Drugs and society

Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Drugs and society Question 1 SAMHSA means Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. It aims at decreasing impact rate of abusing substance and mental sickness in American population.

The two programs ran by this agency is treatment program and another for prevention of drug and substance use. It has a program for treating drug victims to recover. The preventive drug program has helped people understand dangers of drugs abuse. It has taught and proven to people that prevention works. The agency has improved prevention, treatment and recovery. This has enhanced protection of the country’s health. DEA means Drug Enforcement Administration.

The major role is to enforce the laws and regulation of drugs and substance use. It also targets and apprehends any organization or persons who support growth of illegal drug and substance use. Some of the programs ran by this agency are Employee Assistance Program and Eradication of Cannabis.

The latter assists any employees, with mental illnesses. This program is also available to their family members within the continent. DEA has made efforts in eradicating cannabis. It is grown at the borders of USA and it is illegal. SAMHSA and DEA are making efforts of fighting drug and substance abuse in America. People should make use of help services offered by these two agencies.

Question 2 Tolerance is the urge of wanting to increase the amount of drugs an individual is using. Tobacco users increase number of times they smoke as they advance in usage of tobacco Dependence is the actual addiction of drugs. For example, an individual cannot spend a whole day without smoking. Tolerance leads to dependence because it increases amount of consumption. Reverse tolerance is eliminating the insensitivity brought by tolerance of drugs. For instance, helping a smoker to reduce amount of tobacco.

Cross-tolerance is resistance to treating addiction for example; an addict does not improve after receiving medication. The individual does not respond to medication. Cross dependence is an addiction, which makes a user vulnerable to addiction of any drug he or she uses. For instance, an alcoholic can easily become an addict of smoking if he decides to develop the habit. Psychological dependence is lack of capability to cease using drugs.

A tobacco user believes he cannot live without smoking even when he does not feel the urge. Question 3 An estimated percentage of seventy two percent of college students are alcoholics. In every week, about five to six percent of alcoholic drinks are consumed by these students. Compared to all other drugs, alcohol is the most abused drug by college students. A rate of forty two to fifty five percent of college students are binge drinkers. Many students engage in binge drinking for drunkenness. It was observed that males are more binge drinkers than females.

More binge drinkers who are females perform worse than males binge drinkers. Factors like athletics, membership of fraternity or belonging to white race influence binge drinking. Alcohol should be banned from college students. It is a factor of poor academic performance and students dropping out.

Both male and female students become victims of rape because they had used drugs or alcohol. These vices can be prevented by more campaigns against alcohol and drug use. Question 4 Heroin use has increased from 1. 2 percent to 1.

5 percent in children between eighth to twelve grades. Injection use has also increased among these students. It is the most popular narcotic sold with sales of up to 120 billion dollars. About six hundred thousand people are heroine users in USA.

Today, heroin has been made purer to up to seventy percent. In 2009, more than 190, 000 people overdosed themselves with narcotics like heroin. Heroin users are likely to commit criminal activities as they search for more heroin or money to buy more doses of the drug. Some of the withdrawal symptoms include vomiting, running nose, lack of appetite, stomachaches, chills, muscle pain and other symptoms. A heroin victim can be treated by using methadone or buprenorphine to avoid withdrawal symptoms.

This should be accompanied by counseling and other relevant therapies. Question 5 Ecstasy is 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, which makes users feel energetic, emotionally stable and tactile feelings. It was initially common among white adolescent but now it is used by more people. Ecstasy affects the serotonin, which has a significant role in feelings and emotions. Ecstasy alters the function of serotonin, which interferes with stability of emotions and feelings. It affects the memory of the users and other cognitive duties.

The victims suffer anxiety, depression, cravings and sleeping issues. Ecstasy has negative impact to health and it can cause diseases like high blood pressure. The effects bring anxiety and depression and it causes mental illness. The heartbeat becomes faster and it could lead to heart complications. Victims get fever and chills due to the effects of ecstasy.

They cannot see well since their vision is blurred by the ecstasy chemical. Question 6 One common behavioral effect is laziness and passive life. Intake of marijuana affects the intelligence of the user. This is because memory is one of the brain areas, which are affected by the drug. They experience insubordination and cannot think properly or solve a problem. This affects his or her daily performance in any activity.

Users suffer from anxiety and depression because marijuana’s effect on the brain. It influences receptors involved in thinking and pleasure. They act strangely like isolating themselves and sometimes they do not make sense when they talk.

Marijuana users may eventually get schizophrenia. If this happens, they develop behaviors suggesting personality disorder. Their behavior changes abruptly and it makes it difficult for them to live with others. For example, they might be happy then suddenly sad.

This disease is caused by high doses of marijuana. Question 7 Ibuprofen is an example of an over the counter drug used to relief mild to average pain, inflammation and fever. The drug blocks production of prostaglandins hence reduction of fever, pain and inflammation. This drug can only be used up to 3. 2 grams if it has been prescribed by a doctor. The use of ibuprofen may affect the efficiency of other drugs. It may reduce blood pressure hence rendering low blood pressure drugs useless. It can also increase lithium blood levels and it will decrease excretion of lithium.

Aspirin is another example of an over the counter drug. Salicylates are categorized either as acetylated or non-acetylated. An example of acetylated drug is Aspirin whereas disalcid is non-acetylated.

Salicylates like Aspirin may have adverse effects to people who over use it. An individual may experience nausea, dizziness and if untreated it may lead to death. Question 8 The five stages of change are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. Pre-contemplation is when a user starts considering to quit drug abuse. He or she may start researching solutions.

At contemplation stage, the user starts paying more attention on quitting and decides to stop abusing drugs. Preparation is seeking treatment or useful information to get started. Action involves enrolling in a treatment plan and other sessions of recovering. Maintenance is adopting ways of ensuring abstinence. It is important to consider these changes when designing a treatment plan. They will assist in deciding the best methods to include in the plan. These changes will tell the doctor the stage of the patient and determine which the best treatment plan is.

For example, the action stage should be about treating the patient according to the nature of drugs used or addiction. Question 9 The existence of SAMHSA and DEA is an appropriate strategy to fight drug and substance abuse. SAMHSA’s effort of treating and preventing drug abuse is an important role in eradicating this problem. It services should be spread widely, especially to the areas where drug and substance abuse is prone.

It is shocking to see the rate at which students are abusing drugs. For example, heroin use has risen in elementary schools. College students are also consuming alcohol at a very high rate. Many of them engage in binge drinking, which has many negative effects. It was interesting to study some of the OTC drugs and their effects. This will assist users to avoid abuse.

For example, Aspirin has always been seen as a mere painkiller but it is dangerous if overdosed. Learning about effects of narcotics was interesting too. It is important to know that long-term use of narcotics like Marijuana can cause schizophrenia. Question 10 Preventing drugs by detoxification is one of the most effective methods. Some of the detoxifiers used are alcohol, barbiturates, opiates and benzodiazepines among others. Detoxification helps to treat withdrawal, which if left untreated may lead to death. It is appropriate with acute cases of addiction and drug use.

Medication helps to block the withdrawal symptoms from affecting the patient. Withdrawal is common in narcotic drugs and it makes a user miserable and very sickly. This is why it is important to use detoxification and other medications in drug prevention. However, this program is not effective in treating psychological effects and those related to behavior or social.

This is why it is important to incorporate it with other forms of therapies for successful prevention. Behavioral, psychological and social effects can be approached with counseling sessions and other supportive programs.