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Jasmine Couch

Professor Richardson

English Composition 1201

20 March 2019

Substance Abuse

Image laying on the ground feeling lost and having nowhere to go, the only thing you can

think about is your next fix. You start to reach for your phone so you can call your dealer but

realize you don’t have any money. So you sneak into your parents room and go over to their

dresser and reach for the medium size jar that they keep any extra cash. After stealing their

money you run back into your room where you get your phone and continue this vicious cycle.

Although drug addiction is a major problem not everyone treats it like one. It’s important that

everyone starts to take it serious. In fact, some people have dedicated their lives to helping

people who have drug addiction.

While researching the texts written about substance abuse, I learned a lot about the topic

and I have read many things from different authors. I have found authors who have done

research, wrote articles, books, and some who have interviewed recovering teen drug addicts.

The authors often talk about the effects that the drugs and alcohol have on the human brain,

which is something that most people do not think about. I couldn’t find many articles about how

and why people get into drugs. My goal for this paper is to bring awareness to substance abuse
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and the seriousness of this problem. Hopefully after reading this people are able to understand

this problem and help prevent it from continuing.

To achieve the goal I have to seperate my paper into four different sections being how

they got into drugs, why they don’t just quit, the process of getting clean and the mental effects

the drugs had made? With in these four sections I will talk about the seven sources I have found

and the information I have found. I will discuss the prevention of mental health and substance

abuse: promote healthy behaviors and informed decisions, and how excessive alcohol use can

increase a person’s risk of serious health problems. I also plan on discussing the effects that drug

abuse has on families. Then I will talk about a interview that included fifteen people and they

were asked a variety of questions. Such as how was there lives at the time, their school

environment, and family and friend relationships. There is also another interview with a

american teenager and she goes into how she got into drugs and what made her want to quit. The

last and final thing I will talk about is substance abuse, like trying to understand why people

abuse drugs and why substance abuse is an important topic to talk about in today’s society.

The first thing I want to talk about is the importance of substance abuse, after researching

and reading different articles about substance abuse I have learned a lot. For example, in 2005

around 22 million americans struggled with a substance problem. If you think about it 22 million

people is a lot of people and most of those people are unaware of their problem. Then those who

are aware of their problems don’t seek treatment. Substance abuse is important because it can

affects more than just the person abusing the substance. They affect physical, mental and health

problems. Some of the problems result in teenage pregnancy,domestic violence, crime, and
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suicide. Drugs have been golified since the 1960s by movies and media, which does not make it

easy for people to completely believe that drugs are bad. The most common drug that is used is

marijuana, something that is new is that its becoming legal for people to smoke it for medical

reasons. In today’s society young people are exposed to illegal drugs at a much younger age,

3.9% of teens across the world abuse marijuana. There are many reasons why people turn to

drugs, some of those reasons we will never understand or have to face in our life’s. The most

common drug that people do is heroin, the problem with this is that recently others have been

mixing fentanyl in it which makes it even more dangerous.

That is one of the main reasons in the increase of drug overdoses within the past year,

sadly not everyone is able to be saved. Drug overdoses kill more people than guns and cars, this

is a big thing to think about. Drug overdoses have increased since 1990s the main drug being

heroin. Something that doesn't get brought up is the mixing of drugs and alcohol. Everyday 130

people and more in the U.S die after overdosing. A lot of the drug use is from opioids such as

prescription pain relievers, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and heroin. Some of the long term

effects the heroin can have on a person is; bacterial infections of blood vessels, abscesses, liver

or kidney disease, and possible lung complications. I understand death is a subject that most

people don't like to talk about but that is something that can happen if you start abusing

substances. It isn't just drugs that can kill you alcohol withdrawal is more painful and deadly than

drug withdrawals. By doing drugs at a young age the drugs have a negative effect on your brain,

it can slow down the development of it and you won't be able to get those cells back. Some of

the long term effects that alcohol have on you are; liver damage, increase of heart disease,

deteriorating physical conditions.

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The next thing I will talk about is the prevention of substance abuse and mental illness.

Something that will help people focus on preventing abuse is to focus on their attitudes and skills

to make good choices. Mental disorders and substance use really affects our mental health and it

can make it really hard to do the simple things in life. For example normally everyone takes a

shower everyday but someone who is dealing with mental problems it can seem like a much

bigger task than it really is. School plays a critical role in everyone’s life, that’s where we are

most of our day so the teachers who see you everyday should be able to identify if you’re acting

weird. On the website SAMHSA they talk about how untreated emotional and mental disorders

can lead to drug use and negatively impacts their adulthood.

So if parents and teachers are able to pick up on the signs it would really help prevent

future problems before they start. Some of the signs that people can look for are if the person is

feeling sad or down, excessive mood changes, low energy, losing the ability to focus, and

withdrawal from friends and family. Those are all simple things that everyone can look for. Just

by making sure they know that you’re there for them can make a huge difference. The main

reason why people turn to drugs is so they can mask the pain that they’re feeling inside. Early

use of drugs increase the chances of addiction in the future. So by trying to prevent early use of

drugs or alcohol can help in the long run. The time when drug use is at risk is when the brain is

going through transition. Most of the time you’re going to have to reach out first because they

won't ask for help.

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Moving along in the research I read an article about substance abuse treatment in Western

Cape, Africa. Although in the area there’s a lot of drugs and alcohol there wasn’t a lot of drug

use among women reported. Which is important to realize for the treatment of alcohol and other

drugs, data was collected from fiftyone treatment centers. With in the data collected in 2000 to

2013 a total of 74368 treatment episodes were recorded which twenty two of where involved.

Which is crazy because the percent of women increased over six percent, the most common

substance used was alcohol but following it was methamphetamine which is used to help with

ADHD. Over time there continues to be an increase of women seeking to get treatment from

alcohol and other drugs (AOD).

Overall the treatment that women, men, and kids go to help them not only get clean but

help them live a normal happy life. There are so many ways that drug treatment include, such as

behavioral therapy and sometimes a mixture of therapy and medications such as antidepressants.

But there is different types of medications that help with different things like there is stuff that’ll

help with nicotine addiction, opioid addiction, and so much more. Then in behavioral therapy

they might feel motivated to participate in drug treatment wich offers help with drug cravings

and prevent relapse. A lot of people question how effective drug addiction treatment, the whole

goal of treatment is to return them into productive people and have them realize that they’re

important and they have a lot to live for. It’s up to the person to make the changes and to use the

resources that are given to them during the treatment. But when relapse occurs the treatment

doesn’t fail, they just have to adjust the treatment. A question many people ask is “can addiction

be cured?”, the answer to that question that yes addiction is a treatable disorder.
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After reading through the interview with Molly and Inspirations for Youth and Families

(IYF) it allowed me to see what past adicts used to think. In the interview Molly talks about how

long she was addicted to a drug called molly. She also mentioned how she was introduced to the

drug, she talked about how she hung out with older people and she tried it because she didn't get

as high while taking other drugs. She also brought up the fact that most people her age didn’t do

the drugs she did, they mostly smoked weed.

The next thing I am going to talk about it how substance abuse affects the people around.

Say a family is living together in a home and either mom or dad or possibly both start to do

drugs. This can lead to many bad things such as the kids being taken away which is a growing

problem that we are having in our area. Between sixty two and eighty five percent of children in

foster care have been exposed to substance abuse in their homes. Which is a sad thing to think

about, parents are often too busy trying to get there next fix rather than taking care of their kids.

Most of the time kids whose parents are abusing drugs are often left unfed, physical and

emotional abused. In the Dayton Daily New article they said, “Last year, about one-quarter of

foster children in Greene and Warren counties were removed from their homes primarily because

of parental drug use, the state’s data show. Statewide, about 12 percent of foster care admissions

fell into this category.” Not only does the substance abuse affect the kids of the family but it also

affects the other family members. Most people who abuse substances don't have a close

connection with their family. The negative behaviors and how they treat themselves isn't

accepted by most people. Sometimes family and friends blame themselves or they may feel

disappointed and depressed. A lot of the time people abuse substances they become isolated.

Often times when people suffer from addiction they seal money or other items.
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This paper and the topic is something that is very important in the process of spreading

awareness. Hopefully after reading this paper people are able to learn and take away important

information about substance abuse. Somethings that you should’ve been able to take away from

this paper is that mental health and substance abuse are linked. That is why it’s so important to

take care of yourself and make sure to ask for help if you need it.
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Works Cited

Allison.bradbury. “Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Prevention.” SAMHSA, 14 Jan. 2019,

www.samhsa.gov/find-help/prevention.

Dada, Siphokazi, et al. “Alcohol and Other Drug Use among Women Seeking Substance Abuse

Treatment in the Western Cape, South Africa.” South African Journal of Science, vol. 114,

no. 9/10, 2018, doi:10.17159/sajs.2018/4451.

Frolik, Cornelius. “More Kids Removed from Homes for Parental Drug Abuse.” Dayton Daily

News, Staff Writer, 24 Sept. 2016, www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime--law/more-

kids-removed-from-homes-for-parental-drug-abuse/KpJMnK5yceYLP5JwOd6MTN/.

Galvão, et al. “Economic and Sociocultural Poverty in Drug Abuse: from Individual to

Sociopolitical Responsibility.” Saúde e Sociedade, Saúde e Sociedade,

www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-12902018000300820.

“An Interview with a Teen Suffering from Molly Drug Addiction.” Inspirations for Youth and

Families, 13 Oct. 2018, inspirationsyouth.com/an-interview-with-a-teen-suffering-from-

molly-drug-addiction/.

National Institute on Drug Abuse. “How Effective Is Drug Addiction Treatment?” NIDA,

www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-

guide-third-edition/frequently-asked-questions/how-effective-drug-addiction-treatment.

“Substance Abuse.” Substance Abuse | Healthy People 2020,

www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/substance-abuse.

“What Is Substance Abuse? Basic Facts & Definitions - Drug-Free World.” Foundation for

a Drug-Free World, www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/drugs/basic-facts-about-

commonly-abused-drugs.html.