Drug Use: Impact on Individuals & Society - Essay Sample

Introduction

In society today, drug use has been a controversial issue with different effects, both positive and negative, on individuals and the community as a whole. In various cases, drug use has been attributed to a varied range of short- and long-term effects depending on the type of drug and how often it is taken. Overall, the impact of drug use is far-reaching as they impact individuals and society. This review will discuss the negative and positive effects of drug use on the individual and society.

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Impact of Drug Use on The Individual

At an individual level, the most apparent effect of drug use involves the person's physical health, finances, relationships, and could ultimately result in death. The issue of physical health is a significant negative impact of drug use as they damage the physical damage. Prolonged use of a particular drug, whether prescribed or not, can deliver adverse effects as the chemical components harm the body organs. For instance, drug abuse may cause fertility issues, hormone imbalances, bloodborne infections, cancer, among other health issues that negatively affect human health. In a large number of the health issues caused by drug use, they result in long-lasting effects that lead to death. According to the Gateway Foundation, more than 7 million individuals suffer from drug disorders whereby, 1 in four deaths is as a result of drug use (Gateway Foundation, 2019). Also, many deaths, disabilities, and chronic conditions are associated with drug use that other health conditions that can be prevented. In other cases, the mode through which a drug is consumed may deliver significant health complications such as infections like hepatitis B, kidney, liver, and heart failure, as well as allergies.

Many individuals using drugs are likely to encounter financial distress since they have to spend the available resources, time, and money to acquire the specific drugs they need. In the long run, the drug user may incur a massive amount of debt or even lose their job with or without insurance covers. This exhaustion of finances could eventually result in other problems for the individual since some drug users may turn to theft and robbery to acquire funding to purchase the drugs. On other occasions, drug use impacts individual relationships since other aspects could be associated. Drug use could result in tension and stress as the user cannot enjoy the company of others and could be isolated. In the case were drug use results in addiction, relationships with other people are greatly affected (NDIC, 2006).

Nonetheless, there are minimal positive impacts of drug use on the individual. When a drug is used for therapeutic purposes, it provides more benefits than harm. For example, during the treatment of chronic conditions like cancer, some drugs like marijuana have been used to help the individuals deal with the side effects of chemotherapy, nausea, and appetite as well. In other clinical practices, drug use has delivered a positive impact on the individual when used as a sedation drug during surgeries and other clinical operations.

Impact of Drug Use on Society

Within the effects of drug use in society, the negative impacts have significantly surpassed positive impacts. Primarily, the drug use negatively impacts the community since there is a loss of productivity, increased rates of violence and crime, neglect and abuse of children, high expenses, and could result in dependence on non-familial support structures. With prolonged use of drugs by an individual, this could equally transpire to a problem in the society if there are people relying on the person financially. Children being one of the most vulnerable populations in the community are often neglected and abused due to drug use. According to various reports by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), they indicate that parents involved with drug use often forget the welfare and health of the children since they put their need for drugs before the protection of the children (ACF, 2020). Also, the children are exposed to emotional and physical abuse as they lack medical care or proper immunization. In the United States, 70% of neglected and abused children often have parents that are using drugs (NIDA, 2017; (NDIC, 2006).

Furthermore, the negatives of drug use pose a higher risk to children, especially if the parents or users of the drugs keep them close to the reach of children or manufacture the drugs themselves (NDIC, 2006). Such actions increase the chance of children exposed to drugs, which could result in more issues such as health complications and children's use of drugs. Such factors significantly affect society. As per the National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug usage could change the lives of other individuals, such as unborn babies to women who use drugs during their pregnancy (NIDA, 2017). Regardless of the drug, this could dramatically affect the growth of the newborn. Correspondingly, drug use affects the economic setup in communities as the continuous use of drugs is costly. High drug use means that much of the individual finances a channeled to buying the drugs. If the involved person has dependents, this could likely lead to devastating problems resulting in loss of wealth. This factor could result in homelessness or unemployment, which in one way or the other negatively affects the community's economy. More than 50% of homeless individuals are hard drug users (NIDA, 2017).

Moreover, the economic effect of drug use remains a burden to the local, state, and federal government resources. Much time and resources are used to deal with drug use that might increase economic burden as it could involve setting up of training and other welfare programs. Approximately a quarter of trillion dollars of the United States annual medical bill can be associated with drug use and addictions (NIDA, 2017). Also, due to increases in crime and violence, this increases the workload of the law enforcement system, which ultimately results in higher taxes, which drastically affect societies today. Similarly, drug use has negatively impacted education, which equally affects the community (Gateway Foundation, 2019). Besides the negligence of children, the youths have been exposed to drug use, either prescribed or illegal substances. For instance, more than half the American college scholars have been exposed to drug use, which negatively affects society by influencing relationships and quality of life (Pino et al., 2017). The different incidents of drug use have created an enormous burden in the community as people have to rely on certain types of funding and live in deteriorated societies.

Despite the consequences of drug use, there are several positive impacts delivered by drug use in society. For instance, prescribed drugs offer a significant benefit to the community since it is likely to improve the life of an individual if used for medicinal purposes, which might eventually result in happier families. Drug use could deliver positive impacts in the community as they create a sense of social interaction as some drugs are known to stimulate energy levels and influence body hormones to create a sense of happiness. Also, drug use creates a source of income in events where prescribed drugs are involved or over the counter drugs. This promotes the overall economy of a community.

Conclusion

There are underlying factors that affect the impact of drug use, such as the period of usage, the specific drug used, age of the user, as well as gender. Although the effects may differ based on the different factors, it is outright that drug use has positive and negative effects on the individual and society. Consequences such as health effects, financial burden, death, reduced productivity and quality, abuse and neglect of children, and increased dependence on other individuals signify the negativities of drug use both to society and the individual. On the other hand, the majority of the benefits of drug use are based on the medical application of drugs.

References

ACF. (2020). Administration for Children and Families | USA Gov. Usa.gov. https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/administration-for-children-and-families.

Gateway Foundation. (2019). Addiction and Negative Effects of Drug Abuse on the Human Body & Brain. Gateway. https://www.gatewayfoundation.org/faqs/effects-of-drug-abuse/.

NDIC. (2006). The Impact of Drugs on Society - National Drug Threat Assessment 2006. Justice.gov. https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs11/18862/impact.htm.

NIDA. (2017, March 23). Health Consequences of Drug Misuse. https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/health-consequences-drug-misuse on 2020, March 6

Pino, N. W., Tajalli, H., Smith, C. L., & DeSoto, W. (2017). Nonmedical prescription drug use by college students for recreational and instrumental purposes: Assessing the differences. Journal of Drug Issues, 47(4), 606-621. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0022042617714459