Past_and_Current_Drug_Trends

Abstract The following paper will explain past and current trends of the use and abuse of illegal substances in the United States and ways in which American culture encourages and supports drug use and abuse, and the cultural appropriateness of using narcotics for medical purposes Past and Current Drug Trends Substance abuse in the United States has a historic national and economic array of reasons. People could have access to and abuse drugs because of its illegal availability and a very systematic expansion of drug dealing business in metropolitan /urban areas around the country. Reports by NIH and APA, disclose the marked increase in the abuse of drugs by younger and younger teenagers, even children and young women. The health costs are intractable when an otherwise, healthy, and young body grows damaged by abuse of drugs and allied self-destructive and harmful behaviors, like gang membership, in the gangs involved in drug dealing, prostitution in case of mostly females, who once addicted with sell their bodies, for more drugs, and general trend in teens, across US public and private schools, where much spoiled and affluent of youth will heavily abuse drugs. In past situations drug abuse was limited to specific and socio-economic groups of people: uneducated, indigent, and involved in some type or form of criminal activity to raise money to continue to feed their drug addictions. With the media glamour-sing drug addition, youth distancing themselves from their caregivers for a variety of reasons, sad loss of positive role-models in the society, unethical businesses allowed to be carried on, in the drugs deals, internationally to bring the drugs in the country, all surfaced into this social ill today, in which anyone with money and is misled to finding ‘comfort and numbness’ in abusing drugs, somehow has access to drugs. If not stopped, each second, there goes one more young ruined and poisoned life into the realm of death, leaving some large amount of depressed parents and friends behind and causing the community and the country, a loss of a life of a person, who could be a good leader or educated mind, moving mountains, if he or she had not been forsaken to doing drugs. How does American culture encourage drug abuse' The most saddening of all factors is that young adolescents don’t have an open line of communication with their guardians or parents that are responsible for the well being and safety of their children, from illicit drug use. The encouragement and the support, which students obtain from their peers and someone, in some cases, who they most believe in, if those people offer drugs to students for their own malicious and ignoble ends, then there is little that a young individual can do, to run away from such a scheme. The increase and addictive trends in drug abuse by teenagers are an outcome of a complex combination of factors: money, peers, media, detachment from family and thereby no knowledge and conscience for personal care and regard for morality and ethical values, which could prevent youth from becoming a victims drug abuse. Most media programming portrays drug use in a ‘cool’ sentiment, e.g., as if it is a good thing to experiment with drugs. Today, youth have no mental recognition of what is going on with themselves and their peers; they spiral into a bottomless pit of personal disrepute, dependence (on other people to save their lives every time they take a high dose of drugs and faint). Their education and career is in ruins as well as failure in social atmosphere due to drug abuse habits, not to mention extreme danger in which young individuals put others in harms way. Medical professionals will keep on doing their work to heal and rehabilitate the drug abusers, but for how long' Therapists are more concerned about family therapy these days because they find disconnect between family and the young person who take involved in drugs. These treatment modalities and interventions suggest that there is a need for a revival of ethical and social values and norms, which push adolescents into drug abuse for life. Overwhelming majority of youth today, are idle, have poor academic records, have no desire to go for further education in colleges and become qualified professionals in work fields or become role-modeling leaders for their own or the next generations to come. The long-term negative effects on their lives and burdening of current social, economic, and health aspects of the lives of drugs abusers lead to a hopeless and painful ending. Conclusion Many contributing factors exist that affect the rise of health problems within the United States in relation to substance abuse. “Substance abuse is the nation's top health problem, causing more deaths, illness and disabilities than any other preventable health problem today. Of the more than 2 million deaths each year in the United States, about one in four is due to abuse of alcohol, tobacco or illicit drugs. The economic cost of the abuse is estimated at more than $414 billion a year. No population group is immune to substance abuse and its effects. Men and women, and people of all ages and ethnic groups drink, smoke and use illicit drugs, and the negative effects often spread far beyond the users themselves” (Drug Policy Reformation, 2001). Understanding that many aspects of substance abuse are linked directly to brain disease is not a task easily adapted by non-using family members. While the fact remains that many substance abusers began using their preferable drug of choice of their own free will, their substance abuse has proven to amend genes and brain circuitry, which ultimately influences the drug addict’s conduct. “Once addiction develops, these brain changes interfere with an individual’s ability to make voluntary decisions, leading to compulsive drug craving, seeking and use. The impact of addiction can be far reaching. Cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and lung disease can all be affected by drug abuse” (National Institute of Drug Abuse, 2007). Drug abuse trends within the United States is constantly evolving but the one fact that continues to remain consistent is its prominent position as a public health concern that influences society on numerous levels. The American culture needs to feel empowered to join the fight against substance abuse and embrace the fact that substance abuse does not discriminate based on location, social stature, annual income, or race. This problem has proven to be an epidemic and its roots are profound. The fight against substance use and abuse has gone on for centuries and will continue for centuries to come. While the United States is making strides in a positive direction by encouraging various treatment programs, more has to be done to target and reduce the use and abuse of illicit substances in our society. References Carroll, C. (2000). Drugs in Modern Society (5th ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill. Retrieved February 2, 2010 Drug Policy Reformation. (2003). Substance Abuse Top Health Problem. Retrieved February 3, 2010, from http://www.drugawareness.us/articles/substance abuse.htm National Institute of Drug Abuse http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a792211670~db=all~order=page yas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/33/2/143 Retrieved February 3, 2010