Effects
of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Here is an example of the
effects of drug abuse. An individual tries drugs or alcohol. The drugs or alcohol
appear to solve their problems and in turn they feel better. Now that they seem
better able to deal with life, the drugs or alcohol they previously used become
invaluable to them. The individual looks to drugs or alcohol as the cure for
their unwanted feelings and problems. The painkilling effects of drugs or alcohol
become the solution to their emotional or physical discomfort. Inadvertently
the drug or alcohol now becomes invaluable because it helped them feel better.
This release from the individual's unwanted feelings and problems is the main
reason they uses drugs or alcohol a second or third time. It is then just a
matter of time before they become fully addicted and lose their ability to control
their drug or alcohol use. Drug addiction then results from excessive or continued
abuse of physiologically or physically habit-forming drugs in an attempt to
resolve or escape from the underlying symptoms of discomfort or unhappiness.
The effects of drug abuse
are felt on many levels: personal, friends and family, and societal. Individuals
who use drugs and alcohol experience a wide array of physical effects due to
their drug and alcohol abuse that they had never anticipated. One such example
is the depression an individual feels following their use of cocaine. Additional
effects of drug abuse include tolerance, withdrawal, sickness, overdoseage,
and somrtimes resorting to a life of crime. Family and friends feel
the effects of drug abuse as well. The abusers preoccupation with the substance,
plus its effects on mood and performance, can lead to marital problems and poor
work performance or dismissal. The effects of drug abuse can disrupt family
life and create destructive patterns of codependency, that is, the spouse or
whole family, out of love or fear of consequences, inadvertently enables the
abuser to continue using drugs by covering up, supplying money, or denying there
is a problem. The effects of drug abuse
on society manifests itself through lost work time and inefficiency. Drug abusers
are more likely than nonabusers to have occupational accidents, endangering themselves
and those around them. Over half of the highway deaths in the United States
involve alcohol. Drug-related crime can disrupt neighborhoods due to violence
among drug dealers, threats to residents, and the crimes of the drug abusers themselves.
In some drug abuse neighborhoods, younger children are recruited as lookouts and helpers
because of the lighter sentences given to juvenile offenders, and guns have
become commonplace among children and adolescents in such neighborhoods.