Drug Abuse And Prescription Drug Addiction In The United States

Improved Essays
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 20.6 million people in the United States have an addiction to drugs, and 5% of those users are adolescents. Drugs affect many different people in several different ways. However, every drug has the same sort of goal - to get you dependent on them.
Drug addiction often starts with substances such as tobacco, alcohol, inhalants, marijuana, and prescription drugs. As the addiction becomes more persistent, the abuser is more heavily involved with other drugs such as heroin, meth, ecstasy, LSD, cocaine, etc. Drugs impact nearly every aspect of your life including your body, mental and emotional well-being, your relationships and future, your safety, and much more. Rates

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Pleasure Unwoven Analysis

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When an individual does drugs, I learned that our brain does not work correctly together. Our brain interprets the drugs that an individual ingests as pleasurable, so dopamine is released. This makes the human brain assume that drugs are needed for survival. Drugs change the chemistry of the brain and change what our brains perceives as our basic hierarchy of needs. After one becomes addicted to drugs their primary survival priority is drugs, followed by what non- addicted brains consider priorities, food, sex and…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Drug addiction is a substance abuse disorder, it is when an individual is dependent on a drug-recreational, or medicinal. Having a drug addiction can cause many problems. For example, for an adolescent it can cause interpersonal relationship and school problems. The addiction can become so powerful that one can replace or forget their partners for the effects of the drug. Some adolescents might miss out on their education, due to peer pressure to use drugs during school hours.…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    POSSIBLY HELPFUL INTERVENTIONS Some interventions meant to be helpful can be harmful: Family or Couples Counseling Family or couples counseling can be helpful when relationships damaged by addiction are worth saving. The addict may genuinely want to improve relationships and make changes. However, the addict may also agree to attend family or couples counseling to forestall having to face the consequences of his or her actions. Family therapy can divide rather than strengthen families.…

    • 1378 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rat Park Research Paper

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Drug addiction has become a burden on our society. In fact, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2010 about 23. 5 million Americans were addicted to drugs and alcohol. Furthermore, drug addiction takes a huge toll on the economy.…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The participation of illegal and prescription drug use with adolescence in the United States has steadily inclined over the past 20 years, with nearly 24 million people using or have used drugs as early as age 12. There is truly an epidemic with the use of drugs by minors, as illegal drugs pose the highest risk of addiction than drugs that are over the counter. Considering illegal drugs are fueled by their popularity with many of them often being used recreationally and in the party lifestyle, the pressure to engage in use to be accepted by peers is high. Drugs have a considerable number of negative effects such as paranoia, anxiety, and lower intelligence functions and therefore proper education on the effects and drug abuse prevention is…

    • 135 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Substance Abuse Substance abuse is basically an overindulgence in or dependence on an addictive substance, such as drugs or alcohol. Statistics for substance abuse and addiction began to skyrocket in the 1980’s when pharmaceutical companies and doctors began over prescribed medications (especially opiates) to patients in order to make more money. If you had an injury that would require you to take a pain reliever, you really would only need four or five pills. But, doctors will sometimes give patients upwards of forty pills. They do this only to have more money in their paychecks, and do not care about what could happen to innocent people.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Drug use and abuse has been a major concern to the society for a long a time. There are myths and facts about drug abuse. Many people have been having misconception on the truth about drug abuse. This has led to many people, both old and young, to continue abusing drugs and substances. With drug abuse becoming more common in our society, many scholars have been trying to explain reasons that make people, especially young people abuse drugs.…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abstract: It is abundantly clear, that the United States of America has a major drug problem. Alcohol, tobacco products, and marijuana mainly consume this problem. It is clear that the United States need to focus on effective prevention programs in wide scale accessible areas in order to reduce this problem. In order to properly and effectively prevent drug use, we need to focus on prevention in three main areas, such as school-based, work-based and community-based prevention.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The United States has been dealing with drug and addiction problems for decades. The abuse of drugs in adolescents is increasing along with the incarcerations for drug related problems. Meanwhile, expensive and ineffective programs are still in use. Drug problems can be reduced at lower cost if successful strategies are adopted. For starters, law enforcement resources should be focused on the most dangerous and violent criminals.…

    • 210 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Drug Abuse In America

    • 212 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Drug abuse has become a major problem in America, and the problem needs to end. Drugs can cause health problems, change behaviors, and accidents. Drugs can damage organs which people need for all aspects of daily life. It can make people more aggressive, cause an addiction, and lose self-control. Drug abuse can lead to accidents, injuries, and even death.…

    • 212 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Today, one in four deaths is attributable to illicit drug use” (“Effects of Drug Abuse and Addiction”). In our society today, recreational drugs have had many negative impacts. The use of these drugs causes harm to the people who use them, which in turn affects our society. Recreational drug use has also dramatically increased in the last few years, and the numbers continue to grow. A survey was conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of over 70,000 Americans who were age 12 and older.…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Drug Abuse In Ohio

    • 1818 Words
    • 8 Pages

    This can affect the society who lives near the areas where there is a high rate of drug deals. This can affect real-estate agents, who need to sell a home, but the property values have gone down due to the drug rates around the area. Drug abuse especially effects families. Many families may be torn apart due to someone in the family being addicted to drugs and abusing the drugs. When a parent is abusing drugs, it may cause strain on their relationship with their significant other, and this can lead to divorce.…

    • 1818 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    One important problem that has been rapidly increasing among our society today is drug addiction. The earlier in an individual’s life that drug abuse begins, the more likely they will be to become addicted. Substance use in teens and young adults turns into a pattern of unsafe behaviors, including; unsafe sex, driving under the influence, etc. Taking drugs lessens the feeling of distress and most people abuse. Drug addiction can set back the user from achieving their goals, it’s important to make wise decisions to have a successful future.…

    • 1696 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Drug Abuse And Addiction

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Drug Abuse Everyday around the world there are people consuming different kinds of drugs. Some may use them prescribed from doctors and then there are some that abuse the consumption of drugs. Although some people may take the drug because it’s prescribed by their doctor, it later turns into an addiction or abuse of the drug. In this article you will learn about the most common drugs abused physical and psychological, along with the signs, symptoms and treatment for them.…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    A drug is any substance other than food, that when inhaled, injected, smoked, consumed, absorbed via a patch on the skin or dissolved under the tongue causes a physiological change in the body. Drugs can be classified into two major categories; medicinal and psychoactive. Medicinal drug is a chemical substance used to treat, cure, prevent or diagnose a disease or promote well-being. On the other hand, psychoactive drugs are chemical substances that affect the function of the central nervous system altering perception, mood or consciousness. Psychoactive drugs are also considered as recreational drugs since they are used for pleasure rather than medicinal purposes.…

    • 2399 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays