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Substance Abuse Essay, Research Paper

Substance Abuse

INTRODUCTION

Directly or indirectly everyone at some point in time has been or will be affected by substance abuse. Substance abuse is the abuse of any substance. This includes everything from Tylenol to heroin, even coffee. The two main substances being abused in our nation are nicotine and alcohol. Substance abuse is our nation s number one health problem, responsible for half a million preventable deaths each year. These two things create major addictions and cost our taxpayers millions of dollars every year.

I chose substance abuse because I feel that it is one of the nation s largest overlooked problems. Yes, people are aware of the problem, but have they gotten any closer to solving it? I do feel that illegal drugs are a growing problem, but I am focusing mainly on alcohol and tobacco because they are what mainly effect my life. Obviously, eliminated alcohol and tobacco is definitely out of the question, but it would be nice to increase awareness on the serious issue of substance abuse. That is why I think that it is valuable to learn, acknowledge, and use the term- moderation. Obviously, the activists and congressmen know people will always use these substances, available or not, but they are looking for ways to eliminate the abuse of these substances. I am going to explain the problems caused by the abuse of drugs, the externalities, some possible solutions, and my opinion.

RESEARCH

I have done much of my research through the Internet. I have read many statistics that contain a lot of facts and numbers. Some information even came out of President Clinton s public addresses. Alcohol is easily connected with the law because it is so frequently violated. Many groups do lobbying to congress to pass bills to eliminate the problem. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a repot to congress explaining how substances effect a person, which, in turn, affects the economy. MADD put out a Research on Youth Report dealing with public policy, 1997 which gave me lots of information form both points of view. There are many universities that have done studies on the effects of substance abuse, there are statistics sited in my paper by University of Maryland Office of Substance Abuse Studies, 1990. Many of other statistics came from the U.S. Surgeon General s reports.

THE PROBLEM

The use of substances to modify mood or behavior is generally accepted in our society. There are many people that engage in social drinking and smoking; however, when these substances become an everyday activity and are needed for normal daily functioning, substance abuse has occurred. Substance abuse will lead directly to substance addiction. Keeping this in mind studies show that it takes 15 years for an adult to become dependent on a substance; in contrast, it takes six to 18 months for an adolescent to become addicted to the same substance. This creates a major problem, especially for adolescents, for the simple fact that the majority of teens technically abuse substances every day of their lives. This is an ongoing problem for the town of Washburn that many people hope to see solved. In 1991 the U.S. Surgeon General said that more than half of the nations junior and senior high school students drink alcoholic beverages, and many binge drink to relieve stress and boredom. Substance abuse is by far the main cause of premature and preventable illness, disability, and death in our society. Alcohol and tobacco abuse affects an estimated 25.5 million Americans. Substance abuse victims gain a tolerance for the substance so that an increased amount is necessary for the desired effects. Alcohol and tobacco lead to physical dependence in which the person develops withdrawal symptoms when he or she stops using the drug, making it even harder to quite.

Recently, scientists have done extensive research to try and understand how the abuse of a substance can affect so many people, despite the extreme warnings of it. Alcohol abuse has been found to be biological, rather than psychological. Included in this research is tobacco. Scientists have discovered that the same addiction caused by tobacco is the same as the one caused by cocaine. The chemical in tobacco, nicotine, releases a substance in the brain, called dopamine, which, in turn, gives pleasure to the user, making them feel happy with themselves and, in time, normal. The user s body gets used to the large amounts of dopamine in your body, and this why a person needs to keep using tobacco, leading to substance abuse.

The overuse of these two stimulants can cause many major heath problems. Problems caused by alcohol include liver disease, and then, basically, anything imaginable. Alcohol can lead to any health problem, including death, because it causes you to do things that you would normally not do. Many people do not even realize that you can get alcohol poisoning, which generally leads to death. Alcohol poisoning is the overdosing of alcohol. The problems caused by tobacco usually are never seen until it is too late. Smoking can lead to emphysema, asthma, heart disease, ulcers, and lung cancer.

Smoking and drinking are not only harmful to the user, but they also affect the innocent people around them. Second-hand smokers are people that choose not to smoke but are forced to inhale the smoke of others, which is actually worse than actually smoking. Drinking affects many innocent people. When someone chooses to drink and drive, they put everyone s, who happens to be on that road, life on the line.

The scary thing is that everyone is innocent while experimenting with substances. It is clear that no one starts experimenting with substances hoping to become addicted or even with the intention of running into problems with the substances. It is also clear that some uses eventually do experience

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