... Causal Essay Substance abuse has been thought to be a big city problem. However alcohol abuse and illegal drugs such as marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, have made their way into our small rural communities. Rural America has become a refuge for drug makers, dealers and abusers. Substance abuse such as drugs, alcohol, and prescription drugs are a growing problem in rural communities due to stress, peer pressure and chronic pain. Studies have reported that individuals exposed to stress are more likely to abuse alcohol and other drugs or undergo relapse (National Institute on Drug Abuse, n.d.). It is well established that the effects of stress can damage people’s mental and physical health. Not everyone deals with stress in the same way, where as some people have an inability to deal with it effectively. One of the ways that the individual may attempt to manage their stress is by using alcohol or drugs. This type of self-medication can provide temporary relief, but is ultimately self-defeating. It can mean that the individual will have more stress in their life than ever, but they will have even less of an ability to handle it. Using drugs, as a short-term solution to the stress going on in their life is dangerous and can lead to addiction. Stress can be caused by the loss of job, divorce, death of a loved one or many other numerous situations. Stress is a major factor and is one of the leading causes of drug abuse. Teenagers and young adult face...
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...film was a documentary about the Opioid Crisis in America. That being said, the theme of the movie was that, America is facing an opioid epidemic; therefore, America needs to focus on the rehabilitation of substance abusers. The film goes on to make a point that there are not enough treatment options and that the individuals who are seeking treatment, are having difficulties in doing so. The film goes on to discuss further, how America is facing a drug crisis, but it is not the illegal drugs that are the biggest issues, it is the prescription drugs. The film even provides statistics on how big of an issue prescription medications are when it comes to substance abuse....
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...Substance Abuse among American Adolescents Control substance abuse is an excessive consumption or a disorder use of substances especially drugs or alcohol that is associated with significant problems. Substance abuse is a disease that commonly appears among adolescents. According to Kerby Anderson1, “93% percent of all teenagers have some experience with alcohol by the end of their senior year of high school. Almost two-thirds of all American young people try illicit drugs before they finish high school.” If substance abuse is left untreated, it will cause violence in streets, such as crimes, kidnaping. Also, it will cause domestic violence. For example, many babies are born with drug dependency. There are many basic factors that lead to the use of control substances among American adolescents, how these factors affect our community, and what are the methods used to minimize them. Adolescence is a sensitive period for young people. They are encountered by many basic factors. First of all, family factors, which have the strongest impact on adolescent development, play a part in the influence to try control substances. For example, parents who provide low levels of support, or are not as close to their children, and use bad parenting judgment have children who are more likely to be drug abusers. “The parents are the biggest factor in the choice to drink or drug” (Stephen Artrburn24). Other factors are the social pressure, such as friends and school these significant...
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...(AAC, 2018). The factors that influence women in substance abuse treatment vary based on situation and context. Furthermore, substance abuse among women vary between sub-groups of women in the socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic dimensions (Tiedje, 1998). Sociodemographic issues such as relationships, age, education, race, child protective service involvement, pregnancy, supportive therapies and comprehensive case management all affect the ability of women to have enough support in treatment (Greenfield, 2007). Disparities in populations are represents as location and use. African American women in their late 20s to early 30s from inner city populations demonstrate relevant cocaine use (Fox, 1994). Despite cocaine being considered to be a substance used by the wealthy and famous historically, it is currently used widely in the inner cities as a substance of...
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...textbook. These assignments will be collected. 5. If time allows, students may begin to review all study guides in preparation for upcoming final exam. In order to grasp the ramifications of illegal drug use by public service employees and the necessity of screening for the abuse of such substances by these individuals, it is necessary to have an understanding of how illegal drugs first became a problem in the United States. While substance abuse has challenged society for centuries, the abuse of illegal drugs in the United States dates back to relatively recent history. In America, drug addiction was a problem as far back in time as the original colonies when narcotic and opiate elixirs and treatments were being exported from England. Without any form of government regulation, let alone the medical knowledge necessary to understand the true nature of these substances, it is easy to understand how addiction became a widespread but misunderstood problem. The Revolutionary War brought an abrupt end to the importation of these substances and almost immediately American entrepreneurs saw an opportunity to establish some of the very first businesses peddling these highly addictive substances. These so called...
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... PSY/400 Substance abuse has been a main stay in our society for years and is seen as a nonproductive way of life. It can lead to dependency with certain drugs. There is a huge range of drugs that can be consumed in various ways such as alcohol by drinking, cocaine by free basing, smoking or snorting. amphetamines, benzodiazepines and opiates comes in pill or powder form and is just as deadly if improperly used. Some of these drugs are illegal in some countries and when improperly used in America can lead to criminal prosecution. If caught in possession of or under the influence of, a harsh penalty will be levied in a mix of monitory compensation as well as prison time. In this paper we will discuss the nature and historical issues of drug abuse accompanied by how it has affected the society in which we live. We will also present two elements or main points to suggest that drug abuse is a losing battle that will take you on a ride you will never forget. We will also justify the use of these elements by connecting them to various motivations of altruistic behavior as identified in social change theory. Our final discussion in this paper will be the implication of intervention and prevention. Public health practitioners such as doctors, psychologist and psychiatrist have undertaken a number of studies into drug abuse from an individual basis to social culture and availability. They have developed phrases...
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...Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker is defined as someone who assesses and treats clients with mental, emotional, or substance abuse problems, including alcohol, tobacco, and or other drugs. The worker may include activities such as individual and group counseling, therapy, crisis prevention, case management, client advocacy, prevention, and education. Substance abuse is one of the major health problems in the United States impacting society on multiple levels. The cost of treating substance abuse individuals continues to rise each year. Approximate costs of substance abuse in the U.S. are $138 billion on smoking, $161 billion on illegal drugs, and $185 billion on alcohol. It costs the nation more than $484 billion per year to help individuals begin on the road to recovery. These costs affect all of society not just abusers. Tobacco contributes to 11-30% of cancer deaths, 30% of heart disease cases have been linked to the use of illegal drugs, one third of HIV/AIDS cases and most cases of hepatitis C are a result of the injection of drugs. The abuse of drugs has also resulted to pediatric AIDS cases where the mother was a user or was having sexual relations with an injection drug user. Many individuals who have substance abuse problems have usually experienced domestic violence, child abuse, and stress and use this as a coping mechanism. Mental Health disorders include suicide, schizophrenia, ADHD, autism, eating...
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...The Corporate War on Drug Abuse Presented to Wendy Keller Concordia University John Molson School of Business Comm 212 Section E Prepared by Bilal Sirhan Human Resource Specialist 6355099 November 24th, 2014 MEMORANDUM To: Human resources manager From: Bilal Sirhan, Human resource specialist Subject: Analysis of different policies for alcohol and drug abuse in the workplace Date: November 24th 2014 Here is the report, which was to be completed by November 24th 2014, concerning leading companies’ exemplary policies on substance abuse within the workplace. The study involved analyzing the different substances used by workers and evaluating different approaches that companies across North America take to help these individuals. Although the results presented show that a small percentage of people are actually considered as substance abusers in the workforce, there is evidence that the corporations succumbing to employees abusing drugs and alcohol suffer heavy losses. This even directly affects the economy as a whole in significant numbers. Therefore, we must establish a strong policy and different programs to help these workers overcome this issue. It is my hope that this report will allow our company to have the necessary information to establish the right strategies and support groups to anyone suffering from substance abuse. Please let me know if there are any further questions...
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...Substance Abuse Prevention Programs: Operation, Funding, and Effectiveness. Candace Taylor Grand Canyon University Author Note All correspondence to this research should be forwarded to Candace Taylor. Substance abuse has become a serious issue in America. More and more of America’s youth are starting to use drugs than usual. To prevent this, there are many substance abuse prevention programs that are in place to try and prevent this before it even begins. Three programs were examined for this research paper. Those programs are DARE, Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, and SADD. In this paper, the mission, funding and effectiveness of each program will be discussed. DARE DARE, Drug Abuse Resistance Education, is a program created to bring awareness of drug abuse with youth in communities. The mission of this program is to teach kids how to make the right decisions and live a drug free, healthy life. “D.A.R.E. is the national symbol for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program which, in partnership with police officers, parents and schools is in use throughout the United States.”(DARE.org). The DARE program is funded by federal government resources and private contributors. A few studies were conducted on the effectiveness of this program. Dr. Ismail Sahin conducted an effective DARE program. “This study has showed that while some research studies found a positive effect of the DARE program, some studies found no significant impact at all” (Sahin 2014). There were several...
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...Student’s Name Professor Course Code Date Psychology Drug Abuse Introduction The aim of this research paper is to discuss contributions offered by anthropology especially, ethnography in the study of addiction and recovery basing arguments from the book, ‘Anthropology of Addiction and Recovery’. The paper further lists the criteria for substance use disorder and thereafter gives an explanation to the negative impacts of alcohol on Native American nations. Finally, the paper will show detailed information on how specific cultural knowledge was used to market cigarettes. Four specific contributions that anthropology, especially ethnography, has offered in the study of addiction and recovery. Ethnography is the study of people, culture and how the environmental and cultural factors affect values and behaviors of a person or groups of people in a social setup. A study of ethnography conducted outside United States of America reveals that the number of drug ethnographies has grown steadily since 1960s because many social issues are associated with drug use. Ethnography illustrates that drug use is not one phenomenon, but many since specific drug is used in specific situations. According to Glasser (2012), Ethnography clarifies the different implications of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs in the life of an individual. According to Glasser, Ethnography also explains the psychological and physiological implications of the use of such drugs. Ethnography further indicates...
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...Health Care Reform Project: Part I-Prescription Drugs Prescription drug abuse and prescription overprescribing, of all categories, is becoming rampant in the United States. It is also one of the most rapidly growing dilemmas in America influencing people of all ages. Prescription drug use in the past was limited to adults. Over the last decade, more and more children and adolescents are consumers of these drugs. Coping with children who behaved badly in the past has taken a new direction that includes prescribing medications. Medical professions now have the option to prescribe these medications as they see fit. Many physicians are more than willing to write a prescription based on the complaints of a patient rather than finding other treatment options or the root of the problem. Drugs manufactures have had to come up with new and innovative ways to market these drugs to healthcare providers and the public as well. As society changes so will the way drugs are marketed, prescribed and taken. Demand for prescription drugs will continue to increase as well as the overall cost. Consumers today demand more flexibility in acquiring prescription medications rather than using the traditional drug stores. Patients are swamped by pharmaceutical ads and physicians are repeatedly proliferated with drug prescribing information from pharmaceuticals representatives. Getzen and Allen (2007) states, “the average American fills 11 prescriptions per year. Pharmaceuticals were...
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...How likely is someone going to get addicted to a substance? Around the world there are those who consume addictive substances because of peer pressure, enjoyment, or relaxation. Whatever the reason, there is a call for concern when harmless recreation becomes dangerous abuse. There are many causes for substance abuse disorders but what is crucial to determine is what the root cause is. What is the initiating cause of a casual chain of events that leads to a certain outcome? In other words, what is the very first thing that inhibits the substance abuse to develop? Substance abuse can be defined as the condition in which one or more substances leads to a clinically significant impairment or distress. However, who’s to say that that kind of distress...
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...There is a drug crisis in America, but it is not the only crisis America is facing. I would say that there is a health crisis in America more so than a drug crisis. Even though the number of drug related deaths is quite high, there are still more health related deaths. In 2013, Heart Disease caused more than 600,000 deaths alone (Center for Disease Control, 2013) That being said, I do not think that drugs alone are killing America and that is the most serious issue we face. I still agree that drug use and abuse is a problem in America, and that this issue does need to be dealt with, but it is not our only problem. If America is going to focus on this drug issue, then it must recognize all drugs. Society is constantly placing the blame solely...
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...Substance Abuse Counselor Profession Freda Davis Winston Salem State University Substance Abuse as defined by DuPont (1997) is as follows” drug addiction or alcoholism and other times referred to more generally as chemical dependency” (The Selfish Brain Learning from Addiction, p. xix). Substance abuse has been identified as a meaningful social problem. The extent of substance abuse and its consequences demand ways to seek effective ways of intervention, prevention, and treatment for individuals, along with monitoring the cost to society as associated with alcohol, drugs, and perhaps other drugs. Although the use of drugs is down from the mid-1980s, it is a problem for society today (Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2006), (Journal of Social Work Education, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Fall 2009). Abuse is not limited to mood, or mind altering substances, we live in a society where obsession, and compulsion are at the root of excessive indulging behaviors. We will briefly discuss addiction, and the description for which is given to assist in understanding what the counselor may encounter with-in their realm of practice. Increasingly addiction, a pleasure-producing or compulsive behavior that may occur from jogging, television watching, gambling, eating disorders, drugs, and alcohol abuse (DuPont, 1997). According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (2000),” substance abuse is a maladaptive pattern of substance use related to...
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...Substance abuse is the destructive pattern of use of any substance for mood altering purposes, which leads to addiction and many other potentially serious problems (NCDHHS). Substance abuse is not limited to the abuse of drugs; it also includes inhalants, alcohol and solvents. In reality, nearly any substance can be abused (NCDHHS). According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the abuse of illicit drugs and psychotherapeutics has increased; with 9.2 % of the population over the age twelve having abused some substance. Not surprisingly, there has been a rapid increase, (due to its easy access) in the use of marijuana (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014). Whilst there is no definitive cause of substance abuse, there are a myriad of factors that can trigger it. Socioeconomic status, family history, child abuse, depression, low self-esteem, stress; these are but a few reasons that can trigger substance abuse in an individual. Having relationships with people who use abuse substances, or accept their use as normal can also lead a person to develop substance abuse issues (Robinson, Smith &Saisan, 2014). There is no precise way to determine if someone will or does abuse substances, but there are some things one can look for and identify as indicators of substance abuse. Lack of interest in activities, depression, taking unnecessary risks, becoming drunk or high regularly, preplanning substance abuse, needing more and more substances to get drunk or high and blacking...
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