Prescription drug abuse, misuse and overdose

Prescription drug abuse, misuse and overdose

Thesis statement

The paper will seek to highlight the major causes of drug abuse, misuse and            overdose and the effects of these malpractices. In addition the paper will          present possible ways to avoiding them.

Introduction

Drug abuse is the use of drugs for the purposes not made for. It may also mean      use of drug in excess. Drug abuse is the use of drugs in methods that are not     recommended by the manufacturer (Kassel J. D 2010). Overdose or under dose amounts to drug   abuse. Use of drugs in excess amount than recommended by a medical practitioner. Plays a role in many major social problems, such as drugged driving, violence, stress, and child abuse. Drug abuse can lead to homelessness, crime, and missed work or problems with keeping a job. It harms unborn babies and destroys families (Kassel J. D 2010). There are different types of treatment for drug abuse. But the best is to prevent drug abuse in the first place.

There are three possible causes of drug abuse

Peer pressure plays a major role in drug abuse the youth is are most affected by this from peer pressure. Young generation tend to take drugs because their friends are also dong the same.

Mental illness is also contributing a lot in drug and substance abuse some people in the society use drugs so as to forget situations in life, or to get distressed. Stress may triggers victim to drug abuse as they try    to overcome their distress caused by such events.

The environment in which one is brought up plays a key role in drug abuse as one grows the environment plays important  in shaping his or her moral values for instance if the area where one was born is drug free zone the chances of him to get involved to drug abuse are low on the other hand . If born or brought up in             areas with access to drugs the people residing in this area may turn up to be drug abusers and drug traffickers.

Drugs abuse many negative effects on the victims

They may lead to addiction whereby the user can not lead a normal life without them. The moment one gets into drug abuse he becomes hooked to drugs and in most cases he cannot lead a successful life for instance some people cannot work without drugs.

Social problems such as marriage break ups especially due to squandering of family money on drugs. The family income and assets may be used to purchase drugs this brings conflicts in the family due to lack of basic needs.

School drop outs among youth majorly due to pregnancies. Others drop to work    and get money for drugs. ( Thorburn D .2010)This is very painful in the society where by young generation are involved in activities of drug abuse ,they value drugs and no need of education the female child may get early pregnancies leading to school drop outs.

Drug addiction related diseases such as liver cirrhosis. This is killer diseases those people whole take alcohols suffer from liver cirrhosis (Kassel J. D 2010)Lot of money is used to treat this disease as well as to maintain the patient.

Desperation, lack of self-esteem and eventually involvement in criminal activities.at times the drug abusers may see themselves as rejects in the society and tend to separate themselves from the other members in the society. Eventually the drug abusers may lose their self-esteem and engage themselves in bad habits such as robbery with violence and other crimes this is harm to the society.

Possible strategies for avoiding drug abuse and helping those already addicted

Caring out awareness on the negative effects of drug abuse as a way of      sending caution on youths(Verster J.C, 2012). Conducting seminars, summits, forums or press conference to address issues related to drug abuse can result to change in the society. Sensitizing the drug abusers on the effects of drugs may make them change the way they perceive the drugs and avoid them totally in life.

Strict enforcement of laws governing drug use and severely punishing the offenders. Coming up with laws may also reduce the cases of drug and substance abuse .Punishing a drug trafficker and guiding them on how to avoid drug abuse bring a change in the society.

Putting drug addicts under rehabilitation to recover from addiction and lead normal life(Verster J.C, 2012). Like the way ex –offenders are rehabilitated and trained, drug abusers should also be rehabilitated, and it is true that most people abuse drugs because they are idle they have no work to do. If they get skills from rehabilitation centers they may become important people in the society and most of their time they will spend working to raise their living standards.

Proper and effective education on stress management among youth. Peer counselors and the responsible persons in the society should take their role in advising the youth and other people in the society on the appropriate ways of avoiding stress rather than drug abuse .For many youths major engage in drug abuse to overcome stressful events, they can be advised to watch movies or read online how to overcome stress.

Embracing research based programs to prevent drug abuse(Verster J.C, 2012). The society members should take part in a research basically related to preventive measures on drug and substance abuse .Including all members in the research will give out high quality data because they understand their community better.

Conclusion

Drug abuse, misuse and overdose are core drug use malpractices that must be fought at all cost. Government, society and organizations have a duty to play to ensure drug abuse is kicked off. To achieve this concerted efforts are required since we all feel the effects of drug abuse either direct or indirect. Generally it is evident that drug abuse has negative impacts in life (Verster J.C, 2012). Coming up with strategies to overcome this challenge may result to a drug free society.

References

Kassel, J. D. (2010). Substance Abuse and Emotion. Washington, DC: American Psychological                          Association.

Thorburn, D. (2000). Drunks, drugs & debits: How to recognize addicts and avoid financial     abuse. Northridge, Calif: Galt Pub.

Verster, J. C. (2012). Drug abuse and addiction in medical illness: Causes, consequences and treatment. New York, NY: Springer.