Drug abuse effects on families with members using illicit and prescription drugs

Drug Abuse Affects Families

• Analyze the issues related to the affects of drug abuse on families

Families are affected by the addictions of the young people in the family in more than one way. Adolescence is the time when most people become addicts. The young person is more prone to take to intoxicant abuse. Adolescents begin experiments with drugs and alcohol. This usually is in the age group of 15 to 19 years. There are the largest group of new drinkers and over 50% of young people use marijuana. (Gordon, 2003)

It is available and peer pressure makes it acceptable and it is easy to buy drugs at school. The youth have more income to purchase drugs and the young person is often lured into it by the peers and older role models. This is true for both the genders. Laws have been thus passed to supress the use of drugs and the act is Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, Title II (PL 91-513) -- commonly called the Controlled Substances Act. The act seeks to control abuse by making it impossible for individuals to access drugs that are classified in various schedules and can be sold only through a competent medical practitioner. Thus for example the Schedule I list those drugs that have a greater abuse potential. Yet the drug abusers get over this hurdle by visiting doctors complaining of illnesses that they know will make the doctor prescribe the drug they want. (High Beam, 2005)

The problem thus is multifaceted and involves lots of agencies including the caregivers of the addict. But the legislation alone did not stop this menace and it is actually creating criminals and stigma. The families of those arrested with drugs are traumatized and the abuser becomes criminalized in most cases and the abuser thus is thrown away from the mainstream society.

• Describe the ramifications experienced by the family members who are not abusing drugs

If a person's close family member has a drug problem, it will affect not only one individual but the whole family. Thus if a parent discovers that his or her son or daughter, brother or sister has taken to drugs, there is anxiety and many emotions including anger and sadness affect the family. As the addict begins his or her journey into the addiction and the drug problem deepens and intensifies the family makes an attempt to accommodate the change or find some way out of the problem seeking remedies for the person who has fallen into the addiction. In extreme cases the abuser is sent out of the family causing trauma to him and others. There is also a complete change in the way the families function after the addict is discovered and the changes can be seen in changes in relation to mutual trust, protection, love, care and support, as well as change in roles. (Barnard, 2007)

While the problems of the families in terms of the abuse being detected of their children are so, what would the effect be on children who have addicted parents? This is a very serious question because the children from such families have a greater risk of becoming addicts themselves. Children are the most affected in families where the parents or members of the family are abusers of drugs or other type of intoxicants. While the effects of drug abuse among children and adolescents on the family have been researched extensively it has to be remembered that it is the adult to whom the child looks up to understand the world. Under such circumstances the children who have drug abusing parents grow up in a world which they feel is not safe and their sense of values are eroded. The impact their parents' drug use it has been proved, has had deep impact in the lives of children and it is also shown that these children had greater dependency on the parents and such parents affect their life and future. (Barnard, 2007)

• Discuss resources available to family members of drug abusers

The normal methods of treating the abusers are by using the counseling centers and also the de-addiction centers that have various methods of affecting a cure. However the counseling and the programs have not been able to provide full changes and often the abuser shows recidivist tendencies. Many agencies like the medical researchers try experiments to see the effects of drugs and the methods of nullifying the craving. However the actual treatment requires support of the family, the will for the abuser to change and many factors will determine the success of the programs. There are many researchers who are involved in this.