The Effect of Drug Abuse on Society

Drug abuse is prevalent in all societies. Economies are held back, families are made less happy and occasionally even torn asunder by serious injury, death or deeply negative consequences of drug abuse. Unfortunately, across the globe and throughout time, drug abuse has manifested itself in one form or another, so it appears that drug-abusing behavior, and its effects, which this article will explore, are both here to stay.

Alcohol and the Long Term

• While the first images to pop into one's head at the term "drug abuse" are of needle-sharing heroin homeless heroin addicts and burnt-out crackheads squatting in abandoned buildings, the most prevalent and destructive drug abuse is legal and consumed by almost everyone.

  Alcohol is behind a plethora of medical problems. Liver disease is a particularly common problem, as long-term alcohol abusers put more poison in the form of alcohol through their bodies than they are able to handle. To minimize the damage, the liver swells, which leads to discomfort and decreased function.

  Long-term alcohol abuse can also lead to heart problems and a weakened immune system. This latter problem causes alcoholics to suffer from a far higher rate of infectious disease than others.

  These problems are an expensive drain on the health-care industry and economy as a whole, as alcohol abusers spend money on deductibles that could be better spent elsewhere.

Alcohol and the Short Term

• While medical problems affect the long-term users and abusers, accidents and lapses in judgment can happen to anyone, be it a 65-year-old veteran drinker or a 16-year-old on his first six-pack. Sixty percent of all violent assaults involve heavy drinking, as do a staggering 80 percent of deaths by drowning and fire. Half of all car accidents involve alcohol as well.

Alcohol and Society

• The effects of alcohol on society can partly be measured monetarily. If someone is constantly paying deductibles on his insurance for liver-disease treatment, this is money he cannot spend elsewhere, thus affecting the economy as a whole. What's more, if a 20-year-old wraps his car around a tree, his family must then pay for the funeral and a new car and the economy suffers both from this and the fact that he will not be contributing to it anymore.

  Of course, none of this can accurately describe the anguish and trauma to families of losing someone unexpectedly or, alternatively, seeing them fade away with yellowed, jaundiced skin from alcohol abuse.

Caffeine

• More abused but less traumatic is caffeine. A whopping 80 to 90 percent of Americans use caffeine on a daily basis, and if Starbucks' profits are anything to go by, a significant number of these users are addicted, becoming irritable and developing headaches when they don't get their fix. The negative effects on society are fairly negligible, though. Nobody had too much coffee and got in a fight or fell down a staircase.

Prescription-Drug Abuse

• It is estimated that 20 percent of Americans have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons, which is prescription-drug abuse. Sedatives, tranquilizers and stimulants are used recreationally, a practice that has increased in recent years as doctors have become more liberal with prescriptions and drugs have become available online. Since "prescription drugs" is such a broad label, it is not possible to go through the effects of all of them, but, like any chemical abuse or dependency, the drug can take precedence over the user's relationships with his or her family, friends and social networks.

Illegal Drugs

• Illegal drugs are definitely the most talked about, but their effects pale in comparison to the legal drugs mentioned above. Like prescription drugs, there are too many illegal drugs to go through the effects of each one, but, also like the prescription drugs, the abuse of any one of them, whether marijuana, LSD, or heroin, is unhealthy for the user's body, mind and social life.

Conclusions

• A common thread runs through all drug abuse: the precedence that it takes over everything else in the abuser's life. This makes spouses and children feel as if they are coming in second in a race with a chemical. The same goes for career aspirations, financial decisions and other important things that should be first and foremost in any adult's mind.