Md Ashik Hossen

Substance Use and Society PART – 1 Student Name: Mosssammad Runa Layla Student ID: Contents Introduction:1 Essay2 Reasons behind people taking drugs2 Prevalence rate of drug use in UK:3 Theories of addiction:5 Attitudes to drugs taking within different arenas:7 Conclusion:9 Reference:10 Introduction: Drug addiction is a disease causing behavioural and brain disorder and making an individual unable to control his/her action by enervating the central nervous system through the use of drugs. Use of these substances like alcohol, heroin, cocaine etc disables a person’s power of limiting the continuity of consumption, even after knowing the disastrous effect it may bring into life. The essay will be focused on certain topics like the reason behind people’s drug consumption, prevalence rates of consumption. Moreover, some theories of addiction will be considered along with different arenas attitudes towards drug taking. Essay Reasons behind people taking drugs Drug addiction in most of the cases starts with experimental or recreational consumption which eventually leads individual to frequent consumption. In other cases, addiction may happen from the disclosure to the prescribed medicines or medication’s suggestion from acquaintances. The reasons of people consuming drugs vary between individuals. Firstly, the reason might be experimenting drugs out of curiosity. Even though it doesn’t show harm in this case, National Institute of Drug Abuse confirmed that, the experiments of drugs by adolescents are more likely to lead towards frequent use (Drug addiction, 2015). Secondly, drug addiction may cause from family history or genetics. In case of an individual having a genetic history of drug addiction, it raises his tendency to get attracted by drugs or alcohol in 30% of the cases. Besides family history, social environment also keeps contribution in this regard. Figure: Usage rate of different substances Source: (Drug addiction, 2015) Then, prescribed medicines to abate physical issues might be unsafe as drugs are suggested by ignoring the long-term effect in some cases. Like, Opioid medicines are prescribed sometimes to alleviate chronic pain which may make an individual highly dependent because of its addictive characteristics. Loneliness and isolationlead people to drug consumption to fill the gaps in their life. People lacking regular positive interaction may depend on alcohol or drugs to alleviate their feeling of depression of grief of loneliness and feel themselves with contentment. Then, Peer pressure is applicable for youngsters and adolescents as they often get involved into harmful addiction by the pressure of being surrounded addicted individuals. Moreover, the consumption gets easier to them because of low prices of cigarettes and alcohol. Moreover, the smoking and drinking regulations aren’t strict in UK which eventually contributes to increase the rate (Drug addiction, 2015). Evidence showed that states implying aggressive smoking laws and having higher prices have less number of addicted individuals. Cultural attitudes influence a community’s behaviour in greater extent and set values to be followed by community individuals. For example, students used to build negative perception on drinking if they are brought up by strong controlling policies in school. For another, society defines the range to which and how much drinking is appropriate in festivals which are followed like norms by residents. Some people feel so good about taking drugs that they become unable to control the consumption even after knowing the wreckage it’s going to cause. They get frustrated with the life complexities and think of drugs as solution. Many people use substances for diversion of mind which may lead to frequent consumption. They consume alcohol or drugs with friends to blow away the weariness of the tiresome day. Self-medication is one of the major reasons of drug addiction nowadays. People look for short-term solution as they get dependent on drugs to tolerate the negative emotional reactions. Alcohol is highly consumed to reduce the social anxiety as it alleviates the pressure on temporary basis. People look for shortcut to cope up with the obvious issues of life like depression, work pressure, family issues etc and eventually getting trapped by drugs. But they should research for dependable, long-term solutions to fight the battle. Prevalence rate of drug use in UK: The prevalence of drug use in the last decade seems to show similarity in the rate. According to the population survey of UK in 2018, at least 1 out of 10 adults are involved in illegal drug consumption belonging to the age range of 15-59. Amidst all the states, only Scotland has shown some improvement in decreasing the illicit drug use rate. The Crime Survey had reported in 2000s that, the number of cannabis consumer were the highest in England and Wales leaving other European countries behind. From 2003-09, the prevalence rate of cannabis consumption has been comparatively static. But the rate has increased by significant amount within 2017-18, whereas 16.7% of the users are aged 15-24 (Filbey, 2012) Figure: Drug usage based on age in UK Source: (Filbey, 2012) Population survey of UK has reported that, new psychoactive substances have gainedcomparatively less popularity among the drug users. Amidst all the NPS, Mephedrone is considered to be the only stimulating substance placed besides the traditional drugs. Notwithstanding the survey results, the usage rate of the drug has been decreased in England and Wales in 2011-12. The prevalence rate of drug use among school going children has seen a steady downfall since 2014, though it has gained a stable position within 2015 (Glass, 2011). Crime Survey of England reported that Cannabis is mostly popular drug for the young people as it’s reasonably prices in comparison to that of others. Other illegal drug like alcohol or cigarettes has also shown quite resemblance in the usage among the children of 11-15 years. An increase in the consumption of opioids like heroinand others has been reported by general population survey which is a devastating sign of the social and physical harm of users in UK (Filbey, 2012) Figure: Mortality rates because of drug Source: (Office of National Statistics, UK) One third of the patients admitted in the rehabilitation centres are used to take drugs by injection. The prevalence of injecting among cocaine, opioid kind of stimulant users has seen a rise in the rate by 51% within just 13 weeks in 2017. Drug user seeking treatment for particular health problems in different hospitals in England is mostly addicted to heroin and cocaine powder. Moreover, among the first-time entrants to rehabilitation centre, 42% seems to be extensive cannabis users. Usage of NPS is relatively lower among youngsters and the consumption rate of these substances is high among prisoners and homeless people on the streets (Verster, 2012) Theories of addiction: People get involved into addiction because of various reasons. Through the approaches to get addicted are different, they are tied together through a common string. Drug dependence can be demonstrated via several theories where the first one is focused on the biological effects of drugs. Second one is exposure theory concentrating on the behavioural differences. Third approach defines about the environmental and socio-cultural factors to focus on the adaption of drug users. The theoriesinterpret the complex human nature’s relation with the drug experience through a cycle (Verster, 2012) Firstly, the genetic theory describes the inherited addiction where genes contribute a great amount in the addictive behaviour other than the environmental components. Studies on alcoholism have proven that children born in alcoholic family but adopted and raised by non-alcoholic parents have tendency to the get addicted in the early age and the proportion isn’t less than two-third of them. The ratio is even bigger in case of children born and brought up by alcoholic parents. Therefore, the inherited alcoholic predisposition plays a greater role in the prevalence rate of young drug users. Persistent investigation suggests that consumption of substances brings difference in the metabolism stimulating the individuals to consume different types of drugs and provides varying psychological experiences to the users. Inheritance matters even in case of specific races. For example, Asian people are predisposed with the hypersensitiveness to alcohol.They used to show immediate and intensive reaction, once higher amount of alcohol is consumed. In spite of all the races having the same metabolic process, the behavioural pattern after consumption seems to be different. American Indians are even more responsive to addiction that they inherited the practice of gambling and casinos unlike Asians (Yahraes, 2015). This has proved that addictive behaviour is able to influence several addictive behaviours simultaneously. Lastly, the genetics theory of addiction mostly works for boys rather than girls. It’s male who carries out the hereditary addictive behaviour within genes and spreads through generation. Secondly, the exposure theory is focused on the assumption of two models. First one is biological model which says that when a substance is introduced to the body, as a biological consequence the body adapts to the consumption. The first consumption of drug adjusts the body metabolism so that it requires for more. According to the theory, if pain killers are taken on regular basis, it impedes the body’s production of endorphin hormone and eventually the body gets dependent on external sources to get relief from temporary pain (Glass, 2011). The endorphin can also get impacted by the food and alcohol consumption. Due to the endorphin production process, users feel psychological need for substances after some level of consumption. Schacter in 1978 stated that nicotine makes chain smokers physically dependent on it and they maintain continuous consumption to adjust to habitual effect. The second model of this theory is conditioning model which says that drugs works as a controlling incentive to the body and stimulates the behavioural pattern of individuals. Unlike behavioural model, conditioning model states that required reinforcements can make anyone responsive to addiction, irrespective of their biological pattern. The cue exposure theory glorifies cue as an essential stimulator in the development of addictive behaviour. The users are more likely to show cue reactivity if a cue represents the time of drug administration. The craving for drug is used to underlie for some time gap, but it gets strongly responsive after getting cue’s presence. The kind of cues to which users shows autonomic response are like smell or sight of substance. Chein did a study in 1964, where he said addiction is highly dependent on behaviour rather than inheritance. There’re people who doesn’t get responsive to substances even after having pleasurable experiences. On the counterpart, a portion of people gets addicted even though they found the first experience disturbing. The conditioning model is widely acceptable because of its effective behavioural assumption (Yahraes, 2015) The adaption theory shows association of addiction with the environmental, socio-cultural, psychological influencers. The beliefs about the consequences of drug consumption are able to impact the user’s addictive behaviour. The addiction has the ability to get influenced by internal or external factors along with cognitive and emotional cues. The adaption theory describes addiction from the psychological perspectives where it says that substance users consume substances to control their internal and external pressures. Ego complexity and other psychological deficiencies of individuals contribute to his drug’s dependability. Attitudes to drugs taking within different arenas: UK government has been very strict about the illicit drug use since the past decade to minimise addiction and promote healthy society. Even one millennium back, drug consumption wasn’t seen as stigma and widely consumed with few restrictions. British government conducted a large-scale study where it’s seen that drugs are used illegally by the indulgent young on a huge amount and has made its place in the sex industry (Harms, 2011).Moreover, the death ratio has been raised 38% higher than the previous 10 yearsdue to heavy drug consumption and the ratio is increasing at an alarming rate. The devastating state has made UK government even more concerned to impose more progressive measures. The decriminalisation of illegal drug consumption has brought dramatic change in the addiction and crime rate. Moreover, the death ratio has become 40 per million within two years. Public’s opinion about the drug dependent people is they have lack of willpower which is the prime reason behind their drug dependence. According to population survey in England, 37% people agrees on the fact that, following self-discipline makes addicted people able to control their action. The idea of providing assistance to addicted people is prevalent among the population in UK. They believe that drug addicts worth public support to overcome their mental issues and it might be a prime contributing factor for the addict’s recovery. 42% people in the survey of Scotland and Wales agreed that public should be showing more tolerant attitude to save the addicted people from further danger. People want to exclude the addict’s company as a result of the fear of their lunacy. Moreover, public think of drug dependent as a burden of the society and takes public contactwith them as disturbance. The positive attitude of mass media towards drug addiction has been proven as effective. Mass media campaigns can be appropriate for society to prevent illicit drug addiction among youngsters. Through the media campaigns are TV, radio, newspaper or internet, information about drug use’s consequences can be proclaimed, driving people to make behavioural changes (Harms, 2011). The effectiveness of mass media depends on the amount of population it can reach with the simple and concentrated message which makes people concerned about the information or threats. Positive attitude of media towards drug addicts drives them to prepare effective campaigns targeting the youngsters to show them the upcoming wreckage of their life. Moreover, the social media campaigns help media o reach out maximum of people and increase awareness against illegal drug consumption. Despite all that the usefulness of such media campaign should be pre-evaluated to understand their focus and evidence, otherwise those might bring further negative effects to the society (Harms, 2011) Conclusion: To sum up, there has been significant growth of illegal drug addiction among young and adults in UK. It’s causing damage to the social and environmental aspects along with addict’s personal life. Throughout the report, the reason behind people’s drug addiction has been discussed along with the prevalence rate in UK. Moreover, several theories pf addiction has been interpreted from different perspective of addictive behaviour. Lastly, attitude toward drug addiction from different sphere of society like media, government and public has been reported from variety of sources. Reference: Drug Addiction. (2015). Strasbourg: Council of Europe Pub. Yahraes, H., (2015). Narcotic Drug Addiction. Bethesda, Md.: National Institute of Mental Health. Harms, E., (2011). Drug Addiction In Youth. Oxford, New York, Pergamon Press. Verster, J., (2012). Drug Abuse And Addiction In Medical Illness. New York, NY: Springer. Filbey, F., (2012). The Neuroscience Of Addiction. Svanberg, J., (2013). The Psychology Of Addiction. Glass, I., (2011). The International Handbook Of Addiction Behaviour. London: Tavistock/Routledge. Rasmussen, S., (2016). Addiction Treatment. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.