Drug Abuse & Addiction

🚫Drug Abuse & Addiction🚫

Encouraging acceptance for a step forward.

Drug abuse and addiction is an issue that severely affects many individuals. According to The National Institute on Drug Abuse, substances that are commonly abused is tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs, and prescription opioids. Moreover, drug abuse is also associated with crime. The National Institute on Drugs also report that the cost of drug abuse in the United State is approximately $760 billion dollars. The cost mainly goes towards crime, lost work productivity, and health care. Some of the crimes include, drug possession, theft, and other criminal offenses. Crimes like these can negatively impact the safety of a community and the life of the individual.

Most research indicate the drug addiction can lead to brain disease. According to the National Council On Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) and Volkow et al., shocking evidence shows that the chemicals in drug substance alter and disrupt the way the brain communicates. Typically, messages are transferred from one neuron to another neurons through electrical impulses. After a neuron sends an impulse, it will reach the end of the neuron called the axon and it will release a chemical called the neurotransmitter. The neuron will then release neurotransmitters into the synapse which is the gap between neurons.  

Unfortunately many drugs can overstimulate or fool the brain and over time, the brain will stop producing a chemical called dopamine. Furthermore, dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is in charge of the our reward system that deals with emotion, motivation, feelings of pleasure, and motor movements. With over stimulation of dopamine, the brain will eventually stop producing the neurotransmitter and when that happens, the individual will feel the need to uptake the dosage to feel high. In the end, the increase of dosage will lead to higher risk for over dosages that will likely lead to death.

The illustration below shows the process of neurons sending and receiving a message. 

Why is this issue important to me?

This issue has directly impacted me in a negative way. It nearly ruined my college plans and it almost ruined my already dysfunctional family. For years, my family suspected that my father was under the influence of harsh drugs. One day, my mom confirmed her suspicions. As she was loading his pants into the washer, a small zip-lock baggie containing a white substance fell out onto the floor. We can only assume it was cocaine. When my mom confronted him about it, he denied it. One night, his hallucination went beyond what I have ever seen. So that night, I get a phone call from my mother crying and screaming for me to get home. As I walk in, my father is holding a knife and was saying words that I could not understand. It was nonsense. His face had a paranoid look. I convinced my mother to leave the house and we drove to a relative's house. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Two years after the incident, my father seems to be stable but for a while he kept denying he had a problem. Fortunately, he finally surrendered and sought professional help. All the incidents that occurred has taught me that people who are battling addiction should be encouraged to move forward and not shamed for their mistakes.

For this civic engagement project, I sought people in the community to see if they ever had similar experience as my own or if they know of someone who was battling drug addiction. I interviewed three young males. All three stories were different and unique in their own way.

Eric

"Be more emotionally intelligent. You should be able to notice if someone is different. Ask people what's wrong."

A couple years ago, Eric found himself addicted to nicotine. Many people refuse to recognize that vaping is just as addicting as smoking cigarettes. Eric disclosed that he used to be extremely anxious and had uncontrollable adrenaline. A way to calm his anxiety, Eric would automatically reach for his vape. One day, his ex-girlfriend found his vape and offered him help. His ex-girlfriend encouraged him to call her whenever he felt anxious so that they can talk about it. Eric agrees that there should be more awareness about drug addiction but above all, Eric states that people should be encouraged to accept that they have an addiction and willing to open up about the situation.

Jessie

In high school, Jessie knew a young woman who was introduced to cocaine by her mother. Though Jessie kept his distance from the girl, he still felt like guilty and wanted to provide help. Jessie later learned that the girl's mother was diagnosed with cancer and the mother stopped using the substance. Despite the mother's new actions, the young woman continued to seek the drug. Eventually, according to Jessie, the young woman received professional help. Moreover,  although Jessie was not directly affected by drug addiction, he still suggests that there should be more educational classes from people that are recovering from addiction. 

Curtis

"People with closer relationships should express how they feel. Let the struggling individual know that there is help available when they need it."

Curtis had a friend that had an alcohol consumption problem. At first he did not think much about it because he thought it was the norm. See, Curtis served in the military and him and his friends had frequent access to alcohol. Curtis noticed that his friend had a problem because he would drink heavy liquor on his own time and would do it to the point of blacking out. This continued for a while and Curtis friend slowed down on his alcohol consumption once he had a kid. Now, it seems like Curtis's friend only drinks during his leisure time. Fortunately, Curtis's friend was able to accomplish less alcohol consumption on his own.

My Reflection

Going out into the community taught me that civic engagement is more than volunteering in the community. It can be a simple as addressing an issue and advocating for the issue. Although I only was able to get three responses, I was surprised that all three had a different story with different substances.

Fortunately, I did not face any problem in the community because I was cautious with my words. I know this can be a sensitive topic for many individuals which is why I approached them in a soft and friendly manner. Something I did not expect to hear was addiction to vaping. The reason I was surprised was because I was once told that vaping was safer than cigarettes but it turns out, it can also be addicting. 

If I could redo this assignment, I would definitely approach an older crowd. I would do this because I am curious to know what are their points of views. 

I feel like I succeeded with this project because I was not expecting for people to disclose such a sensitive topic. I also feel like this will affect my community because I am adding my story and experiences. I hope that my story could resonate with others and people can learn of more reasons to prevent drug abuse and addiction. 

Again, I want people to know that there are other ways to cope with problems. Also, I hope more people can own up to their problem and accept that they need help. Encouraging acceptance can be the first step out of many to move forward. 

References 

Addiction and the Brain - How Drugs Affect the Brain. (n.d.). Retrieved April 19, 2018, from https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/addiction-brain/

National Institute on Drug Abuse. (n.d.). National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://www.drugabuse.gov/

Volkow, N. D., Fowler, J. S., Wang, G., Telang, F., & Baler, R. (2009). Imaging Dopamine’s Role in Drug Abuse and Addiction. Dopamine Handbook, 407-418. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195373035.003.0028