How to cure your addiction.

The first step in curing your addiction is admitting that you have a problem. Do you use drugs on a daily basis? Do you feel that you can't make it through the day without the drug? If so you most likely have a problem. Admitting this problem and seeing what affect it has on you is the first step to cleaning yourself of this addiction. You have to realize what's important to you. Is your family upset with you? Have you lost many friends? Have you realized who all is impacted by your addiction? You have to be aware that this addiction is hurting you and the people around you. You have to want to quit and want a better life for yourself. Develop a time that you want to quit using drugs by and crave that day more than you crave your drug. Admitting your problem and wanting to change it is the first step to curing yourself of the addiction.

Family of drug addicts.

Drugs devaste families across the country. Drugs make users a lot more edgy and at higher risk to abuse their loved ones.  The family suffers just as much as the addict . All addicts care about is getting their next high and they forget about all of the people that they once cared about. Family members tend to adapt their personas in an attempt to handle the dysfunction that the addict has created. The caretaker or enabler, for example, makes it possible for the addict to keep functioning in addiction. He may give the addict money, provide a home and food, bail the addict out of jail and in general provide a safety that the addict can depend on no matter how violent, irresponsible or hurtful the behavior.
The caretaker role is just one example. Others include the hero, who makes sure that everything appears to be fine to outsiders, the jester who tries to make light of the situation, the ghost who never comments or makes his needs known. Family members of addicts become so focused on the addict's problems that they often lose themselves along the way.
The family of addicts need help just as the addicts do and there are now support groups across the globe to help with this. http://www.familiesanonymous.org/ Is just one of which can help you!

Why do people relapse?

What Makes people relapse? If they work hard and go to a rehab, or are sentenced to jail time and do not do a drug for a long period of time why is it they get out and do it again? The answer to this question could be many things. For one drugs are highly addictive, the "wanting" of the drug may never go away. When someone gets back home and back in the real world they may be around the drug and do it simply for that reason. Some people want to quit drugs, some say they do but really do not, some try, some don't. The sad fact is not all people can be saved, even from themselves. Many non drug users try to help users to quit but they cannot all be saved and users often bring non-users down. I am not quite sure what it will take to make this country drug free, but I doubt I will be around to see it.

Percocet.

Percocet

Percocet is one pain killer that is becoming highly abused in America. It is meant to be a short term pain reliever, no refills are given with a prescription and it seems that health providers are doing all they can to keep it out of the hands of people that do not need it, but somehow others are getting it. In 2006 there were 11,000 deaths from over dose of this drug. It is a deadly, awful drug that is hurting many lives. Some people actually get it prescribed to them and then become addicted. I myself know many young people addicted to this drug. From what i have seen it seems to be a gateway drug to things like heroin. Percocet are available but not constantly and it seems when addicts can't get it they will do anything, for example turning to heroin. Something has to stop this horrible addiction that young people don't realize they are getting into.

Ways to help decrease drug abuse.

Many people that do drugs claim they "want to quit" so why is it that they can't? Drugs are highly addictive which most people know but some people do not know just how hard it is to get off of them. Withdrawals off of many drugs are horrible. Like  having the worst flu you have ever had, not being able to get out of bed, cold sweats, nausea. These are just a few of the symptoms that make it so hard for people to quit there drug use, they may say they are going to quit and they may even try but with many people as soon as the withdrawals begin they get there next fix as soon as they possibly can.
I think that in America we can dramatically reduce the number of drug users if we have treatment for drug users, as we do for other heath problems, more readily available the rate of drug users may just go down. I think that drugs that wing you off of other drugs should be more readily available for addicts. Many addicts have a fear of rehab so they will not go, they do not want to pay the expenses or it to show up on any records. If Dr.'s could prescribe drugs like methadone in small doses to addicts (such as have a weekly plan) that drug users could do at home it may help.  For example one day the drug user takes an amount of the drug to wing them off and steadily decreases it, it may help the drug abuse rate go down.

Drugs can destroy you.

The list of drugs used in America could go on and on. Most people know that drugs are bad, but why do they still do them? Many people have no idea what they are getting themselves into when they try a drug. A lot of drugs lead to addiction very fast. They may just think they are trying something once or partying untill there entire life begins to spiral downword. Drugs make a person do things they normally wouldn't. When on drugs a person often participates in risky behavior and sometimes doesn't even remember what they did the next day. A persons relationships with family, friends, or partners often decline. Drug users often lash out at the people that they love and families are ruined because of the drug user. Drug users do not know how they are hurting there family and friends when they are using drugs. Drug use has got to stop but how can it when they are so readily available in our society?

Pain killers.

Pain killers are rising in America. A recent study showed that the use of pain killers in the past ten years has gone up four times. According to statistics compiled by the Partnership for a Drug Free America, nearly one in five teens, or a staggering 4.5 million kids age 12-19, reportedly abused prescription medications to get high last year.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the plague of substance abuse is due to the recession. People terrified of losing their jobs or their homes use prescription medications to cope with the economic downturn by anesthetizing themselves with painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin, which not only kill physical pain but emotional distress as well. The pain of withdrawal reinforces the addictive properties of analgesics that banish migraines as well as the blues.
Pain killers are highly addictive and are ruining lives and families across america. Some people get addicted when they get hurt and are actually prescribed them. Others get them from other people or go into doctors complaining about pain that they do not have in order to get them. Pain killers are beginning to be a huge problem in America that at this point seems unresolvable. 

LSD

LSD

LSD is the generic term for the hallucinogen lysergic acid diethylamide-25. Also in slang terms as acid. Acid can be taken a few different ways, the most common form of LSD is as a liquid that has been transferred onto a small paper square (known as "blotter") or as a microdot tablet. It is also found as a powder or crystal, dried on gelatin sheets, put into capsules or on sugar cubes, or laced with other drugs.

What does it do to the brain

Users feel the effects of LSD within 30 to 90 minutes after ingestion, and these effects may last as long as 12 hours. LSD causes hallucinogenic effects by disrupting the interaction of the neurotransmitter serotonin and nerve cells. Serotonin is involved in the control of behavioral, perceptual, and regulatory systems, such as mood, hunger, body temperature, sexual behavior, and muscle control.

Addiction

Though tolerance to LSD develops rapidly, it does not produce compulsive drug-seeking behavior that is typical of addictive drugs, such as crack and heroin. The Drug Enforcement Administration cites four reasons for this. First, the long duration of the drug's effects means the user will not have to purchase the drug on a rapidly recurring basis. Second, tolerance develops so quickly that repeated ingestion is useless. Third, the inconsistent effects and potential adverse reactions lead to erratic use of LSD. Finally, the powerful hallucinations produced by LSD will often prompt users to abstain from use in order to recover and reorient.

Effects while people are using the drug

Visual hallucinations, ranging from intensified color or flashes of light to geometric designs to distortions of reality or completely new images seen with the eyes open or closed

Intensification of smells, sounds, and other sensations

Sense of heightened understanding

Distorted sense of time

Distorted perception of body and a sense of "depersonalization" in which the one feels one's mind has left one's body

Synethesia- a blending of sensory perception (i.e. "hear" colors or "see" sounds)

The sense that one is undergoing a profound mystical or religious experience

Methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine

What is it?

Methamphetamine also knows as meth or ice is a psychostimulant drug. It enters the brain and releases dopamine and serotonin. Meth is a white, odorless, crystalline powder. It can be taken orally, snorted, smoked, or injected.

What effects does it have on the user?

Long-term methamphetamine abuse has many negative health consequences, including extreme weight loss, severe dental problems, anxiety, confusion, insomnia, mood disturbances, and violent behavior. Chronic methamphetamine abusers can also display a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and delusions.

How does it affect society?

Methamphetamine plays a huge roll in the transfering of HIV. Many meth users reuse needles because they do not think clearly.  
Studies of methamphetamine abusers who are HIV-positive indicate that HIV causes greater neuronal injury and cognitive impairment for individuals in this group compared with HIV-positive people who do not use the drug.

How many users in the U.S?

Fortunately the number of meth users has been declining the most recent study, in 2008, showed that 314,000 people were users.

Ecstasy in the United States.

Ecstasy.

Ecstasy has become popular in the United States as a "party drug". Also known as MDMA or other street names such as E, ex, rolls, or skittles. Many teens in the United States take ecstasy when partying or going to raves. 

What is it?

Ecstasy is MDMA, or 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine. It belongs to a family of drugs called "entactogens". Other drugs in this category include MDA, MDE and MBDB.
MDMA is a "mood elevator" that produces a relaxed, euphoric state. It does not produce hallucinations.

What are the effects?

MDMA takes effect 20 to 40 minutes after taking a tablet, with little rushes of exhilaration which can be accompanied by nausea. 60 to 90 minutes after taking the drug, the user feels the peak effects.
Sensations are enhanced and the user experiences heightened feelings of empathy, emotional warmth, and self-acceptance.
Users report that the experience is very pleasant and highly controllable. Even at the peak of the effect, people can usually deal with important matters.
The effect that makes MDMA different from other drugs is empathy, the sensation of understanding and accepting others.

Who uses it?

Ecstasy is used most often by young adults and adolescents at clubs, raves (large, all-night dance parties), and rock concerts.  Its abuse is increasingly reported in metropolitan areas.

Ecstasy is not physically addictive, though many people try to use it as a short term anti depressant. 

Cocaine in America.

What is cocaine?

Cocaine is a narcotic extracted from coca leaves; used as a surface anesthetic or taken for pleasure; can become powerfully addictive.  Cocaine is a stimulant drug which means it makes users feel more alert and energetic.

Who uses cocaine?

In 2002, an estimated 1.5 million Americans could be classified as dependent on or abusing cocaine in the past 12 months.  Adults 18 to 25 years old have a higher rate of current cocaine use than those in any other age group. Overall, men have a higher rate of current cocaine use than do women. Also, according to the 2002 NSDUH, estimated rates of current cocaine users were 2.0 percent for American Indians or Alaskan Natives, 1.6 percent for African-Americans,
0.8 percent for both Whites and Hispanics, 0.6 percent for Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders, and 0.2 percent for Asians.

How is cocaine dangerous?

Cocaine causes the blood vessels to thicken and constrict, reducing the flow of oxygen to the heart. At the same time, cocaine causes the heart muscle to work harder, leading to heart attack or stroke, even in healthy people. Cocaine raises blood pressure, which can explode weakened blood vessels in the brain. A person can overdose on even a small amount of cocaine. Overdose can cause seizures and heart failure. It can cause breathing to become weak or stop altogether. There is no antidote to cocaine overdose.  Chronic use can also cause weight loss, malnutrition, poor health, sexual problems, infertility and loss of social and financial supports.

How does cocaine affect society?

Cocaine leads to more violence, just like many other drugs. It also affects people at work and cocaine users are more likely to have accidents and cost companies more money.

Heroin in the United States!

The second most popular drug in the United States as of 2009 is Heroin. Heroin is a derivative of morphine and a form of an opiate. It can be smoked sniffed or injected. It is a very powerful pain killer and users experience exhilaration and a sense of well being.

The average heroin user is a white male in his late teens.

In 2004 a study showed that 1.4 percent of Americans have tried heroin.

Many people believe that heroin is the worst drug due to how hard it is to get off of and the withdrawals.

The withdrawals of heroin are usually horrible. The symptoms of withdrawal are physical pain, nausea, stomach cramps and diarrhea, shaking twitching and a very strong craving for the soothing effects of the drug. Very few people can cope with withdrawal and this drives people to commit crimes to fund their next drug purchase.

Heroin addicts contribute to a lot of drug crime in the United States, this is because how awful the addiction is. Addicts will do just about anything to get more heroin when they run out. When on heroin many users don't know as much about what they are doing and there surroundings.

Marijuana in the United States.

An estimated 12.8 million Americans are drug users. This means that they use drugs on a daily basis. Although this number is extremely high it has decreased from the high number in 1979 of twenty five million! Maybe it is because there is now a lot more education on drugs in schools. There are now programs like DARE that educate young people on what drugs are and how they affect you.
Who are the drug users?
Although drug users are not limited to any group some groups have higher rates then others. The highest rate of drug users is is found among older teenagers ages 16- 18. Men have always had a higher rate of drug use then woman. Among races it seems that the most drug users are Native Americans/ American Indian people. Followed by mixed race, African Americans, Hispanics, and white. The race with the lowest accounted drug use is Asians.
College graduates have the lowest rate of drug use.

What is used?
The most common drug to date is marijuana. Three out of four drug users use marijuana, in addition to the other drugs they are doing. It is believed that marijuana is the most available illegal drug in the United States. Prices have remained the same over the past decade. 400 dollars to 1000 dollars per pound in the southwest boarder areas and 700 dollars to 2000 dollars per pound in the midwest and northeast.

What is marijuana?
Marijuana is a green or gray mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. It is a mild hallucinogen. It is said to calm down nerves and decrease stress.

How does marijuana affect society?
Marijuana is said to affect society both positively and negatively.
The negatives are it leads to more crime, it leads to use of other drugs, it leads to more violence, cost, and dependancy.
The positives are it can be used as a healing drug for the ill.

Drugs affect our community!

Drug use is becoming a huge issue not only morally but economically. There are many ways drugs affect our community, one of which being the crime rates dramatically increase with drug users being around. In the United States in 1999 the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported an estimated 1,577,100 arrests for drug related crimes. This was 11 years ago and it seems that it just keeps going up. Many violent acts are caused by drug users. Drug dealers often have altercations with one and other and cause innocent people to be in harms way. For example when they do drive byes.
 Children are put in danger when they are brought up around drugs. Children raised around drug users are often abused or neglected. Many of them proceed to be drug users themselves. They often become criminals as well. I feel that if people choose to do drugs they should not have children because it affects them so greatly.

Drugs have a huge impact on our society.

Who I am:
My name is Jessica. Everyone calls me Jae. I am a freshman at a local college in Ohio called columbus state I am beginning to explore how drugs affect our society and the people who do them. I have had this question for some time and I feel that its time to get the answers!

What I know:
I know that drugs have a huge impact on our society in this day in age.
Drugs control many people around us.
Prescription drugs are becoming a huge deal in Ohio and across the globe.

What I want to learn:
Who do drugs effect?
Why do people do drugs?
What type of drug is the most popular?
When did drug use become such a huge issue?

Three interesting facts:
Recreational drugs are not limited to any particular group in society.
Drug addiction now rises from unsuspected sources such as legally prescribed and over the counter medications being given to society’s most respected members.
Drug and Alcohol addiction has an economic impact of 67 billion per year.