Drug Abuse

Main factors that prompt various people to participation in the consumption of alcohol and cigarettes

These are some of the coexisting habits that are enumerate when individuals engage in unexpected drug abuse and therefore they take the risk of either becoming addicted, suffer the illness caused by the consumed chemicals or take the risks of doing harm when they become excited. The great risk is losing control of responsible behaviours of life that can change their styles and standards. The main problem with this addiction is that some individuals become dipsomaniac leading to excessive drinking of alcohol that is harmful to their health for example cardiac diseases and other pulmonary problems such as cirrhosis.

Addicted smokers have higher chances of contracting chest problems such as cardiac arrest or failure. Risk factors usually increase the chances of becoming more abusive to drugs. Actually, the risk factors for individuals differ.

Is a form of drug abuse whereby the involved individuals become dipsomaniac due to excessive consumption of alcohol. The addicted mostly do this as a way of escapism. In other word, the addicted tries to escape the responsibilities of life pretending that their lifestyle is not good.

Smoking is an addictive habit that is associated with cigarettes or tobacco smokers. The presence of nicotine acts as a stimulant to the user and lack of this stimulant can cause the user to have some of the health problems such as blurred vision, headache, or uneasiness beside other side effects. Many young people especially the youth embark on this habit without knowing the consequences. Most young people smoke to show a sense of maturity and freedom as opposed to the adults who do this as leisure or a sense of great thinkers.

Depending on the age group and the social-economic factors such as employment and accessibility of money, there are several factors that lead to drug abuse. There are a number of factors that influence children to consume alcohol and cigarettes; there has been a wide range of studies that have been undertaking each presenting different views and factors that have led to increased smoking and alcohol consumption. I n real sense the main causes to drug abuse are the peer influence, financial capability, employment, stressful living styles, poverty, pride and lack of proper legal frame work to curb drug abuse.

According to suss man and Ames (2001) the cultural behaviours and beliefs can lead drug abuse. What is perceived as cultural norms and involves engaging in some of the behaviours. For example according to the research, adult African males can engage in alcohol consumption so long as you have attained the specified age to qualify for such ritual. Furthermore certain cultures allow for alcohol consumption during initiation from a certain age group to another or during customary wedding. Other factors that can lead to drug abuse are the changes of the government policies. If the existing legal frame work is ambiguous, most people will evade the law and engage in abusive consumption of alcohol.

o          Investigate the determining factors as to why people abuse drugs and specifically participate in risk taking behaviors such as smoking and drinking alcohol.

o          To determine the main factors that influence individuals to start alcohol consumption or smoking.

Persons who engage in drug abuse have a positive attitude towards alcohol consumption and smoking or they are more stressed in their life than those who do not engage in drug abuse

There is no great difference among the persons who have a positive attitude towards alcohol consumption and smoking, or even among those who engage in rug abuse because of stressed life style.

Does the age of the individuals determine the mode of drug abuse and the time of engagement?

Does the degree on the nature of the risk involved discourage or helps to reduce the effects of drug abuse or motivate abusers to invest on new ways of dealing with their stressed lifestyles?

Does the cost incurred in drug abuse correspond with the mitigation and improvement of the lifestyle among the abusers?

A questionnaire and interview should be prepared to aid in data collection for this research. The reason why I chose the above method is that I have to determine various responses of the individuals involved in drug abuse, their age and the main causes that lead to smoking and drinking. Furthermore, I should be in a position to tell the past lifestyles of the drug abusers, age and the gender. Again, individuals need to be examined about the reasons as to why they embark on smoking or drinking, the preventive measures they employ to avoid the side effects of drug abuse, one need to know the cost they incur in smoking or drinking and whether it is advantageous or disastrous to them and their problems.

As mentioned earlier in my introduction, several factors can determine the causes to drug abuse. According to suss man and Ames (2001) the cultural behaviours and beliefs are some of the factors that can lead to drug abuse. What is perceived as cultural norms involves engaging in some of the behaviours such as communal consumption of alcohol during wedlock in some countries. For example, according to the research, adult African males can engage in alcohol consumption so long as you have attained the specified age to qualify for such habit. Furthermore certain cultures allow for alcohol consumption during initiation from a certain age group to another or during customary wedding. Other factors that can lead to drug abuse are the changes of the government policies. If the existing legal frame work is ambiguous, most people will evade the law and engage in abusive consumption of alcohol.

In developed countries, cultural norms allow for freedom of individuals. This leads to more young people being exposed to alcohol consumption (pledge and Hooper, 2004). Another factor that leads to the mentioned drug abuse is the accessibility to the alcohol, the cigarettes or marijuana. In this context, the availability of money is the main determining factor. It is very hard to mention availability of money and accessibility of the drug in that when one has money he can travel even in a longer distance looking for the intended drug. On the other hand, you can have the money but fail to access the drug because it doe not exist. So exposure and advertisement done by those companies dealing in production of those drugs highly influences the consumption of alcohol or smoking (Barnes and Bhatt, 2003).

According to the alcohol council of New Zealand, 1997, many people tended to drink due to exposure. The New Zealand advisory council on drugs discovered that heavy consumption of alcohol was high at the age of 31 to 36 years old. The council furthermore came to learn that those who were involved in drug abuse did not know the risks that are associated in excessive smoking or drinking. According to their article, alcohol was being consumed in home and this resulted to children and women becoming more exposed to the habit and the consequences of drug abuse.

Eileen Goddard undertook research on the changes in the number of smokers in England. These reports were concerned about what would have probably led to a decline in the number of smokers in England. One of the factors that he identifies as having influenced children smoking is parental smoking, his study showed that between the year 1988 and 1998 there has been a reduction in the number of smokers in England, according to him this was as a result of reduced parental smoking.

The other factor that Goddard identified that had led to the reduction in smokers in England is the community in which a child is brought up, it was evident that a child who is brought in a non smoking community results into becoming a non smoker, England implemented policies that restricted public smoking and as a result there has been a reduction in children smoking.

Goddard study clearly shows changes in the society, the change that has occurred in this society is a reduction in the number of smokers, according to him the change has been as a result of reduced parental smoking and also restriction of public smoking. For this reason Goddard study clearly shows that children are more likely to get involved in smoking and alcohol drinking if their parents are smokers and also consume alcohol.

Mary Douglas in her cultural theory of risk also shows how people are influenced to undertake risks, her theory draws from the work of Emile Durkheim regarding social structure, she identified the grid and the group as two principle axes in which the structure differs, the grid is the degree at which an individual’s choice are restricted by their role and position in the society while the group refers to solidarity of members in the society.

Mary Douglas identified four major forms of individuals in the society which include individualist, hierarchism, egalitarian and fatalist, the individualist has low grid and low group and for this reason the individuals have no ties with other individuals in the society and for this reason he embraces trial and error and therefore is more likely to get involved in alcohol and smoking, the hierarchism is an individual with high group and high group and he is an individual who believes in a system that have well organised rules and for this reason he or she will be less likely to get involved in deviance behaviour, for this reason therefore the hierarchism will be less likely to become a smoker or alcoholic while the individualist will be more likely to get involved in smoking and alcohol consumption.

according to Mary Douglas work she identifies the importance of culture in the influence on individuals, the culture is important to an individual regarding certain risk taking behaviours in the society, in reference to Goddard work it is evident that England has adopted a culture and way of life where public smoking is restricted and this culture will definitely affect the children brought up whereby this will mould their perception toward certain behaviour.

According to several journals research on drug abuse and the response that was observed from both the adults and the young, it is visible that the research supported the null hypothesis, This is because individuals who engage in drug abuse have a positive attitude towards alcohol consumption and smoking or they are more stressed in their life than those who do not engage in drug abuse. Most individuals responded by saying that they had little earnings that cannot meet their demands and they opt to spend the little income on drugs in order to curb the stresses of life and marital obligations.

Smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol leads to a great risks among the youth as well as the aged. Some of the disastrous effects of drug abuse among the youth are high school dropout that increases the risk of increased illiteracy among the youth and the state at large. When the youth take the drug they become emotionally excited, this can lead to premature sex or even uncontrolled sex that can be fatal due to sexually transmitted infections and child pregnancy. Drug abusers when excited have distorted mind and they can perform any crime when they are out of control. This would include things like theft, robbary with violence or even marital breakdown (Johnson and Hoffmann, 1998).

Drug abuse and the risk factors involved need to be addressed from all perspectives to avoid the hazardous side effects associated with excessive smoking and drinking especially to the youth.

Proper legal framework, social-economic factors and parental awareness creates enough room to mitigate and deterring drug abuse. Substances that are easily abused should be availed to. The community should be more cohesive in controlling the drug abuse and be ready to enforce the law toward proper use of substances. On the cultural background, the cutworms should leave a room for norms to mitigate and monitor drug abuse. There should be cultural cooperation and control. Finally, there should be proper role models.

Bryman A. (2004) Social Research Methods, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Coleman S. (1961) Adolescent Society, the Free Press, New York

Wart M. (2002) Companions in Crime: The Social Aspects of Criminal Conduct, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Davies B. and Stacey B. (1972) Teenagers and Alcohol: A development study in Glasgow, HMSO, London.

Goddard E. (1990) Why Children Start Smoking, HMSO, London

Gross R.  (1987)Psychology, the Science of Mind and Behaviour, Hodder and Stoughton, London

MORI (1990) Teenage Smoking, MORI, London

Lynskey T. and Fergusson M. (1995) Childhood conduct problems deficit behaviours and adolescent drug use, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 23(3), 281 to 302

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