Reasons Why People Abuse Drugs - Research Proposal

This research proposal seeks to find the reasons as to why people smoke, sniff, inject or pop drugs despite knowing their adverse side effects. The research will also assist individuals to have a better understanding of why members of the society abuse drugs.

Research Proposal 1
REASONS WHY PEOPLE ABUSE DRUGS
By (Student’s Name)
Professor’s Name
College
Course
Date

Research Proposal 2
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Many individuals abuse drugs for various reasons known to them. This research proposal
seeks to find the reasons as to why people smoke, sniff, inject or pop drugs despite knowing their
adverse side effects. Drug abuse is a broad topic and some of the drugs that individuals' abuse
includes prescription pills, heroin, tobacco, alcohol, steroids, and inhalants.
The purpose of this research is to find out why people abuse drugs and why others
continue using them even when it affects them. This research is from the broad field of drug
abuse that has become common especially among adolescents. This research hopes to feel the
gap that exists in the factors that contribute to drug abuse. The research will also assist
individuals to have a better understanding of why members of the society abuse drugs.
2.0 RESEARCH QUESTION
Drug abuse has increased in the society, and many more people are being hooked on
drugs or being addicted to them such that they cannot live without. This research tries to make
sense of this by finding out the reasons that cause this.
3.0 SIGNIFICANCE
It is essential to establish the reasons that make people abuse drugs as this will help in
finding ways to help them curb the behavior and solutions to quitting it as well.
4.0 AIMS
The aim of this research includes the following:
 To fill the gap that exists in drug abuse.
 To find out the reasons as to why individuals abuse drugs.

Research Proposal 3
This research will not be finding solutions to stop the use of the substance but instead
hopes that with the reasons for using the substance, individuals will have a better understanding
of why they do it. This way they can use them to help in stopping drug abuse.
5.0 BACKGROUND
Drug abuse is a standard issue in many of our societies, especially among the teenagers.
This has caused concern in trying to establish why people use drugs. Tobacco is a drug that is
commonly abused by individuals. Other than addiction, tobacco use causes other adverse
problems such as:
 Heart and lung disease
 Cancer
 Sleep deprivation
 Mental health problems such as bipolar disorders as well as depression
 Mood disorders
 Anxiety disorders.
The problems mentioned above have affected the society in many ways, and this has
caused concern for drug abuse. Many societies whose members abuse drugs are faced with
violence and a lot of self-harm done by the individuals. The societies also tend to spend a lot of
money on their health sectors to treat the addiction to the substances.
6.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
Drug abuse is the wrongful use of substances by the consumer, in doses or methods that
can cause harm to them or the people around them. The consumer uses the substance for a
pleasurable feeling which is also known as ‘getting high.' Drug abuse has been classified as a

Research Proposal 4
disease, and according to research, some people might get addicted to a substance when they use
it while some may not. This is because other people have a substance disorder while others do
not.
Drugs are easily found in the society, but people have developed ways to use the
recreationally for their pleasure. This has lead to drug misuse among peers in the society. Some
of the reasons why people abuse drugs in the society are:
6.1 Availability
Drugs have become so rampant in the society that anyone can easily find them. Drugs
such as prescription pills can be found over the counter and all one needs is the prescription from
the doctor. Other drugs such as alcohol are being sold in stalls and sold to people below the age
of 18 years. Some stores are strict, but one can quickly get a fake ID and therefore get the
substance.
The availability of drugs has encouraged people to abuse substances as they do not go
through a struggle to obtain them. Individuals in a society, for instance, know that if they want
heroin, they can get it from this dealer and even who has the best version of the substance.
6.2 Peer pressure
Peer pressure is one of the main reasons as to why people abuse drugs in the society. A
lot of individuals that are addicted to substances such as tobacco say that they were convinced to
try by a friend. One smoke then led to two then led to 10. Before they knew it, they were already
addicted and could not stop.

Research Proposal 5
Peer pressure happens in many settings in the society. For example, when teenagers go to
a party, they are pressured to use drugs by other peers, and when they do not, they are regarded
as lame. Therefore, to fit in, they will use the drug. The individuals that are pressured to use the
drug, fear exclusion in the society.
6.3 Experimenting
A lot of people in the society begin drug abuse just by merely experimenting. A person is
curious to know the pleasure that comes with using a particular substance and therefore decides
only to use it once. However, if the person experiments on a drug that is highly addictive such as
heroin and tobacco, they become hooked and thus use more and more. This is because they need
to satisfy their addiction.
6.4 Mental health problems
Drug abuse causes mental health problems, but they are also a cause for abusing
substances. People with depression and bipolar disorder may find themselves using drugs to, e.g.,
get out of their depression. However, this may become a routine as the depression is not cured
and therefore they will continue misusing substances to alter their moods. As a result, this causes
addiction, and they become dependent on drugs so as not to feel depressed.
6.5 Trauma
People that have had traumatic experiences may abuse drugs as a way to cope. To some,
the drugs help in forgetting what happened and to others, it soothes them. Traumatic experiences
can be treated, but the individuals using the drugs may become addicted to the drugs. When they
cannot get the prescribed drugs, they may substitute them with other substances to get the same
feeling.
7.0 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Research Proposal 6
7.1 Epistemological position
Drugs in the society are being abused daily and this we can attest from the addiction that
it causes. People are continually using drugs even when they do not need them to satisfy their
cravings. Drug abuse is a real issue in the society especially among teenagers (Green 2014).
Evidence shows that more and more teenagers are being admitted to hospitals simply due to drug
overdoses and other health problems that are associated with substance abuse.
7.2 Theoretical perspective
A lot of theories are used to explain why people abuse drugs, some of these are:
7.2.1 Genetic theories
Drug abuse can be inherited from family members especially in cases of alcoholism.
Studies show that individuals with alcoholic relatives or parents are more likely to become
alcoholics as well.
7.2.2 Biological theory
The biology of a person plays a factor in addiction. Some people may become addicted
when using a certain substance when another person may not. This is because their biology
differs.
7.3 Methodology
The research method that will be used in this proposal is the qualitative method. The data
will be retrieved from books, book chapters, and journal articles. The qualitative method will be
used as it is highly reliable and valid as it provides data for the genesis of the research
(Silverman 2016). The research will use focus groups were participants will be selected to
collect additional findings.

Research Proposal 7
7.4 Research design
This research proposal will use the cross-sectional design where focus groups are used to
obtain more information about the issue of drug abuse in the society. With the design, the
research aimed at having a vast area of sources to reach correct conclusions.
8.0 ETHICS
The research proposal will ensure that all the information that is obtained from the focus
groups is confidential. The rights of the participants in the focus groups will not be infringed, and
this includes their privacy rights. Authorization will be given by the participants in the form of a
contract to use their information anonymously (Leibovici 2016). The research proposal also will
ensure that any other sources that are used in the research are credited as well. The ethics
committee gave approval as well before commencing the research.
9.0 RESEARCH METHODS
9.1 Participant selection
The participants for the focus groups will be selected randomly from the society, but the
research ensures that they are a diverse audience. The primary target audience for the research
proposal is people that abuse drugs or individuals that knew people that abused drugs (GOK and
GOK 2016). The research will ensure that the participants included people of all ages, gender,
and races.
40 participants will be selected for the research whereby 20 are those that abused, and the
other 20 are those that did not but knew people that do. The number of participants is large so
that a wide range of data could be collected.
9.2 Data collection

Research Proposal 8
Group interviews will be first conducted in two groups. Group one includes participants
that abuse drugs and group two is participants that are related to people that abuse drugs.
Questions will be asked during the interviews, and the participants will be encouraged to answer
freely and openly.
After the interviews, questionnaires will be handed out to each individual for answering.
The questionnaires will contain open-ended questions so as not to limit the participants in
responding. Both the interviews and the questionnaires are face to face (Palinkas et al. 2015).
The participants will be reminded of the date of the process via email. A notice will also be sent
to them one week before the actual interviews are to happen. The participants that will not make
it for the interviews will be contacted via email to get their questionnaires.
9.3 Data analysis
The data in this research will be analyzed using qualitative analysis. This will be done
through a computer program to ensure that the data is reliable. The results of this research will
take the form of inductive reasoning where data sources have will be used as a genesis for this
research proposal (Miles, Huberman and Saldana 2014). Some of the sources mentioned earlier
are books, book chapters, and journal articles. The participants as well are a source of the data.
The grounded theory will be used as the coding system to ensure that the findings are
correct. This research proposal will utilize the inferential statistics in that the different sources
and participants will provide a broad range of information and therefore the data will be relevant.
This is because it will contain every aspect and view.
The data collected will also be compared and contrasted for the different sources. In this
instance, the research will use descriptive statistics. This they will do by comparing the data in
which appeared the most, which was the least and so on.

Research Proposal 9
10.0 TIMETABLE
The timeline for this research proposal is from 8th August 2018 to 8th August 2019. By
8th August 2019, the research proposal is expected to be completed. The interviews and
questionnaires are scheduled for the 3rd January of 2019, and this is communicated to the
participants that will be involved. The literature review is expected to be done before this time.
Task Start
date
End
date
Days
completed
Days
remaining
Literature review 8/8/2018 31/11/2018 2 113
Methodology 1/11/2018 2/1/2019 0 63
Interviews 3/1/2019 19/3/2019 0 75
Questionnaires 20/3/2019 20/6/2019 0 90
Ethics 21/6/2019 8/8/2019 0 46
TIME PLAN
Month
Activity
8/8/2018-
31/11/2018 1/11/2018
-2/1/2019
3/1/2019-
19/3/2019
20/3/2019
-
20/6/2019
21/6/2019 -
8/8/2019
Literature review

Research Proposal 10
Methodology
Interviews
Questionnaires
Ethical Approvals
11.0 REPORT, DISSEMINATION, AND CONCLUSION
11.1 Report
The potential audience of this research proposal is society groups, drug abusers as well as
researchers in the field of drug abuse. This audience will be able to have a better understanding
of the reasons as to why people abuse drugs. The general public can also use it.
11.2 Dissemination
The data in this report will be disseminated through the internet by use of social media
pages as well as websites so that it can quickly reach the audience.
11.3 Conclusion
Drug abuse is a concern among many societies as it causes adverse effects to them. It is
essential to identify the reasons as to why people abuse drugs as this will provide a stepping

Research Proposal 11
stone in curbing it. Societies can use this information to help its members that are faced with
drug addiction.
REFERENCES
Ettorre, E., 2016. REVISIONING WOMEN AND DRUG USE. Palgrave Macmillan.
GOK, T. and GOK, O., 2016, June. Methodology of Research. ‘In Asia-Pacific Forum on
Science Learning and Teaching’ (Vol. 17, No. 1).
Gossop, M., 2016. Living with drugs. Routledge.
Green, H.E., 2014. Use of theoretical and conceptual frameworks in qualitative research. Nurse
Researcher (2014+), 21(6), p.34.
Gupta, V.P. and Shah, A.H., 2018. Alcohol and Drug Abuse-A Global Trend What Parents
Should Know. Acta Scientific Medical Sciences, 2, pp.11-13.
Jalilian, F., Karami Matin, B., Ahmadpanah, M., Ataee, M., Ahmadi Jouybari, T., Eslami, A.A.
and Mirzaei Alavijeh, M., 2015. Socio-demographic characteristics associated with cigarettes
smoking, drug abuse and alcohol drinking among male medical university students in Iran.
Journal of research in health sciences, 15(1), pp.42-46.
Leibovici, L., 2016. ‘Ethical considerations in research published in the CMI’. Clinical
Microbiology and Infection, 22(12), p.957.

Research Proposal 12
Lev, R., Lee, O., Petro, S., Lucas, J., Castillo, E.M., Vilke, G.M. and Coyne, C.J., 2016. ‘Who is
prescribing controlled medications to patients who die of prescription drug abuse?.’ The
American journal of emergency medicine, 34(1), pp.30-35.
Maisto, S.A., Galizio, M. and Connors, G.J., 2014. Drug use and abuse. Cengage Learning.
Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M. and Saldana, J., 2014. Qualitative data analysis: A method
sourcebook. CA, US: Sage Publications.
Palinkas, L.A., Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom, J.P., Duan, N. and Hoagwood, K., 2015.
‘Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method
implementation research.’ Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health
Services Research, 42(5), pp.533-544.
Pishchulin, V.I., Loginova, E.V., Rogacheva, L.I., Fokina, L.V., Rogachev, M.A. and Fadeeva,
O.M., 2014. ‘Drug addict social integration system in modern russian society.’ Life Science
Journal, 12(12), p.608.
Rainwater, L., 2018. Marihuana Use in American Society: NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON
MARIHUANA AND DRUG ABUSE. In Deviance and Liberty (pp. 84-95). Routledge.
Segal, B., Huba, G.J. and Singer, J.L., 2018. Drugs, daydreaming, and personality: A study of
college youth. Routledge.
Silverman, D. ed., 2016. Qualitative research. Sage.
Volkow, N.D., 2014. America's addiction to opioids: heroin and prescription drug abuse. Senate
Caucus on International Narcotics Control, 14.

Research Proposal 13