Mental Health and Substance Misuse

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE MISUSE
Mental Health and Substance Misuse
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MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE MISUSE
Introduction
According to the reports published in The Guardian (2015), more than 15 million
people in UK that on nearly out of three adults use illegal drugs. Moreover, the proportion of
the population who have ever consumed drugs is also increasing over time. There is no
gender variability in the consumption of drug in UK. As per the survey conducted by
Observer, 31% of drug users in UK belong under the age group of 16 to 24 years however,
the higher number of drug users belongs to under the age group of 35 to 44 years (47%). The
following essay aims to highlight the long-term and short term consequences of substance
misuse and how the people of UK are getting mentally affected by it. The report also plans to
throw light on the stigmatization of such substance misuse people and how it is affecting
them negatively. Towards the end the report will provide a brief recommendation in order to
overcome the problem.
Classification of Drugs in UK
In UK, the illegal drugs are sub-divided into three different categories namely class A,
B and C. the classification is based on the controlled analysis of Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
and the allocation against any one class is based on the harm it cause to the mankind. The
drugs which belong to class A category attract most serious punishments along with
penalties. Under the Misuse of the Drugs Act, it is a punishable offence to unlawfully possess
a controlled drug along with taking intent to supply the same. The Misuse of Drugs Act also
condemns unlawful supply of any controlled drug and providing premises for the use of such
controlled drugs (National Institute of Health 2017).

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Figure: Drug Classification in UK
(Source: Alert Toxicology UK 2017)
Legal and illegal substances and forms of consumption
According to the National Institute of Health UK (2017), legal drugs are those drugs
which are used as medicines like pain-killer, anti-depressant, stimulants, suppressants and
drugs for central nervous system. However, these drugs are also frequently misused for
example dextromethrophan (DXM) an over-the-counter medicine is use as cough suppressant
but DXM are at times swallowed directly or administered via mixing with soda, a process
known as robo-tripping" or "skittling. They are also injected directly intravenously or are
taken in combination with alcohol or marijuana.
According to the reports published in The Guardian, the illegal drugs which are
popular in UK are crack cocaine, cocaine, diamorphine, ecstasy (MDMA), heroin, LSD,
magic mushrooms. The route of drug administration is the method that is employed in order
to take the drug inside the body. Smoking is the common route of drug administration and the

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MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE MISUSE
drugs administered via smoking include marihuana, opium, cocaine, cannabis, crack, heroine
and tobacco. Snorting of drugs or insufflations is another mode commonly used by the drug
addicts for the administration of drugs inside the body. Heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and
ecstasy are inhaled via the process of snorting. Recently drug is injected directly inside the
body via the use syringe the methods include subcutaneous, intravenous and intramuscular.
Injection is regarded as the most dangerous mode of drug administration as it hits the body
within a fraction of seconds. Some drugs are also taken orally like chewing of tobacco.
Impact of short-term and long-term intoxication of substances on mental and physical health
According to Hall and Degenhardt (2014), regular intake of drugs increases
dependence syndrome and leads to the generation of impaired respiratory function,
cardiovascular complications, negative effects on the adolescent psychological development,
mental health disease and residual cognitive impairment. Volkow et al. (2014) further opined
that young people without cardiovascular risk may develop complex cardiac problems in
long-term upon regular use of drug. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) a major component of
cannabis impairs the normal functioning of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and thereby
increasing the concentration of reactive oxygen species within the body and increasing the
vulnerability of stroke (Volkow et al.2014). Use of drugs such as cocaine can cast detrimental
effects upon the pregnant women for example cocaine, it a regarded as a potential teratogen.
The reports published by Zhang and Tantibanchachai (2013), revealed that cocaine use
during pregnancy increases several obstetric complications like spontaneous abortion,
premature delivery or uterine rupture. As per a report published in The British Journal of
Psychiatry, short term cannabis intake cause short-term symptoms like depersonalisation,
irrational panic, feeling of loss of control a fear of dying or paranoia. Acute or large doses of
cannabis cause organic psychosis along with confusion and hallucination.