Effects of Substance Abuse

There are many effects of substance abuse. Some include:

• Alcohol
• weight gain (empty calories in beer)
• Liver Disease
• Cancer (2-4% of all cancer is alcohol related)
• High Blood Pressure
• Drugs
• Overdose
• Paranoia and Psychosis
• Rapid Heart Rate and Memory Impairment
• Fatal Heart and Lung Failure

Why Should We Care About This Topic?

I suppose that one of the more important questions to ask is why should we care about the topic of substance abuse and how it can affect more than just the person who uses the drug? We all know that drugs are harmful to the user, but I also wanted to point out how one person using drugs can affect a whole family's relationship which could in turn make the family dysfunctional (which is not fun). I also looked at how an intervention could help and what you should do if someone in your family or one of your friends abuse a substance. So I guess the main reason that I think people should care about this topic is because it affects everyone, and it could happen to anyone. 

Impact of Illegal Drugs on Society In the United States

Drugs not only have an impact on the individual and their family/friends, but also on the society as a whole. The economic cost is estimated to be around $215 billion. Illicit drug use also affects the criminal justice system-it taxes resources at each stage of the arrest, adjudication, incarceration, and post-release supervision process. It also has an impact on productivity because using drugs can cause premature death, illness, injury leading to incapacitation, and imprisonment. Productivity is also lost due to drug-related unemployment (such as failing a drug test). The environment also suffers from illicit drug use. Clearly, there is more at stake than just an individual’s drug problem; using drugs creates tribulations for society as a whole.

More information about this can be found at:  Impact of Drugs on Society

What To Do If A Loved One Is An Addict

What should you do if you find that one of your friends or a family member is an addict? There are many things that you can do; but one of the best things that you can do is be there when they look for help and a way to quit. Another thing that you can do is try to encourage them to get help but don’t keep pushing them if they refuse-it is ultimately the user’s choice whether to get help or not. Educate yourself on the disease so that you may understand the problems your friend or family member may be going through. One thing that may not be a good idea is to completely turn your back on them and not have anything to do with the user. You may be angry with the person who uses drugs, like I was when I first found out about my aunt, but what I do is try to remember when you actually enjoyed being around that person-that person is still there, they’ve just been hidden by all the drugs. At least that is how I looked at the situation with my aunt-she used to do a lot with me, my brother, and one of my cousins before she started using drugs, and maybe someday we can get back to doing things together once she becomes completely clean.

Why Do People Start?

I have looked at what drugs do to the body, both on the outside and inside, the strain it puts on relationships, the effect it has on family and friends, etc. But I wanted to look at why people use drugs even though they know all the problems it can cause. Of course there are the obvious reasons such as peer pressure. But what are some other reasons? While researching, I found many other reasons, such as they do it to feel relaxed or to forget problems. Some use drugs to cope with stress or simply because they are adventurous and curious. There are some who use because their whole family is addicted to drugs. But in many cases, people use drugs as a way to deal with problems they don’t know how to handle. It could be to deal with problems at home, in relationships, or in school/their work. There are probably many other reasons why a person would start using drugs; these were just a few that shows why many start to use drugs.

What Do Drugs Do To The Body?

What do drugs do to the body on the inside? Drugs are chemicals that make changes to the makeup of the human body. Drugs affect the brain; the brain is what controls the way you feel. So the drugs make the brain send certain messages to make you feel a certain way. Chemical messengers made by drugs can send wrong messages from the brain and make you see, hear, and feel things that aren’t real and doing things that you normally would not do. Eventually, people will start to develop a tolerance toward the drug they use. Some believe that this is their body accepting the drug, but in reality it is the drug killing the parts of their body that is used to resist the drug. To get the feeling again, some people will try using more of the drug which could result in an overdose. Drugs can cause liver damage, make your body unable to fight off infection, your heart beat too fast, cause your body temperature to get so high that it causes damage to your brain, cause a stroke, and even death.

Teenager's brain on drugs. Drugs make holes in the brain
and lowers brain activity

When Someone You Know Uses Drugs-The Effect

When a child, parent, aunt, uncle, or any other relative or friend uses drugs, the effect it has on the family can be devastating. When a child uses drugs, the parents may feel like it is their fault that their son or daughter became an addict. When a parent uses, a child may feel like they have lost their childhood. I have seen firsthand the toll drugs take on a child when one of their parents use drugs. To some extent, my cousins have lost their childhood as well. One of them-the second oldest-is pretty much like an adult and she is only eight years old. I guess that she thought that she had to step up and act like a parent. She is very protective about her siblings and often treats them as a mother would her children. It is kind of sad to see her have to take this position. My aunt has definitely gotten better recently, I’m not sure if she is still using or not, but my cousin still acts like an adult to some extent; so she has lost out on many childhood experiences to this point. Many children will also feel responsible for their parent’s drug usage as well. They may feel like it is their fault that their children started using, which could affect them for the rest of their lives.