Drug Abuse as a Critical Social Issue: Contributing Factors and Impact

This essay addresses drug abuse as a significant social issue at both national and international levels, highlighting various contributing factors. It identifies genetics, environmental influences, recreational drug use, and co-existing mental health conditions as key drivers of addiction. The essay references statistics indicating the severity of drug abuse in the United States, including the opioid crisis, increased overdose deaths, and the associated economic costs. It emphasizes that drug abuse affects all demographic sectors and leads to numerous social and health consequences, such as family issues, criminal exposure, and mental health disorders. The essay concludes by underscoring the urgency of addressing drug abuse as a critical public health and social concern.

Running Head: ESSAY 0
ENGLISH COMPOSITION
DRUG ABUSE

ESSAY 1
As defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary, substance abuse or drug abuse refers to
the overindulgent use of the drugs, without the medical justifications to it. Drug addiction is a
serious medical condition that has not only affected the mental and physical health of
millions of individuals, but has also left far reaching impacts on the society as a whole in
terms of both expenses of medical nature and economic wellbeing of a state. Some of the
serious social concerns resulting out of substance misuse are stress, violence, rash driving
while being drugged, child abuse, and criminal exposure. Abused drugs include substances
such as Stimulants like Cocaine, Club Drugs like MDMA, Dissociative Drugs like Ketamine,
Hallucinogens like LSD, Depressants like sleep medications, Opioids and Morphine
Derivatives, and other compounds like Anabolic Steroids and Inhalants (Abadinsky, 2017).
The magnitude of the drug abuse problem is evident from the fact that the opioid problem
was declared as a national crisis and a public health emergency by the president Mr. Donald
Trump, at the end of the year 2017 (Salam, 2017). The thesis statement for this assignment is
that drug abuse is a critical social issue at both national and international levels and various
factors contribute towards it.
In recent years, American society has been widely exposed to increased intensity of
substance use, especially by the college individuals and the secondary school students. The
first exposure of American consciousness towards drug abuse came in the year 1960 after the
World War II, commonly known as the protest era. The drugs such as Barbiturates,
Amphetamines, LSD, Minor tranquilizers, and Antidepressants started finding their way from
the sophisticated laboratories to the physician’s prescription pad and eventually moved onto
the streets and lives of Americans. Some of the evidences and statistics reported on the
problem of drug addiction in United States are presented as follows. According to the survey
conducted and the related data obtained, with approximately 247 million drug users across
the globe, drug addiction has reached onto serious epidemic levels (United Nations, 2016).

ESSAY 2
According to the annual National Survey on drug abuse in the year 2014, approximately 24.6
million of Americans above the age of 12 years had illegitimately consumed drugs in the
passing by month itself (NIDA, 2015). When translated in the percentage terms, this had
accounted for about 9.4 percent of the said number of total population. Also this percentage
represents an increase of about 1.1 % from the year 2002. As per the reports, substance use
issue in the United States costs more than $740 billion annually, on account of the treatment
and rehabilitation expenses, combined with the criminal effects and loss in productivity
(Sunrise House, 2018). The morbidity and mortality weekly report (MMWR) 2014, prepared
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals shocking data of increase in
rates of death by 137 % since the year 2002 due to drug overdose in the United States (Rudd,
Aleshire, Zibbell & Matthew Gladden, 2016). This is followed by an increase of 11.4% in the
year 2015 (Seth, Scholl, Rudd & Bacon, 2018).
The significant causes of drug abuse among youth of America have been described as
follows. One of the major causes of problem of drug abuse is genetics. Individual health is a
consequence of interaction between genes and habitat. It can be said that genetics account for
50 % in developing the risk of drug dependence. The problem of drug abuse is running into
families of Americans since a long time. As a result, the situation where one of the parents is
involved in abusing drugs, this automatically puts the child on the risk and makes him or her
more exposed to it. Also numerous studies have revealed that the problem of drug
dependence runs through genes into the families. Though there has not been identified any
specific gene that is solely responsible for the addiction and abuse, but a combination of
genetic and biological factors contribute towards making an individual vulnerable towards
addiction and abuse (NCADD, 2015). As mentioned above, environment of an individual is
second major cause of problem of drug abuse. Sexual abuse, unstable family conditions like
parental abuse, inadequate attention by the parents, feelings of abandonment from the family

ESSAY 3
members, inability to connect with others, lack of friends, and many more such factors puts
an individual at high risk of their brain being permanently rewired to associating pleasure
with the consumption of drugs. While the genes represent vulnerability, environment pushes
the genes into action (The Canyon, 2018). Another significant cause of drug abuse is intake
of drugs for recreational purposes. There is a fine line between recreation and dependence.
Individuals start taking drugs for various reasons such as improvement of athletic
performances, pressure from peers, as a cope up measure from stressful situations at work or
school, and to get past withdrawal symptoms, relationship problems, and routine jobs. The
activity that starts on recreational basis, eventually turns into addiction (Global Drug Survey,
2014). The problem of drug abuse is also characterized by the occurrence of the other
medical conditions. Co-existence of other medical conditions such as depression, bipolar
disorder, anxiety, mood disorders, impulse control disorders, pain management issues act as a
contributory factor towards addiction to intake of drugs, as a means of escaping and self-
medicating while attempting to manage the symptoms of the medical conditions. Reports
published in the Journal of the American Medical Association state that approximately 50
percent of individuals who indulge in substance abuse are also affected with severe mental
disorders (Help Guide, 2018). Reports are also suggestive of the fact that about 53 percent of
drug abusers were reported to be diagnosed with at least one critical mental illness. And of all
the people who were diagnosed of mentally illness, around 29 percent were found to be
abusing drugs, alcohol.
From the discussion in the previous parts, it can be concluded that drug abuse has
already become a major issue at national and international levels. Almost every day one is
encountered by related pieces of news such as drug trafficking, mental and behavioral
consequences resulting in family and social issues, addiction leading to criminal exposure
and legal troubles. There exists various kinds of drugs and substances such as cocaine,

ESSAY 4
opioid, club drugs, LSD, anti-depressants and many more, to which individuals are addicted,
in pursuance of psychological and physical relaxation. The major causes of drug abuse as
described in the previous parts are genetics, effects of surrounding environment, recreational
use eventually leading to addiction and simultaneous existence of other mental conditions.
Apart from the individual choices of intake of drugs, the above listed causes expose an
individual towards potential threat of addiction. Statistics are evident of the fact of the
severity of the drug addiction issue in United States. The magnitude of the issue can be
assessed by the fact that substance abuse has been declared as a national crisis by the
president Mr. Donald Trump. None of the demographical sectors are immune to the
indulgence in tempting drug abuse. The issue in America is specifically characterized by the
use of Opioids. Various reports have revealed that drug overdose death trends are increasing
in United States at an alarming rate. The crisis has not only tarnished the image of the country
globally, but also has posed tons of cost on account of resulting consequences, treatment and
rehabilitation.

ESSAY 5
References
Global Drug Survey. (2014). The Global Drug Survey 2014 findings. Retrieved from:
https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/the-global-drug-survey-2014-findings/
Help Guide International. (2018). Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues. Retrieved
from: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/addictions/substance-abuse-and-mental-
health.htm
National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. (2015). Family History And
Genetics. Retrieved from: https://www.ncadd.org/about-addiction/family-history-and-
genetics
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2015). Nationwide Trends. Retrieved from:
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/nationwide-trends
Rudd, R. A., Aleshire, N., Zibbell, J. E., & Matthew Gladden, R. (2016). Increases in drug
and opioid overdose deaths—United States, 2000–2014. American Journal of
Transplantation, 16(4), 1323-1327.
Salam, M. (2017). The Opioid Epidemic: A Crisis Years in the Making. Retrieved from:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/us/opioid-crisis-public-health-emergency.html
Seth, P., Scholl, L. Rudd, R. A., & Bacon, S. (2018). Overdose Deaths Involving Opioids,
Cocaine, and Psychostimulants - United States, 2015–2016. Retrieved from:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6712a1.htm?
s_cid=mm6712a1_w#suggestedcitation
Sunrise House. (2018). The Cause and Effect of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues.
Retrieved from: https://sunrisehouse.com/cause-effect/
The Canyon. (2018). The Link Between Genetics & Addictions. Retrieved from:
https://thecanyonmalibu.com/drug-addiction/genetic/

ESSAY 6
United Nations. (2016). World Drug Report, 2016. Retrieved from:
https://www.unodc.org/doc/wdr2016/WORLD_DRUG_REPORT_2016_web.pdf