The Impact of Substance Abuse on Society: A Sociological Analysis

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Substance use and society
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Body:...........................................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References:................................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
Consumption of any substance in amounts or methods which are harmful to themselves or the
people around them is called substance abuse (Kandel and Kandel,2015, pp.130-137). It goes by
other names such as addiction, drug abuse, or substance abuse syndrome. In 2010, almost 230
million people consumed illegal drugs globally which makes up almost 5% of the world
population (World Drug report, 2012). 27 million people of this population are so deep in
substance abuse that they are categorized as high-risk drug users or recurrent drug users
suffering from deterioration of physical health, mental and psychological problem. And this
number has been increasing. Such a great number draws attention towards controlling
substance abuse for the addiction to an illicit substance is not only harmful to one's physical
and mental well being but also affects others living with them and adulterates the society. This
assignment will help understand the reasons why people tend to fall into the trap of drug
addiction, explore the prevalence rate of substance abuse, and evaluate theories of addiction.
We will also understand the attribute of media, public, and government to drug taking.
Body:
Harmful and problematic use of drugs has shuddered mankind through decades. Alcohol,
barbiturates, cannabis, benzodiazepines, cannabis, methaqualone, opioids, and some
substituted amphetamines. The problematic use of drugs or substance comprises
terminologies such as addiction, poor upbringing, peer pressure, and personality defects. In
2010, almost 230 million people consumed illegal drugs globally which makes up almost 5% of
the world population. However, as per the iceberg theory, the number of cases is way more
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than what we actually know. For most of the cases of drug abuse goes unreported. The number
is huge. About 307, 400 individuals lost their life due to drug abuse in 2015. Death due to
alcohol use disorder makes up the highest number of death reaching up to an alarming number
of 137,500 (Wang et al., 2016, pp.1459-1544.). In 2017 almost 72,000 Americans died of a drug
overdose (Lopez, 2018). Most deaths were due to synthetic opiates and fentanyl (Hall and
Ferrel, 2018). The crime survey of England and Wales report of 2014/15 states that the use of
Ecstasy among youth has increased over the past decade (Lader, 2016). These mind-altering
substances have been though used for thousands of years for relaxing during celebrations (Hall,
2015, pp.19-35), dull the pain of ritual mutilation during initiation, to provide insight into
future by seers in visions, and coping up with thin air in high altitudes. These have also been
used as antiseptics or painkillers in ancient medicine. But for past years these have been
exploited. These drugs have been either found to relax the nervous system and provide
momentary solitude called as CNS depressants or have been seen to provide a sense of
euphoria and called as CNS stimulant. CNS depressants include opiates, alcohol, and sedatives
while the CNS stimulants are crack, cocaine, nicotine, caffeine, and amphetamines (Bonamigo,
Brutti, Capelletti, Duquia, and Keisserman, 2018). As per the crime survey for England and
Welsh the drug most prevalent in use in the group of 16- 59 in the year 2011/12 was in the
order of Cannabis, Cocaine, MDMA, Amyl nitrate, Amphetamine, and Ketamine. Office for
national statistics, 2013 data shows that Wales has the highest number of binge drinking.
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Risk factors for drug intake includes peer pressure, substance misusing or substance misusing
parents, poor family structure, absence of cohesion in family, breaking of boundaries in family,
inconsistent parenting, sexual abuse, physical abuse, poverty, emotional abuse etc. (Romac et
al., 2018) Stress and impulsivity have also been the leading cause of substance abuse. It has
been found in youngsters that certain impulsiveness or whims to try out new things and explore
newness in the newly found freedom drive them towards addiction (Wakeford, Morin,
Bramlett, Howell, and Sanchez, 2018). Drug peddlers play important role in making certain that
youngsters fall in their trap (Gupta, Bansal, Kaur and Singh, 2015). They try to encourage the
vulnerable youth to try the feeling of these substances for once and addicting them for their
own profit. Thus experimental and recreational use of the drug is one of the leading cause of
drug addiction. People with troubled background find drugs an easy way to escape from the
inflicted pain on them and leaving the reality behind. This feeling of euphoria and relaxation on
use of drugs is one leading cause of drug overdose. Children of addicted parents try to follow
the culture seen at home. Many times parent themselves make their children addicted to
drugs. In the past use of drugs had also been associated with the notion of being "Cool and
classy". Today the use of the drug is found so common that Howard Parker in 1995 described
the theory of normalization in illegal leisure about drugs. According to this for many young
adults, drug consumption is considered normal. However, his theory was contraindicated by
many. Developing pub culture globally is also leading cause of development of substance
abuse. Binge drinking has been found very common in social groups. Another cause of drug
abuse is peer pressure. School and college students create mental pressure on their friends
forcing them to indulge in substance abuse. Pop music culture is one other reason behind drug
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abuse. The youth like to follow their idols. It was found that there was a hike in use of heroin
use and cannabis use during the beat movement in the 1950s. William Seward Burroughs II, the
face of beat movement was a visual artist and an American writer and was also a heroin addict
(Boggs, 2015). The 1960s was the age of Hippies and also LSD and cannabis use. This was an age
of sexual revelations started by the Hippie community. The people from this community often
were involved in the use of cannabis and LSD to go in the state of trance and explore the
altered sense of consciousness (Rainwater, 2018). They promoted listening psychedelic music
under the influence of drugs. Also in 1960s Mod culture was the antagonist of hippie culture
believed in loud jazz or pop music (Weinberg, Falk, Falk, and Falk). A decade of men and women
wearing a tight-fitting leather jacket, listening loud rock and roll music and being high on
amphetamine. Thus in the 1960s most of the youth were either addicted to cannabis, LSD or to
amphetamine influenced by the latest trend prevalent in the society.
Substance abuse is harmful to the society. There have been increased cases of domestic
violence in houses of individuals addicted to one or other kind of substance. Most common is
the case of individuals addicted to alcohol. Parents addicted to one or another kind of drugs is
mostly incapable of providing the required amount of care to the child. Such families tend to
get torn and kids are mostly subjected to foster care or state custody (Lewis, 2017). There are
also increased cases of child abuse in such cases. Many times after delivery new mothers fall in
the grasp of drugs due to postpartum depression and end up harming her child. Children of
addict parents are insecure and are found to fall in clutches of drugs too. Loosely cohesive
families it is seen that there are increased cases of sexual abuse which later on force the victim
to fall in the grasp of drugs and other substance abuse. Depression is one other common reason
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for drug abuse and excessive drinking. Substance abuse is also one of the leading cause of
spread of HIV AIDS in the society (Chandler et al., 2015, pp.2416-2422). This is because of
sharing of needles in intravenous drug abusers. De-addiction programs are costly and difficult.
There is a very high risk of relapse. Addicts tend to commit crimes either under the influence of
drugs or for money for drugs. Around 200,000 cases of thievery are committed by addicts in
England in a year. This is a very large number and draws serious attention. Addicts tend to
cause damage to others and self's property and lives too. Drink and drive have been the
leading cause of road traffic accidents all over the world. The chemicals used for the
preparation of methamphetamine and flammable and cause fires if not handled properly. Also,
the waste product obtained in the processing of methamphetamine is harmful to the
environment and causes pollution.
Various theories have been put forward stating the causes or reasons for individuals to become
an addict. Drug dependence can be explained be explained based on the psychological
approaches according to which drug dependence is common with other syndromes or diseases
of impulsiveness or compulsive behavior. For example in having obsessive-compulsive behavior,
or gambling. There is a lack of ability to restrain one's self. Various psychological methods to
explain addiction to drugs are cognitive model, learning and conditioning, pre-existing
behavioral theory also known as personality theory, rational choice model. Directly observable
behavior is the main focus of behavioral theory of addiction. Behavior is more likely made as a
reinforcement of such behavior (Akers, 2017). The cognitive theory proposes that for addicts'
drugs and other substance of abuse serve as a method of self-regulation (Turel and Bechara,
2016). Thus it can be stated that behavior of addiction is the result of relying excessively on
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external structures such as excessive reliance on substance in case of substance abuse for
maintaining a psychological and physical balance. However, personality theory contradicts
behavioral theory and states that an addictive personality leads to drug addiction in a person.
Fulfillment of certain purpose of an individual's personality profile leads to the development of
addiction in an individual as per psychological research model of Hans Eysenck (Eyesenk, 2017).
For such an individual, they feel that taking drugs does more good to them and their personality
than it does wrong to one's body. From studies, it has been found that adolescent who
displayed rebellious and less conventional nature at a younger age are more prone to drinking,
smoking or taking illicit drugs at later stages of their life. A rational theory of choices aims at
explaining the reasons for pushing self to destruction process. Impaired control over the use of
the substance is one of the main cause of drug dependence. It is sometimes difficult for
individuals to resist using drugs even when they don't want to use it or know the consequences.
Social and environmental factors also cause drug dependence. It has been found that people
with antisocial nature are more likely to become drug addicts. Adolescents with the tendency of
misconduct and rash behavior are more likely to take drugs. Key pathways of the functioning of
brain are affected when one takes drugs. The balance between brain and its neurotransmitter is
affected by chronic use of drugs. This forms the basis of the neuroscientific theory of drug
addiction. The biological factor of drug dependence explores the genetic liability of an
individual to drug addiction. One hypothesis states that there is a chance of inheritance of
addiction to drugs. Neuroadaptation theory of drug dependence states that there are changes
in brain opposing the effects of drug's acute action after repeated drug administration
(Erickson, 2018). These adaptations can either be within system adaptation or between system
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adaptation. Changes occur at the site of drug action in within system adaptations and between
system adaptations are the changes occurring at various mechanisms which are triggered by
the action of the drug.
Even though substance abuse has been promoted by the media and pop culture in the past as
stated above, still people tend to have more negative attitude towards substance abuse.
Contraindicating the theory of normalization which extends a more liberal approach to the use
of drugs, people accept the use of drugs as bad. The crime survey of England and Wales in
2014/15 states that the prevalence of use of drugs has decreased over the last decade. This
development can be attributed to increasing awareness about substance abuse in people as a
result of campaigns started by the government, social service groups such as governmental and
non- governmental NGOs, counseling programs in schools and setting an age bar for
consumption of alcohol and other drugs. Many drugs have been banned by the government.
De-addiction programs and awareness programs have helped mold the attitude of people
towards substance abuse. Also growing knowledge and concern about HIV AIDS have helped
society reduce the cases of intravenous drugs use. Media also have had great role in shaping
the attitude towards drugs. On one side the rave culture has increased the usage of LSD, MDMA
etc., on the other side media has also helped spread knowledge and information about the
harmful effects of drugs. In the generation addicted to social media, it is now easier to
influence a large group of the population. More and more information is now dispersed
regarding substance abuse. Social media is a two-way street. As said earlier it now easy to
attract people to substance abuse as pictures appearing in the social media of parties, drinking
and merrymaking appear very attractive. However, it is also easy to share videos of people
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suffering from addiction or deaths due to a drug overdose. The choice to choose the correct
one is in one's own hands. The government also has taken up counseling programs as well as
programs such as CARAT to work and treat drug users in the prison.
Conclusion
Drug addiction has had crippling effect on the society. It has torn many families and influenced
the future of many children. This culture has to be taken care of as soon as possible for the
betterment of society. Through this assignment, we have understood the prevalence rates of
drug users and which type of drugs are used. This assignment has also helped understand the
causes and risk factor underlying addiction to drugs. It has also shed light on the various
theories underlying addiction to drugs and has uncovered both biological and psychological
causes of drug dependence. While moving towards the end of the assignment we have
understood the role of media, society, and government and molding the attitude of people
towards the usage of drugs. It has been understood how the music, dance, and the literature
prevalent in society affect an individual's personality and lead him to drug dependence.
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