Panchas Grey Essays - Insert, , Term Papers

Panchas Grey Research Guide: Firulais [Insert College] [Insert Grade] School Year: 2017 - 2018 Drugs Problems and Solution . Internationally, billions of dollars are spent preventing drug use, treating addicts, and fighting drug - related crime. A drug is a natural or synthetic substance which affects its functioning or structure, and is used in the diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of a disease or relief of discomfort. One way to curb the large and growing problem of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. would be requiring doctors to use databases to record and track patients prescriptions, experts say. For example, a doctor about to write a prescription for the painkiller OxyContin could look up the patient in the database to see whether the drug had recently been prescribed by another doctor. And some doctors want use of the databases to remain voluntary, saying that it is not the role of physicians to police drug use. Drugs have been part of our culture since the middle of the last century. Popularized in the 1960s by music and mass media, they invade all aspects of society. An estimated 208 million people internationally consume illegal drugs. In the United States, results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that 19.9 million Americans (or 8% of the population aged 12 or older) used illegal drugs in the month prior to the survey. The most commonly used illegal drug is marijuana. According to the United Nations 2008 World Drug Report, about 3.9% of the world's population between the ages of 15 and 64 abuse marijuana. Young people today are exposed earlier than ever to drugs. Based on a survey by the Centers for Disease Control in 2007, 45% of high school students nationwide drank alcohol and 19.7% smoked pot during a one-month period. People take drugs because they want to change something about their lives. They think drugs are a solution. But eventually, the drugs become the problem. Often, Drug abuse causes multiple problems for countries and communities, the medical and psychological effects are very obvious. Addicts cannot function as normal members of society, they neglect or abuse their families, and eventually require expensive treatment or hospitalization. About 16 million people in the U.S. ages 12 and older say that they have taken a prescription pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant or sedative for nonmedical purposes within the past year, according to a 2009 national survey. Part of the reason for the rise in abuse is the increased availability of these medications. Between 1991 and 2010, prescriptions for opioid painkillers increased from 75.5 million to 209.5 million, while prescriptions for stimulants increased from 5 million to 45 million, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In addition, some say doctors are under increasing pressure to give in to patients' wishes. Hospitals and practices use patient satisfaction surveys, among other measures, to judge doctors, and doctors are being taught to take patients' desires into account when prescribing drugs, said Dr. Stuart Gitlow, president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Most drug problems start with casual use. People who develop problems with drugs often begin as recreational users, but then need increasingly higher and more frequent doses to feel the effects. After a while, they may take drugs just to function, and before long, they can't get through the day without the drug. The signs may be that you feel like you need the drug to deal with everyday problems, not being able to stop taking the drug, among others. Drug addiction can occur with any kind of drug, not just illegal drugs. An addiction to drugs can happen if you overuse painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin, inhalants like glues, gas, and paint thinners, or over-the-counter medicines like cough syrup and cold pills. A small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds you up). A greater amount acts as a sedative (slows you down), an even larger amount poisons and can kill. But many drugs have another liability: they directly affect the mind. They can distort the user's perception of what is happening around him or her. As a result, the person's actions may be odd, irrational, inappropriate and even destructive. Sometimes they are