Drug abuse is a serious problem which is killing millions of people in the world today and is causing many health related problem.
Drug or substance abuse is a use of drugs or other substances in amounts which are harmful for the health and if consumed for a prolonged period of time, can even cause life threatening conditions.
Drug abuse is most rampant in United States of America whereas about 8% of the entire population consumes drugs. The following is some more information about drug abuse.
1. Drug Use In Pop Culture
The common drugs which a lot of celebrities and pop artists use are marijuana, ecstasy, heroin and cocaine. There are many references of substance abuse in many pop songs these days and 68% of the songs associated substance use with positive results more frequently than negative ones. Substance use is typically spurred by peer pressure, sex, money and mood control.
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2. Drug Abuse In America
60% of the drug using population uses marijuana, 28% use prescription drugs and the rest use cocaine and other drugs. It is a fact that in US, 10.2 Million people have driven a car while under the influence of drugs. San Francisco has the highest number of illicit drug users.
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3. California Drug Abuse Stats
3 million people in California abuse illegal drugs and in California, drug abuse is the number 1 premature killer as well. Infact 11 people per day die from drug abuse in California. About 40000 emergency room visits each year are drug related.
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4. Prescription Drugs Will Kill Anyone
There are about 7 million Americans who abuse prescription drugs and sedatives, stimulants and tranquilizers are among the most abused prescription drugs apart from pain relievers which are abused by 5.1 Million people. Every 19 minutes, someone dies from an unintentional drug overdose.
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5. The Facts On Alcohol And Drug Abuse
21.8 Million Americans 12 or older use illicit drugs each month. The most commonly used medications include pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants and sedatives. Infact 13 Million people in US suffer from some or the other kind of alcohol addiction.
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6. The Smart Drug
Adderall is a combination stimulant that works in the central nervous system and was created to increase focus and decrease impulsiveness in people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. The side effects of Adderall are depression, seizures, blurred vision, uneven heartbeat, troubled sleeping and tremors etc.
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7. Drug Use In Today’s Classroom
Every 8 out of 32 students of a 12th grade class have used an illicit drug in the past 30 days and 15 of them have tried it atleast once in their lifetime. 1 in every 16 seniors smoke pot regularly and 2.5% of the high school senior males use steroids.
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8. Prescription Drug Abuse: A National Epidemic
US leads when it comes to the number of people taking prescription drugs for non medical purposes. In 1991, 5 Million people took these drugs while this number rose to 45 Million in the year 2010. The people between the age of 35 and 44 are the largest age group overdosing on prescription drugs.
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9. Prescription Drug Abuse
In the year 2009, almost half of the ER visits involved multiple drug use and in the year 2010, it was found that 2.4 Million people use prescription drugs for non medical use. Since 1999, the amounts of deaths have tripled due to prescription pain killers.
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10. Jobs That Lead To Substance Abuse
60% of the world’s illegal drugs are consumed by Americans. About 500 Million workdays are lost annually from employee substance abuse and some of the causes of substance abuse are stress, boredom, fatigue, long hours etc.
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11. The Economics Of Drug Abuse
22.5 Million Americans aged 12 or above and currently using drugs which means that 8.7% of the American population is under the influence of drugs. In 2006, Americans spent close to $100 Billion on drugs. It is a fact that an American is arrested for violating cannabis laws every 30 seconds.
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12. College Prescription Drug Abuse Trends 2013
Many college students believe that prescription drugs are safer than illegal drugs and 1 in 4 college students have used a prescription drug illegally. Some students misuse these drugs to improve concentration, reduce stress, be a better athlete and get high.
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13. Talking To Children About Prescription Drug Abuse
6% of the parents said that their teen had abused medication but 10% of the teens admitted that they had misused medicine in the past 6 months.
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14. Drug Abuse In America
As estimated 22.6 million Americans needed treatment for a problem that was related to drugs or alcohol but only 3.8 Million people received treatment at a specialty facility. The factors which contribute to this treatment gap are stigma, financial issues, fear, lack of resources, confidentiality factors etc.
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15. Adderall Abuse
There is an estimated 20-30% rate of Adderall abuse in some colleges and 15% of college students have admitted to have used drugs like Adderall. Some negative health effects of using Adderall are dizziness, headaches, hallucinations, shortness of breath, changes to mood, nausea and tremors.
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16. The Dangers Of Abusing Alcohol
Nearly 17 million Americans have serious problem with alcohol, but only 3 million ever seek out any kind of help. Women are more vulnerable than men to the effects of alcohol, putting them at a risk of victimization, violence and rape.
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17. The United States Of Drug Addicts
Some drug types are depressants, antidepressants, alcohol, steroids, stimulants, tobacco, narcotics and cannabis etc. The dependent user of marijuana as a pain reliever has increased from 1.5 to 1.9 million and the abuse and dependency of cocaine has declined from 1.5 Million to 1.1 Million. Most youth think that obtaining marijuana was very easy.
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18. Prescription Pain Killer Abuse In America
80% of all the prescription painkillers are prescribed by only 20% of all the physicians and more than half of the people abusing prescriptions painkillers obtained them for free from a friend or a relative. People can get prescription painkillers from a variety of sources like dealer, stranger, friend, relative, doctor and other.
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19. The Signs Of Heroin Abuse
Some physical symptoms of heroin abuse include sweating, dry mouth, shortness of breath, flushed skin, runny nose, weight loss and collapsed veins etc. Behavioral signs of heroin abuse and addiction include avoiding eye contact, substantial increase in time spent sleeping and sudden worsening of performance at workplace or school.
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20. This Is Your Body On Drugs
In 2008, nearly 2 million visits to the emergency room were associated with drug misuse and abuse. Illicit drugs are very harmful for the body and some of the parts that it affects are brain, jaw, heart, kidneys, stomach, intestines, pancreas and even reproductive organs.
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