Drug / Substance Abuse

I. Humans have been using drugs since thousands of years ago.

A. Use of wine can be dated back to the time of the early Egyptians.
B. Herbal medicines were discovered and used to alleviate ailments.
C. Extraction of specific compounds and substances has been done.
II. There are many kinds of substances used and abused today.
A. Some are accepted by the society.
B. Many substances are considered illegal.
III. People have varied reasons for taking drugs.
A. Some people use drugs to alleviate medical conditions.
B. Family history is an element to susceptibility to drug abuse.
C. Inability to cope with stress is a common reason behind substance abuse.
D. Curiosity leads to drug abuse.
E. Many people are pleasure-seekers.
IV. Drug abuse has effects on different levels.
A. Substance abuse affects the user itself.
B. Drug abuse disrupts the users family life.
C. Society is affected by drug abuse in different ways.

Human beings have always had the desire to take-in substances that give them
pleasure and a good sensation. The habitual and excessive use of drugs and other
substances, which is commonly known as drug abuse or substance abuse, has

emerged as a fast-spreading social problem among people. Such substances include

alcohol and both legal and illegal drugs. Drug use and abuse have started to exist
almost with mankinds existence. There are different types of substances which are
used and abused by humans. People may have different reasons for taking such
substances. Drug abuse has big impacts on the different aspects of the life of the user.
Some people may have been brought to drug abuse by curiosity, and ignorance and
lack of knowledge about such problem. In this essay I will cite the substances that are
said to be addictive drugs, reasons why people get into drug abuse and effects it may
have to the lives of the people. By this way, readers will be guided, warned and avoided
from drug abuse by the knowledge that they will acquire upon reading this essay. I
strongly believe that there is a great need to increase the awareness of people about
the consequences of drug abuse to stop the spread of this social problem.
Humans have been using drugs since thousands of years ago. Such is the use of
wine. Wine was already used at least back to the time of the early Egyptians
(www.factmonster.com). As time passed by, herbal medicines or remedies, a naturally
occurring substances, and composing of herbs, roots, mushrooms or fungi, were
discovered. They had to be eaten, drunk, rubbed on the skin, or inhaled to achieve its
desired effect on the body (www.forcon.ca). A concrete example is the medicinal use of
marijuana which has been dated to 2737 B.C. in China. Not until the 19 th century A.D.,
specific active substances of drugs were extracted and isolated from naturally occurring
materials. Immediately after, newly discovered substances such as morphine, laudanum
and cocaine were completely uncontrolled and prescribed freely by doctors for a wide
variety of illness and ailments. They were widely available and sold. Only by the early

1900s, there were already an estimated 250 000 addicts in the United States. After the
discovery of such activities, the problems of drug abuse were gradually recognized
among different nations (www.factmonster.com).
The acquisition of the knowledge of extracting compounds led to the invention of
many kinds of substances or drugs that are used and abused today. Use of drugs is
considered as either legal or illegal. Those drugs or substances approved by law to be
readily available and for sale over the counter or by prescription of a physician are the
legal substances. These include: caffeine, a main ingredient of coffee and tea; alcoholic
beverages; nicotine, an ingredient of cigarettes; and inhalants which are a composition
of products such as nail polish, glue, inhalers, gasoline, etc. Prescription drugs can be
knowingly

or

unknowingly

overprescribed

or

otherwise

used

incorrectly

(www.factmonster.com). Some common examples of these drugs are tranquilizers,

sedatives, amphetamines, cough preparations, prescription narcotics, steroids and
analgesics (www.egetgoing.com).
On the other hand, illegal drugs, which constitute very addictive drugs, include
prescription drugs which are diverted from their proper use. Some people look for a
doctor who freely writes prescriptions. Sometimes, supplies are stolen from laboratories,
clinics or hospitals (www.factmonster.com). An example of an illegal substance that is
prescribed

is

the

morphine.

Other

illegal

substances

are

heroin,

cocaine,

methamphetamine, ecstasy, opium and marijuana (www.listverse.com).

Be it legal or illegal, abusers have variety of reasons for taking drugs. The
following are the most common reasons behind substance abuse of the people. One
reason is to alleviate medical conditions. A specific example is for pain relief, which

eventually may lead to dependency. A highly common reason is the inability to cope with
stress, such as emotional stress, peer pressure, emotional distress, anxiety, depression
and environmental stress. Another reason is family history and mental or emotional
elements to an individuals susceptibility towards drug abuse. Curiosity is also a reason
for drug abuse. People who are not well educated and knowledgeable about drug use
may become curious when confronted with the opportunity. Drug use often leads to drug
or substance abuse (Khan, 2009). One more reason is most people are seeking for
sensation. The high feeling or pleasure provided by drug intake often drives people to
abuse substances. Each drug abuser may have their unique reasons for having been
exposed to substance abuse.
Drug abuse can affect an individual, his or her family relationships and the
society or the community. Any form of drugs or substance can be abused and can
contribute to the problems of the individual involved (Coila, 2010). People who use
drugs experience a wide range of physical effects. Alcoholics, for instance,

The

excitement, or high sensation, acquired from cocaine intake, for example, is followed
by a crash. A crash is a period of anxiety, fatigue, depression, and an acute desire for
more cocaine to alleviate the feelings of crash. Users of marijuana and other
hallucinogenic drugs may experience flashbacks. These are the unwanted recurrences
of the drugs effects weeks or months, or even years, after use.

Also, sudden

abstinence from many specific kinds of drugs results in withdrawal symptoms. Some
withdrawal can cause vomiting, muscle cramps, convulsions, and delirium. On the other
hand, with a continuous use of an addictive drug, tolerance develops. This results to the
increasing amounts of drug needed to duplicate the initial effect. This uncontrolled and

excessive use of drugs makes drug overdose a constant risk. Moreover, use of drugs
dramatically increases the risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS and
some types of hepatitis, both through the sharing of hypodermic needles used for
injecting drugs or through the increased sexual activity among drug users. In addition,
marijuana and alcohol interfere with motor or driving control and are reasons of many
automobile accidents (www.factmonster.com). A large number of deaths can be directly
associated to drug abuse.
While there are a great number of bad effects of drug abuse to the user, there is
no such addicted person who will affect himself or herself only. Because preoccupation
to drugs often alters the behaviour and mood of the user, friends and family
relationships frequently suffer from the effects of drug abuse. Some drugs can cause
users to become violent, making domestic abuse in families more likely. The drug user
may also be not able to do his or her responsibilities, upsetting friends and family
members. Drug addicts spending of large money to continue acquiring drugs cause the
user and his family to find themselves in financial trouble and marital stress. Also, there
are drugs that cause inhibitions, such as alcohol. These can contribute to unwise
decisions that can stress relationships, including imprudent sexual activity and risktaking behavior. (Coila, 2010)
Drug abuse is not a problem only for the user and his family, but also for the
society and the community. It affects the society in many ways. In the workplace, drug
users are more likely to have occupational accidents and inefficiency than nonusers,
causing troubles or dangers both to themselves and to those people around them. A
great number of road accidents involve alcohol and other drugs (www.factmonster.com).

Individuals who abuse drugs often end up committing criminal acts and violence to
support their drug habit (Coila, 2010). Drug-related crimes and violence can disrupt
neighbourhoods due to the threats from those drug abusers. Many young children today
are exposed to crimes because they are recruited or forced as lookouts and helpers by
drug users because of the lighter sentence given to juvenile offenders. Also, because of
drug abuse, guns have become very common in our society today as instruments of
violence of drug users (www.factmonster.com). The maintenance of law enforcement to
combat the problem of drug abuse in the community and drug-related health care
requires a large amount of money from the budget of the whole community (Coila,
2010).
Those consequences stated are enough reasons to prove drug abuse as
something that does not do any good to the lives of the people, and therefore drug
abuse must not be done. Increasing the awareness of people about the harsh
consequences brought about by drug abuse will help them avoid being into the use of
illegal drugs and abuse of any form of drugs and stop the growing number of drug
addictions in the society.

References
Coila, B. (2010, August 5). Harmful effects of drug abuse. Retrieved August 6, 2012
from http://www.livestrong.com/article/194686-harmful-effects-of-drug-abuse/

Drug addiction and drug abuse. (n.d.). Retrieved August 4, 2012, from http://www.
factmonster.com/ce6/sci/A0816135.html

Drug and alcohol information. (n.d.). Retrieved August 5, 2012, from http://www.
egetgoing.com/drug_addiction/legal_drugs.asp

History of drug and alcohol abuse. (n.d.). Retrieved August 4, 2012, from http://www.
forcon.ca/learning/drug_abuse.html

Khan, Q. (2009, March 24). Common reasons behind drug addiction. Retrieved August
5, 2012, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Common-Reasons-Behind-DrugAddiction&id=2136529

Top 10 drugs and their effects. (2007, September 27). Retrieved August 5, 2012, from
http://listverse.com/2007/09/27/top-10-drugs-and-their-effects/