Drug Abuse And Addiction In The United States

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Drug Abuse and Addiction How many people do you know that have smoked tobacco? Last year, tobacco killed about four hundred thousand people. Tobacco is a type of drug, one may no think Drugs are very addicting, and can have many effects on people, which leads to the causes of drug abuse. As the American society, we can work together to prevent drug abuse and addiction. Drugs are getting more popular in the United States. This is a problem the US needs to fix. The best way start preventing this issue is by learning about how this problem gets started. During childhood the influence of the home environment is very important because parents or other family members who commit crime or abuse drugs or alcohol can increase the child’s risks of …show more content…
Research shows that drug users often start as teenagers (“How Old Are Kids” Bellum). Drug users start young, but one needs to get the drugs somehow before one can abuse them. A teenager could get things like opioids by taking pills from a medicine cabinet, or a friend who gave the teen a part of a large prescription (Agley). There are different ways for one to find a drug, but one might want to find the drugs for different reasons. Social drug use is when someone is using a drug to fit in because the others in one’s friend group are doing drugs (Agley). Some teenagers may give in to their friends or to their school peers that use drugs, and who are trying to persuade one to try a drug (NIDA). In a NIDA-funded study, teenagers driving with their friends were more likely to take risks, such as speeding through a yellow light, if they knew that two or more friends were watching. In results from the study, it showed that when a teen knew friends were watching, it activated the brain regions that are linked with reward, especially when the teenagers made a risky choice (“Peer …show more content…
A drinker who is intoxicated can get behind the wheel of a car, and quickly risk many lives (NIDA). Over 10,000 of deaths in the United States are from drug use (”drug addiction”). A drug user can affect their family’s life as well. A person who is addicted, dependent, or over uses drugs can spend a lot more money than intended, and that can affect themselves and their family (Agley). Someone who does drugs can get in arguments with family and friends, and that can affect their or their family’s lives (Agley). Drugs can affect a new family member’s life as well. Drug users that are pregnant have a higher likelihood of a low birth-weight baby because of the drugs and low self-hygiene (“drug addiction”). Babies can also be affected by diseases. Fetal alcohol syndrome can affect babies that consume alcohol in the pregnancy stage (“drug addiction”). Pregnant women that have the AIDS virus from drug use give the virus to their child. The AIDS virus is a deathly disease caused by a changing retrovirus that attacks the immune system and makes the sufferer defenceless against infections and neurological disorders (“drug addiction”). Drug abuse can not only affect one’s life, but it can affect one’s brain as
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