Causes and Effects of Drug Abuse Essay

 

 

Introduction

            Drug abuse is the habitual misuse of legal or illegal drugs. The most commonly abused drugs are alcohol, cocaine, caffeine, cannabis, bhang and addictive drugs for instance morphine among others. The mostly abused drugs are alcohol and cannabis. Some of the many causes that lead to drug abuse include; peer influence, personality of the parent as well as their usage of drug abuse. The effects of these drugs include; damage of body organs and emergence of various body diseases. The government has a duty to fight drug abuse as the issue highly contributes to lagging behind of the country as the victims cannot be able to contribute positively towards its development.

            Among the various causes of drug abuse, parental habit of drug abuse is one of them. In many cases where the parents abuse drugs, there is usually a high probability of the traits being passed to the children. As a result, the children begin to use the drugs the same way the parents are doing as they are the closest role models they can copy (Bukoski & Sloboda, 2003). The drug abuse among the adolescents is also associated with the personality of the parents. The children who come from families where parents have no negative issue with drug abuse are at a high risk of becoming drug abusers. Peer pressure influence is another cause of drug abuse. The very best friends and those that are considered to be very close are the ones that mostly drive the adolescents into many known cases of drug abuse. Peers are usually in the position of formulating beliefs, approaches and expectations of the group on how they should behave towards drugs.

            There are various effects of drug abuse. The first one is increased risks of disease transmission. This happens where the abusers use same instruments to consume the drugs, for instance through sharing of hypodermic needles to inject drugs like amphetamines and heroine (Verster, 2012). This facilitates to increased risks of transmitting diseases like HIV and hepatitis B and C. The second effect is damage to body organs, for instance chronic effect of the central nervous system. The most commonly associated drug is amphetamine. There are also effects of the respiratory organs associated with habitual smoking of the drugs like cigarettes and amphetamines. The excessive usage of drugs like ecstasy have also been associated with mental conditions like depression and disturbed memory.

            There are several potential changes that need to be put in place in order to overcome the issue of drug abuse. There is the need for testing alcohol and other drugs that are sold before they reach the market (Schifano, 2019). This is to analyze the interaction of the drugs. Another thing is carrying out assessment of newer drugs, especially those that have effects on the central nervous system through surveillance to detect their potential to be abuse. The physicians are also supposed to be keen while selling some drugs which have the potential of being abused as most of the clients buys drugs with an aim of abusing them. By so doing, the issue of drug abuse will have been dealt with to levels that will not much affect the country.

Conclusion

            Habitual misuse of legal and illegal drugs is commonly caused by peer influence, parental personalities and parental usage of drug abuse. These drugs have various consequences like transmission of diseases and damage of various body organs. The best way to fight drug abuse is through pre-tests of drugs before they are taken to the market to analyze the drug interactions, assessing the newer drugs in the market and the need for the physicians to be much vigilant while selling drugs have potentials of being abused.  There is necessity of the government to overcome the issue of drug abuse as it is one of the causes as to why the country is lagging behind in terms of development. This is because the victims are not in the position to contribute towards the development as they usually use their time in abusing the drugs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Bukoski, W. J., & Sloboda, Z. (2003). Handbook of drug abuse prevention: Theory, science, and             practice. New York, NY: Kluwer Acad./Plenum Publ.

Schifano, F. (2019). Recent Changes in Drug Abuse Scenario The Novel Psychoactive Substance             (NPS) Phenomenon. S.l.: MDPI AG.

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