Meth is considered one of the greatest drug threats to our nation with its affects costing anywhere between $16.2 and $48.3 billion dollars a year according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Methamphetamine use has become such a serious problem that not only causes devastating effects on ones individual health but also threatens communities as a whole by causing new waves of crime, child neglect or abuse, and other social ills. Many factors have been put in to place to try to eliminate the abuse of methamphetamine such as strict laws around two of the key ingredients meth is made from, and several prevention/educational programs to try and provide awareness of the devastating effects of the abuse of meth. Link.
These dangerous drugs are all over our streets in urban and in rural parts of the U.S. The centers for disease control say that 100 people die every day in the U.S. from drug overdose, with prescription painkiller use being a serious offender. The prescription addiction epidemic has led to the creation of mass prescription databases, where your pharmaceutical habits are tracked by doctors and pharmacists alike in many states. The legal crack-down has made it difficult for many to obtain the drugs they are addicted to. In an effort to lessen the wave of prescription opiate addiction, the legal system has pushed many already-addicted people to a cheaper, easier to score opiate high—heroin.” (Renter, 2013) However, the regulations haven’t decreased the alarming amount of young adults who are currently addicted to pharmaceutical drugs.
It is a dangerous addiction and destroys lives. Crystal Meth is a synthetic drug more often abused by the younger generation. A survey done in 2012, by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, found that over 12 million people have tried Meth (NIDA, 2012). The mix of chemicals that are used to make the drug are toxic and lethal. It is normally made in makeshift laboratories (www.healthyplace.com/meth-addiction, 2012).
Because of some of the patients being linked to one another through the same doctor, the question has arisen; who is responsible for these deaths? Even in our own state, the deaths are at an all-time high. According to Jens Manuel Krogstad, sixty-two Iowans died last year from overdoses of prescription pain relievers like oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone, the report said. That’s an increase
These effects are not only mental but physical. It starts by releasing large amounts of dopamine into the section of the brain that controls the feeling of pleasure. Methamphetamine “produces the equivalent of 600 times the normal amount of dopamine normally released by the brain during pleasurable events.” (Kelley, 2005, Methamphetamine Abuse.) The effects of meth can last up to 12 hours and the addiction starts and continues because of this high and charged feeling users receive from Meth. Short-term effects can lead to dehydration, irritability, confusion, nervousness, nonstop talking, tremors, convulsions, anxiety, paranoia, and aggressiveness.
Pain killers are intended to relieve pain, cough and diarrhea. People who abuse on pain killers take them to block the brain from receiving pain messages. Their intake is much higher than normal in order for them to get the similar feeling they would to an illegal drug. There are withdrawal symptoms that can cause people to become more dependent on the drug. Usually people who abuse pain killers are people who are facing psychological problems.
Long-term cigarette smoking is the most common risk factor for COPD. Also pipe smokers, cigar smokers (especially when inhaled) and people exposed to large amounts of secondhand smoke are at risk. Long-term exposure to chemical fumes, vapors and dusts often found in the work field can also irritate and damage your lungs. With the exception of a rare genetic disorder known as alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, COPD is 100% preventable by not smoking and taking proper precautions in regards to inhalation of lung irritants. All of the preventable risks factors listed are irritants that damage the lungs over a period of years.
Research Paper: Methamphetamine Methamphetamine creates a high that users of the drug find irresistible. The drug is a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder easily dissolvable in water or alcohol and is taken orally, by snorting, by needle injection, or by smoking. Users of the drug experience a sudden "rush" of pleasure or a prolonged sense of exhilaration. With this are also increased energy, focus, confidence, sexual competence and feelings of desirability after taking the drug. However, after doing it once, users require more and more of the drug in order to obtain the feeling again, and maintain it.
Unit 6 Project: Nationwide Synthetic Drug Ban Alaina DAmbrosia Kaplan University CM220-12 Professor Millard April 10, 2012 Spice, K2, bath salts, or incense are all names of dangerous drugs that are being distributed all over the United States. These are all very dangerous synthetic drugs that have been lurking in the shelves of our gas stations, convenient stores and all over the internet. Synthetic drugs are being distributed all over my neighborhood to many children and young adults. There have been many cases of teens who suffered bad side effects, which led to injury and hospital visits. Cleveland, OH has been exposed to a variety of dangerous synthetic drugs that are currently legal.
There are some side effects that will eventually show if these unnatural steroids keep being used. For example, some side effects that are bad for the user are, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, mood swings, impotency shrunken testicles and severe acne and even cancer. A well known side effect is roid rage, where a person can become completely enraged over little things that happen. A person who uses anabolic steroids can get to the point where they totally lose control over their emotions. There have been studies that have proven that the mind is affected by the use of anabolic steroids.