Substance abuse

practices. Since the body naturally produces pain killers which are trace amounts of opioid compounds, actual pain killers or opioids enhance these pain killing mechanisms, therefore creating a significant potential for abuse in patients. This is discussed in detail in substance use and abuse in module 4.5. For example heroin has been used and abused throughout history, heroin is a derivative of opium which naturally occurs in poppy plants and by extension trace amounts of heroin could be found…

behaviors is Genetic and Familial Environmental Influences on the Risk for Drug Abuse conducted by Kenneth S. Kendler, a psychiatrist at Virgin Commonwealth University, and his team on the mission to find the relationship between genetic factors, environmental factors, and drug abuse. Kendler et al. (2012) found a relationship between adopted children whose biological parents had a history of major mental illness, substance abuse, and criminal convictions and an increased risk of drug use among…

Introduction Substance abuse is a nation-wide phenomenon – with an increase in both drug users and manufacturers in Canada, effective harm reduction strategies are in high demand (Howlett, Giovannetti, Vanderklippe, & Perreaux, 2016; Kerr et al., 2009; Lunn & Zimonjic, 2016; CBC News, 2009). With the highest rate of drug related crimes committed in British Columbia, Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is home to one of the country's largest populations of illicit drug users (Kerr et al., 2009; Cotter,…

on Drug Abuse reports that when a family member is addicted, you cannot count on them to do what they say they will. From personal experience with my father, I remember him never going through with plans we made, such as chaperoning on a field trip or remembering to pick us up from school. The first couple of times my dad forgot about his promises, I was hurt. Then I just stopped asking my dad for any favors because I knew he would never show up. In Marni Low’s article, “Substance Abuse and the…

Substance Abuse Treatment: What is and Isn’t Working Substance abuse is common in America, and there are treatment options available. Treatments for substance abuse scale from professional counseling to 12-step programs. Most of these programs do not have outstanding success rates, considering not everyone can afford professional help. 12-step programs seem to be more common, with that in consideration there are downfalls to this way of treatment. Lack of funding, religion, socioeconomic…

Substance abuse has been an issue for much longer than people think. Substance abuse became a problem even before the development of organized sports such as the Olympics. Substance abuse has been evolving over time based on the continued advances in being able to test for different classes of substances within people’s system. Drug abuse is described as the use of drugs used as performance enhancers that could give the athlete a better advantage than other athletes. Substance abuse has been…

When you think of someone who you would consider a chronic smoker or substance abuser, you would imagine someone who is on the street corner or standing outside of a building puffing a cigarette, since smoking is illegal in most public buildings. However, many of these habits and addictions start at a much younger age, affecting many teens in high school. In fact, according to the National Center for Addiction & Substance Abuse, 40 Million or 1 in 7 Americans ages 12 and older, have an…

many Aboriginal individuals turning to substances to try to alleviate their suffering. Thus, high rates of substance abuse within Aboriginal communities have become generational in nature, that is, that they have been inadvertently inherited (Smillie-Adjarkwa, 2009). With this in mind, it seems ostensive that generation after generation bears the burden of substance abuse, moreover, the emotional toll that accompanies it. This not to say that substance abuse such as alcoholism is inherited;…

Substance use and abuse is considered a non-communicable disease; non-communicable diseases can be more difficult to treat than a communicable disease, but treatments do not have to be expensive. There are many cost effective interventions that can be implemented to treat and help prevent substance abuse. Cost effectiveness is defined in Public Health 101 (2015) as “a concept that combines issues of benefits and harms with issues of financial costs” (Riegelman & Kirkwood, p. 127). Three cost…

psychology and sociology until the mid-1980’s, treatment for substance abuse in adolescents, specifically, is a relatively new and continuously advancing area of study. There are many theories and therapies surrounding treatment options for teenagers (age range 12-17), as well as preventative measures taken to prevent the ever-growing addiction in these developing pupils. Although attempts and programs to prevent adolescent substance abuse can be very successful in accomplishing their goals, in…