relationship between alcohol consumption and the coping up with emotional distress. The ten year model showed that if drinking helped in coping with the emotional distress the consumption of alcohol increased but if it did not the consumption decreased. (Holahan, Moos, Holahan, Cronkite , & Randall 2001) The relationship between a child and parent is an important one and the parent is a great source of influence for the child. Through the observation of ancestral and parental habits children pick up the influential practices. Observing my parents had a great impact on me and it gave me a reason to start the practice of drinking. (Greeley et al., 1983) Research has shown that the relationship of drinking between parents and children is highly related. (D. Herd 1994) The environment I worked in played another major role in the adopting of the habit of drinking. Due to working stress and other factors including accessibility of alcohol during working hours I was tempted to drink excessively. Research has suggested that the availability of alcohol during working hours is a factor for excessive drinking. Easy to get alcohol and drinking it with all the friends together during the working hours is supposed to be really easy for the working people. The factor of drinking with friends had a great influence on me and I being a social person liked drinking alcohol with them. Competition of drinking with friends while working and the amount of alcohol you can drink as compared to others is a usual sight in the office. In order to avoid drinking in the work places management took grave measures. Nowadays the labor unions and the management give salary cuts to employees and have formulated a strict scheme against excessive alcohol drinking during working hours. These measures gave a blow to my financial flow but I coped up by reducing the level of drinking during work hours. This scheme has been successful to quite a level but it requires a further amendment and realization of the environmental factors involved in the availability of alcohol at work places. (Ames, & Grube 1999). Nowadays alcohol abuse and the excessive usage of it is leading to deaths and society failure. This is either through the reckless driving after getting drunk or because of the after effects which are lethal to the consumer of alcohol. Today in the modern world governments are also taking strong measures to limit the usage of alcohol. These measures aim towards the reducing of alcohol related damages and harms. These different measures include the introduction of laws which are non alcohol friendly. While driving, drinking of alcohol has been strictly prohibited by some governments. The governments are providing the drivers with the required education so they can drive properly. A strong measure in this regard was taken by the U.S government in which they took strict action against those who had a previous record of reckless driving while getting drunk. Check posts were designed to look out for the people who drink alcohol. This in turn helped me in my real life to be careful of not being drunk while driving. This was an important step to control the number of accidents which occurred on the road. The availability of alcohol was made difficult by the governments by imposing taxes so that it is not cheaply and openly available. This discouraged the consumers of alcohol and thus was another big measure which helped to curb the problem of alcoholism. (Ruhm 1996) In the recent years many non governmental organizations are also working towards the cause. They help educating the people about the disadvantages and the proper use of alcohol. (Alcohol research and Health Vol 24) Nowadays the habit of drinking alcohol has been increasingly taken up by youngsters and steps are needed to address this issue. Drinking results in accidents and untoward incidents. To curb this issue many governments are taking necessary steps and till date they are quite successful. One starts drinking because of many factors which have been discussed. Nowadays the education provided by the government and NGOs has been quite beneficial for people to avoid drinking in the early stages. Alcohol can lead to fatal diseases which ultimately might kill. Avoidance of alcohol at a latter stage is not easy and the new measures of avoidance constructed by NGOs are helping me to avoid alcohol. But it seems like a long journey until I stop drinking. Drug Addiction in Older People Analysis shows that people who get older have a greater affinity to drugs and substance abuse than any class of adults. Though the rate of the consumption decreases in older people still substance abuse among them is seen more commonly. The generation of older people in the United States of America has a very large rate of drug abuse as compared to the others (Patterson & Jeste, 1999). And in the future it is expected that this group of older people may cover up a great part of population who are called the drug abusers. In the recent years analysis also shows that people who did not drink at first may also get the habit of drinking in the later stages and may adopt the habit of drug abuse in the latter years of their life. Some studies suggest that the people who are getter older may get many diseases due to their excessive misuse of drugs. Arthritis would increase among the old people and due to the age factor they will misuse the prescription even more (Mitchell, Mathews, Hunt, Cobb, Watson, 2001). But also there have been studies made which suggest that the rate of drug misuse would decrease after the older people suffer from chronic diseases due to the better management provided to these people after they get such diseases. But in the recent years there have been no such improvements to curb the issue of elderly drug abuse and it is expected that this drug abuse among the elders may increase. The article addresses the grave dangers this issue poses to the elders and the environment. As the people become older they would get more vulnerable to drug abuses and would increase the misuse of prescriptions (NIDA, 2001). But there have been a few studies made by the researchers which suggest the possible solution to curb the issue of elderly drug abuse patients. This elderly drug abuse poses a lot of danger to new generation as it elders are a source of inspiration for the new generation. Drug abuse can lead to mental trauma for the elder people and could lead to unemployment due to their poor work performance (Wells, Williams & Dennis, 2003). If the elder suffers from a mental trauma he cannot properly take care of his child and this may have a bad effect on the future of the child in term of his academics. But it is always not necessary that this occurs as some elder people are left to live alone and are unemployed. But on the other hand the elder people are on a greater danger of death as compared to the younger generation due to the age factor. Elder people may misuse the prescription in the form of overusing it. And this may lead to fatal harms to the elder people. Substance use has identified to be an important reason and outcome of being homeless (Zerger, 2002). It has been explained by extensive researches that around half of the people who are living a street life have diagnosable drug abusing practices at some spot in their life. (McMurray-Avila, 2001; Baumohl, 1992). Alcohol mistreatment is more frequent, taking place in more or less 30 - 40 percent of populace who are living on the streets (Baumohl and Huebner, 1991). Without a doubt, there still is a cadre of grown-up, white male, skid row alcoholics (Koegel and Burnam, 1987)., Comparatively more individuals, who are living a street life, are younger and include women, minorities, poly-drug users and individuals with some psychological disabilities and sicknesses (McMurray-Avila, 2001). They are identified to be less-educated and with no or fewer skills than other people of their age. Drug use and misuse normally show the way to failure of accommodation, and creates it further complicated for people to find safe and sound shelter once they get on the streets unprotected and homeless. Individuals with drug addiction problem who are homeless respond to huge mass of troubles for inadequate cure slots. Persons who do get treatment are more probable to get support for a co-occurring psychological sickness (SAMHSA, 2002). Drug abuse is a common sight in the today world and it needs to be addressed carefully by the governments. If the problem of drug abuse is not addressed properly by the government and other people of the society it can lead to very fatal consequences. Nowadays it is a common sight to watch people drinking, smoking or doing any other drug related activity during the working hours in their workplaces. This usually takes places due to many reasons which include stress and hereditary related problems (Cohen & OBrien, 1984). This issue in the recent years has been addressed in the workplaces and the managers of the companies are taking grave measures to curb this issue. Smoking and drinking are one of the most common drug related issues which are being addressed with great care in the workplaces these days. The employers make it a habit to employ workers who do not have a smoking or drinking habit. But as this scheme is being introduced after a lot of time it cannot eradicate the problem of drugs from the workplaces. Many of the companies nowadays have a strict policy against drug abuse and do not employ people who have a habit of drinking or any other drug related activity. But the minority populations are heavily indulged in the activities of drug abuse due to many factors which include unemployment. The employer prefers people who are not involved in any kind of drug abuse. The society is being posed a great threat by this very problem due to the seriousness of this problem. Conclusion Drug abuse can lead to death due to many factors. Many people are unemployed today due to their habit of drug abuse. If the address is issued by the government properly the number of deaths would decrease, rate of unemployment and the standard of living would improve. Thus the whole society is related to the problem of drug abuse and this problem should be addressed overtly. The problem of drug abuse should be handled properly and the use of drugs in elderly people should be monitored and diagnosed properly. The data collected by different surveys should be analyzed properly and worked on. People who work on the substance abuse problems should be well aware of all the causes which lead to the consumption alcohol and other drugs. Screening instruments can play an important part in curbing this issue properly. The instruments could help in developing a perfect plan to treat the elderly patients. And the researchers and practitioners should realize the importance of the increasingly elderly drug abuse. Bibliography: Patterson, T. L., & Jeste, D. V. (1999). 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