Alcohol Addiction Effects Everyone
Most people think that drugs are just a thing for teenagers who want to experiment and fit in and people suffering from various mental disorders. Well, that's true to some extent. But drug abuse goes much further than that. Reasons for using drugs are wide and varied and the whole drug addiction issue is a more complicated thing than it seems to some of us. Moreover, people we least expect are also involved. Just recently, following an investigation on drug abuse in Knoxville TN , Joshua Hurst a 13 year veteran at the Knoxville Police Department was charged with being a part of conspiracy to distribute painkillers and other narcotics and he pleaded guilty.
Even those charged with protecting us from drug abuse need protection too apparently . And so does everybody else. The question that lingers is why are these groups of people that are not considered vulnerable to drug abuse falling into it? Life has become faster and more complex. We are tired and stressed at the end of the day and we often don't have enough time to recover before the hustle starts all over again. It is in such situations, that people need a way to get away from this pressure, distress and frustrations.
Drugs and alcohol are mostly the channels used to get this relief and before one knows it they are deep into addiction. Some professions involve violence and danger and may be associated with post traumatic stress disorder. To forget about all that one may get into drugs. Drugs prescribed for various conditions may bring about euphoria leading to their abuse and subsequent addiction. Most people who have not had an encounter with a drug user do not completely understand the magnitude of this problem. It goes beyond the family involved and its effects overflow to the community. Families with members struggling with drug abuse go through emotional, psychological and financial problems as they try to get their loved ones from the darkness of addiction. More often than not, these people are also victims of domestic abuse. Drugs also bring about Child Abuse and neglect. Most drugs don't come cheap. For drug dependants to sustain their habit , they get into crime to get money to buy drugs. Under the influence of drugs, the users are not in their normal behaviours and hence get involved in other forms of crime. More than 50% of people arrested for crimes such as assault, murder and robbery are always under the influence of drugs. Some users choose to make some drugs such as methamphetamine in their houses using harzadous and flammable chemicals which at times cause accidents leading to loss of lives. Drug users especially those injecting drugs in their systems are at a higher risk of contracting needle-borne diseases such as HIV /AIDS and hepatitis. Tobacco abuse leads to lung disease while alcohol abuse cause liver complications. A lot of funds are used in treatment of these people. Add the costs of taking care of the neglected children, incarcerated users and on law enforcement and the economical effects of drug use on the community are enormous. Drug use is a more complicated problem than perceived, is taking place place all around us and affecting all of us. We all need to join hands to solve this problem for us and for the society.
“You can come out of the furnace of trouble two ways” if you let it consume you, you come out a cinder; but there is a kind of metal which refuses to be consumed, and comes out a star.”
– Jean Church