Effects Of Drug Abuse; Family And Friends

Dealing with Drug Abuse in the Family
What exactly is drug abuse?
The use of a drug for a nontherapeutic effect. Some of the most commonly abused drugs are alcohol; nicotine; marijuana; amphetamines; barbiturates; cocaine; methaqualone; opium alkaloids; synthetic opioids; benzodiazepines, including flunitrazepam (Rohypnol); gamma-hydroxybutyrate; 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy); phencyclidine; ketamine; and anabolic steroids. Drug abuse may lead to organ damage, addiction, and disturbed patterns of behaviour. Some illicit drugs, such as heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide, and phencyclidine hydrochloride, have no recognized therapeutic effect in humans. Use of these drugs often incurs criminal penalty in addition to the potential for physical, social, and psychological harm.

Ecstasy – Class A – Article

Drug abuse does not just effect those abusing the drug – it also effects those around the user, including (but not limited to); family, friends and co-workers. In this article I’ll explain two things to you; what these effects are, and how you can get help to tackle them.

Effects:

Children, young children especially, are easily affected by drug abusing parents. When a child’s parents are abusing drugs openly it can push the child into viewing themselves as different. It might seem like a small thing, but feeling different from everybody else is one of the most common roads to depression, and depression kills more than drugs – indirectly. He or she may feel outward from their peers or even strangers in their own home – if you had a drug abusing parent, would you take your friends home to play the play station?
It also puts a heavy implication on them to develop an OCD or even worse, wind up involved in crime.

The friends of a drug addict will often feel rejected as the drug abuser starts to stay at home taking drugs rather than going out with friends, this can lead to the friends feeling not only rejected, but it also puts them in a tricky situation. Friends are important and if a person is going to quit drugs – then they will need all of the support they can get!

Drug abuse has a very negative effect on a person’s financial status. Drugs are not cheap at the best of times – but it doesn’t help that drug dealers tend to offer them at a low price first, and then raise the price when the user is addicted so that they are prepared to pay absurd amounts of money for a ‘fix’. If money isn’t legally available then an addict might eventually be pressured into crime or ‘service’ – which means they’ll be either stealing money to pay for drugs, or they’ll be ‘working’ illegally for drugs.

Help:

Help can come from many places, below is a list I compiled of websites and organisations which I feel can help you!

Websites and Organizations;
http://www.lifeline.org.uk
www.drugsline.org
‘Unhooked’

My Effective Guide to Drug Rehabilitation

My first job as a counselor was at a drug rehabilitation center called One Day at a Time. By the time the record was released, Tyler and Perry had exited drug rehabilitation. Dwain was transferred to a drug rehabilitation center in an attempted to cure him.

Consulting a physician or healthcare professional with experience in drug rehabilitation is a necessary step. Do your part in researching and hopefully you will be able to find a drug rehabilitation center that will fulfil your requirements. Since there are several different types of drug rehabilitation programs available ranging from inpatient, outpatient, residential, short-term, and long-term, it helps to learn what’s out there and how to choose one.

Drug rehabilitation can be an arduous process, and you or your loved one deserves the best possible help available to help you navigate this difficult time with success. Prisons, funny farm or drug rehabilitation facilities, drug test kits put your mind at rest and allow you to either put the question of whether or not drug use is occurring in your house behind you or take the next step in getting your teen drug rehabilitation.

Abused children, minority education, battered women, drug rehabilitation, food banks, homeless or lost children, seeing-eye dogs, free clinics, organ donors, habitat, teen runaways – there are numerous tragedies to choose from. Celebrities such as Whitney Houston and Faith Evans also were in the news for drug rehabilitation treatment. Keep in mind that drug rehabilitation treatment programs should include a continuing care program that supports and monitors recovery.

Only then will he react positively to the drug rehabilitation or recovery programs. Government sponsors the use of acupuncture in drug rehabilitation programs. In 2002 over a quarter million individuals entering a drug rehabilitation program reported marijuana as their primary drug of abuse.

He re-entered a veteran’s hospital drug rehabilitation program, started attending church, and surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. Therefore, I went to a drug rehabilitation center. The list includes residential centers, outpatient treatment facilities and hospitals with inpatient programs for drug rehabilitation.

Government sponsors the use of acupuncture in drug rehabilitation programs. When a person mentions drug rehab, they are really referring to a drug rehabilitation program, which is the same as an addiction treatment program, alcohol treatment program or chemical dependency program.

For all these reasons, aftercare is an extremely important aspect of drug rehabilitation, and there must remain a strong presence in the recovering addict’s life of counsellors and therapists who can be turned to during times of distress, so that the patient can regain true control of their lives.

She almost fatally overdoses and has to get sent away to a drug rehabilitation program. In today’s drug rehabilitation centers, the 12 steps are at the core of their treatment programs. However, it is seizures that put patients at the greatest risk of injury or death and require admission to drug rehabilitation.

There are many reasons why a person would need to attend drug rehabilitation program. So clearly, finding the right alcohol rehab program or drug rehabilitation center can make all the difference.

It will aid in deciding on the appropriate drug rehabilitation program that you will benefit the most from. Substance abuse rehabilitation drug testing can be done in treatment centers and rehabilitation centers. For those who wish to get help with their drug addiction, there is several drug rehabilitation and treatments centers scattered throughout the country.

Marijuana Drug Screening

Observing the ever increasing incidents of drug abusing and the deteriorations of the quality of the work output drug testing has been made mandatory at many corporations so that they can control or prevent any harmful effect that may occur to the employees and also to the other employees with strong hand thus keeping the environment safe and healthy.

Various types of drug test are followed according to the various levels and circumstances. To mention the various levels and circumstances of corporate drug testing they are pre-employment drug testing, post accident drug testing, random drug testing, return to duty/ follow-up testing, request to retest and reasonable suspicion test. All of which aims at keeping the corporate environment healthy.

1. Pre-Employment Drug Test- It is the most common type of drug test followed by almost all the corporations and it is followed at the time of recruitment to detect the whether the candidate consumes drugs like marijuana, cocaine, PCP, opiates and amphetamines.
2. Post Accident Drug Test- Post drug testing is conducted on any employee who meets with an accident during the job timings. If the employee is found to take drug then the company is not duty-bound to pay for the employee or it is neither compelled to any sort of cases which may affect the company’s concern. It is wrong to interpret post accident drug test to fire the employee but it aims at protecting the company from the legal responsibility in the event that the individual is the victim of drug that caused the accident.
3. Random drug test- This type of drug test act as a deterrent on the employees as they will think several times before taking drugs as these tests are conducted without any prior notice.
4. Return to duty/ Follow-up test- This test gives a second chance to any employee who could not pass the drug test. The employee is allowed to once again undergo the drug test within forty-five days from the last test. The person should get a clearance from the EAP to rejoin the job. It does not end here; the person will have to undergo unannounced and periodical drug testing for six times even in the following year.
5. Request to retest-‘Retest’ as the name suggest is to sit or undergo for the test if there is any doubt with the result of the already done test. If an employee who has undergone the drug test has any kind of doubt with the result then he/she has the right to apply for retest to confirm the result and it can be done only after seventy-two hours after the previous test is been done.
6. Reasonable Suspicion Test- If any of the employee’s behavior is found to be suspicious then the employers has the right to conduct both the drug test and alcohol test. And if the employee is identified for the reasonable suspects then he is liable to get suspended but when the results for the drug test are negative then he/she will be again taken in the job and will also be paid for the length of period he has been prevented to work.

All the above mentioned drug test solely aims at improving the working environment but it is also true that person identified to be using drug get a stain in their career. Again it is also true that drug test act as a prevention on the employees as they will think several times before taking drugs so that they are not fired as no wants to lose their job.

Drug Abuse: Marijuana and Alcohol

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Drug abuse: Marijuana and Alcohol

Four levels of drug use are easily identifiable: non-drug use, drug use, drug abuse, and drug dependency.

Non-drug users do not use drugs whatsoever. Drug users use drugs from time to time, typically in the company of others during recreational time. Drug abusers use drugs more readily, at times when sobriety is called for and in such a manner that other life functions or roles are either put at risk or are already compromised. Drug dependent persons use drugs very regularly to the point where there is a physiological dependency. Given physiological dependency, abrupt cessation of the drug results in physical symptoms ranging from agitation to depression to physical pain to death.

Many people regard marijuana and alcohol as innocuous substances when used recreationally from time to time. That is arguable. At the very least, no one became a drug abuser without first becoming a drug user.

Drug abuse is of greater concern however and is more than occasional recreational use. While it may be argued that occasional recreational use is not destructive, problems do develop for those whose more frequent use interferes with psychological, marital, family, social, academic or vocational life. Further, the threshold of drug abuse is readily identifiable when it occurs during non-recreational time; where intoxication overlaps with non-recreational activities; when use or the after-effects of use interfere with any activity. In addition, if drug use is frequently or always associated with recreational activities, then this rises to the level of abuse, as the user is remarkably limited in scope of other healthy recreational activities.

Common among those who reach criteria for drug abuse is the false belief that their consumption is reasonable and does no harm. These persons are apt to project blame for any consequence to their drug abuse on factors outside of themselves. In other words, the drug abuser offers many excuses that serve to cloud or at least minimize their abuse. Hence the student failing academically will tell tales of the teacher who picks on him/her. The employee will blame the boss and sometimes one spouse will blame the other spouse. Where both spouses abuse drugs or when a person is immersed in a peer group where drug abuse is normalized, persons are apt to perceive a kind of moral support to enable or embolden a position that their drug abuse is reasonable. Each will use the other to legitimize their drug abuse and try to cause it to appear less than what it is.

Notwithstanding, persons abusing drugs will need to take personal responsibility at some point to facilitate ongoing sobriety and to correct for the consequences of their behaviour.

While there may be issues with the inter-relationships of the drug abuser, the challenge is to help the person understand how the problems either originate with him or herself and/or are exacerbated by the drug abuse. Either way, it is vital that the drug abuser be held accountable and not avoid responsibility for the impact of their behaviour on self and others.

In addition to being held accountable for the outcome of their drug abuse, these persons will need support to engage in other healthy, pro-social activities that are incompatible with drug use.

Drug abuse is intensified when the person literally gets away with it, conceals it, is not held accountable and is able to talk their way or manipulate their way out of consequences and accountability.

When structures are put in place to limit opportunity for all drug use, the person is held accountable and other supports and activities are deployed, then recovery can occur and a healthier lifestyle adopted.

Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW
(905) 628-4847

gary@yoursocialworker.com
http://www.yoursocialworker.com

Gary Direnfeld is a social worker. Courts in Ontario, Canada, consider him an expert on child development, parent-child relations, marital and family therapy, custody and access recommendations, social work and an expert for the purpose of giving a critique on a Section 112 (social work) report. Call him for your next conference and for expert opinion on family matters. Services include counselling, mediation, assessment, assessment critiques and workshops.

The Signs, Symptoms and Side Effects of Marijuana Drug Addictions

Marijuana is the flower, leaves, bud and branches of the hemp plant. Marijuana is the most used drug in the USA besides alcohol and cigarettes. It can be smoke or eaten for its narcotic side effects. Though you can smoke to get the high, eating it takes longer to feel the effected. When smoked this drug stays in the lungs for a few seconds and can last in your urine for up to 5-10 days. It can take between four to six weeks to leave your body. Smoking weed, which is another name for this drug, can cause numerous side effects.

It can cause:

Sleepiness

Hangover

Drowsiness

Slowed reaction

Short term memory

Increased heart rate

Increased blood pressure

Bronchitis

Chronic coughing

Increased risk of bronchitis and emphysema

Change in appetite

Diarrhea

Nausea

Sweating

Decreased body temperature

Depressed immune system

Dry mouth and throat

Lack of energy

Irritated eyes and soar throat

Hallucinations

Chemicals from the marijuana are stored in the blood stream and brain. The withdrawal effects from this drug are tremors, weight loss, nausea, sweating, hot flashes, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. chemicals which are transformed into 2,000 other chemicals when smoked. A person that is a heavy user, it can take up to three months for the drug to leave the body.

The potency of marijuana has increased by 275% over the last decade. It can range in colors of grey, green, brown, red and pale yellow. If marijuana has no seeds in it, it is more potent. Five joints have the cancer-causing capacity as 112 cigarettes. Because this drug affects the lungs, anyone who smokes it has a higher chance of developing lung cancer. It can also lower the testosterone in men.

Many think that this drug is not as harmful as other drugs, but this drug is dangerous to the body just like any other form of drugs. It can weaken your immune system and prevent it from fighting off colds, flu and other viruses. In women, the drug can interfere with ovulation, menstrual cycle, fertility and DNA. In male, it can cause impotence, swollen breasts that may come with pain, discharge and fluids. Despite the harsh side effects marijuana is legal is some states and prescribe to patients with certain medical conditions.

If you or someone you know, has an addiction. Please seek help life can get greater.

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