Drugs and Alcohol Abuse Info

The status of implementation of the Drug Abuse Control Strategy was reviewed each year through reports of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to the general assembly.  Illicit drug abuse is one of the major health related issues in United States as millions of people are getting addicted to drugs and spoiling their precious lives.  In looking at drug abuse issues over my 30 year family medicine career there have been wide swings in what drugs have been popular.  Following large-scale prevention campaigns in the United States, for instance, the upward trend of drug abuse among 8th graders was reversed.   Follow-up studies in the United Kingdom found that two years after the end of treatment, regular heroin use as well as acquisitive crime were halved; similar studies in the United States also showed that involvement in illegal activities could be halved; weekly heroin and cocaine use were down by as much as two-thirds one year after the end of treatment.  The National Institutes on Drug Abuse research has shown that youth are less likely to use drugs if they have involved adults in their lives, setting clear rules and communicating that drug use is unacceptable.  Informing young people about the dangers of drug abuse is necessary but, in itself, not sufficient to prevent the onset of drug abuse.  Fewer countries reported increases in drug abuse in the late 1990s as compared to the mid-1990s, thus reversing the previous upward trend; at the same time, the number of countries reporting declines has been increasing which, at least partly, may be the result of improved prevention and of other drug control activities.  The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) definition of drug addiction as  “a chronic relapsing disease of the brain, which is expressed in behavioral ways  and occur in a social context”, expresses the difficulties one meets when trying  to treat this condition.  Preventing drug abuse in the workplace is a big responsibility.  In this context, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, signed in Palermo in December 2000, should also help to step-up and broaden the fight against transnational organized crime in all its dimensions, including drug trafficking, thus supplementing the three existing ‘drug conventions’ of 1961 (narcotic drugs), 1971 (psychotropic substances) and 1988 (illicit trafficking, including money laundering).

Drug abuse has become a global phenomenon.  Fewer countries reported increases in drug abuse in the late 1990s as compared to the mid-1990s, thus reversing the previous upward trend; at the same time, the number of countries reporting declines has been increasing which, at least partly, may be the result of improved prevention and of other drug control activities.  Informing young people about the dangers of drug abuse is necessary but, in itself, not sufficient to prevent the onset of drug abuse.  The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) definition of drug addiction as  “a chronic relapsing disease of the brain, which is expressed in behavioral ways  and occur in a social context”, expresses the difficulties one meets when trying  to treat this condition.  Gemäss den Untersuchungen, die Nora Volkow und ihre Kollegen vom National Institute on Drug Abuse, durchgeführt haben, erhöhte sich der Glukosemetabolismus im orbitofrontalen Cortex und dem temporalen Pol signifikant wenn ein laufendes Handy — obwohl auf lautlos gestellt — ans Ohr gehalten wurde im Vergleich zu einem Handy, das ausgestellt war.  Illicit drug abuse is one of the major health related issues in United States as millions of people are getting addicted to drugs and spoiling their precious lives.  In looking at drug abuse issues over my 30 year family medicine career there have been wide swings in what drugs have been popular.  The status of implementation of the Drug Abuse Control Strategy was reviewed each year through reports of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to the general assembly.  Preventing drug abuse in the workplace is a big responsibility.  The National Institutes on Drug Abuse research has shown that youth are less likely to use drugs if they have involved adults in their lives, setting clear rules and communicating that drug use is unacceptable.

An addiction to alcohol is a lasting same ailment that can damage a person’s career and their family. It can also be fatal to their health if left untreated.

Substantial alcoholic drinks in-take on a regular basis causes chemical changes to a individual’s brain. For example, it alters the composition of the body’s gamma-aminobutyric acids, which function to inhibit impulsiveness, and glutamate, which fuels the nervous system. Unnecessary drinking also tends to drain these chemicals, which can depress the nervous system and hurt important areas of the brain.

Loss of control over the tongue and posture is symptomatic of an liquor-poisened bring, as is weariness, memory loss, weakness of the eye muscles, and paralysis. In critical cases, long-term substantial drinking can even send a person into a coma from which they may never awake.

In addition to the potentially lethal effects of alcohol poisening to the brain, other organs, such as the liver, can also be acutely effected. Unnecessary drinking causes alcoholic substances hepatitis, a disease that is characterized by inflammation of the liver. Its warning signs include appetite loss, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, fever, tenderness, jaundice, and dizziness. If the hefty drinking goes on, the hepatitis can lead to cirrhosis, which is characterized by progressive scarring and obliteration of the liver tissues.

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Alcohol-addicted persons can also suffer serious gastrointestinal problems, such as inflammation of the stomach, that leads to a illness called ‘gastritis’. A gastritis sufferer is unable to absorb nutrients through their stomach, such as vitamin B, folic acid and thiamin.

When alcoholic substances is consumed in heavy quantities, it also damages the pancreas and interferes with the organ creation of hormones that regulate metabolism of the body by creating enzymes for digestion. It can also led to a assortment of cardiovascular problems, such as high blood pressure, and can even damage the heart muscle – a condition called ‘cardiomyopathy’. Cardiomyopathy significantly builds up the possibilities of heart attack.

Diabetes is another common disease amongst alcohol-addicted persons. High liquor intake prevents the liver from releasing glucose, which intensifies the risk of hypoglycemia (characterized by low blood sugar). This ailment is particularly dangerous for someone who is already suffering from diabetes and is taking insulin to reduce their blood-sugar level. Further, prolonged alcohol abuse tends to damage the reproductive system, leading to erectile dysfunction in men and menstrual problems in women.

Alcoholic drinks abuse during pregnancy is particularly grave, as it can give rise to fetal alcoholic drinks syndrome, where the child is born with defects, such as a small head, short eyelids, heart defects, and other abnormalities. And finally, research also displays that continued alcoholic drinks abuse places one at higher risk of cancer and diseases of larynx, esophagus, colon, and liver.

In short, the human body was evidently not designed to handle large amounts of alcohol for any length of time. Heavy drinking may seem like a lot of fun at a distance, and it always seems to interest young people as a means of indicating how grown up they are. Ironically though, irresponsible drinking is the very behavior that has the potential to stop young individuals reaching adulthood altogether.

Drug abuse is a serious problem of modern society. It influences almost all areas of social and individual life of the person. It has negative impact on the criminal situation, economic and cultural level of the country. In my article I will centre on the negative impact drug abuse has on the British economy and the way government resists this problem.

When study the impact of drug industry on the economy of the country and each separate individual it’s necessary to take into account three main categories of illicit drugs. First category consists of illicit drugs which are produced from natural products and these group includes such drugs as morphine, heroine and opium. Second category consists of illicit drugs produced synthetically and includes such drugs as amphetamines. Psychoactive pharmaceutical drugs constitute the last category. It’s necessary to keep in mind that different groups of drugs have different impact on the economy of the country. Drugs can have different impact to the life of an individual. They can occupy complementive or substitutive place. In the cases when person is really a drug edict the is much probability that he of she will take more than one kind of drugs. Researches have proved that the drugs of the second and third groups are oftener used to complement the drugs from the first group. Each group of drugs has different impact on the metal, physical and emotional state of an individual and the use of different drugs makes the study of the problem more difficult. Same it makes more difficult to study the economic effect of complement or substitute drugs and this should also taken into account.

Drug abuse has strong negative effects on the British economy. “An investigation commissioned by the European Community found that the identifiable costs of drug trafficking and abuse amounted to .2 billion 43 in the United Kingdom, equivalent to 0.4 per cent of GDP or about per capita. Of that amount, about 85 per cent was the value of stolen property, thus clearly identifying crime as the most important side-effect of drug abuse.” (Commission of the European Communities). Every day the country loses millions of pounds because of drug abuse. Sadly but the problem of drug abuse has the tendency to grow and drug addiction brings more and more damage to the economy of the country. Money, which could have been spent on the health care or the development of educational sphere, is spent on the fight with drug abuse. “Based on estimates of some 130,000 to 150,000 hard-core abusers, the average annual costs to society per addict were thus approximately £13,000, or approximately ,100.” (Commission of the European Communities).

Drug abuse influence is so strong that it touches several economical spheres of the country. First of all it influences work, employment and productivity. The impact of drug addict on productivity is negative. It has big impact on the labour market reducing productivity level. The research proves that the level of unemployment among drug edicts reaches 60% (Mott). Unemployment is a serious state problem, which also has a negative impact on the economy of the country.

Though drug industry creates some work places they bring no profit to legal institutions.

Huge profits obtained by drug dealers bring no profit to the state and undermine the economy of the country.

The estimated loss caused by drug abuse to the British economy reaches more than million per year. (Commission of the European Communities).

Next field of economy affected by drug abuse is pricing policy and thus the income of the citizens. What is notable, researches show that drug abuse influences the income of all population of the country. Researches have also shown that there is an inverse proportion correlation between the level of income of the citizens and their involvement in drug abuse. This means that the poorer the people are the more is the probability of their involvement into the drug abuse.

Drug abuse has a strong negative impact on the situation with the hard crimes in the country.

The deterioration of criminal situation can also have a negative impact on the economy of the country. First of all it increases for the police expenditures, jails keeping and courts. It also increases the flow of “dirty” money and the way drug money are transferred into production or durable valuables can also have negative impact on the economy of the country. Big amounts of drug money can cause inflation. Money laundry and the law enforcement agencies helping criminals can bring serious damage to the economy of the country. Washing out dirty money gangsters ruin the businesses of honest people as they can afford lower prices in order to wash out the criminal money. In addition the illegal profits of these organisations are not shown in any tax declarations and country loses money in this way too. And though laundering rate is comparatively low in Great Britain and makes only about 1-1.5 per cent of in comparison to 20-30 per cent rate in some Asian countries it still causes serious damage to the economy (Levi). Sometimes money laundering is very hard to distinguish or differentiate from simple money spending. It’s necessary to remember that money laundering is a crime while money spending is a part of human rights guaranteed by the constitution.

British government develops different techniques to fight the drug abuse. Suspicious Transactions Reports (STR) used by the British police and tax police are aimed to control the laundry of the money. Reports produce a lot of research work’s investigation of possible money laundry. Unfortunately, they produce many cases to investigate but it doesn’t mean that investigations are successful and that all suspicions’ transactions are connected with criminal activity. It took the government about 15 years to build anti-money-laundering control regime. It had some positive impact on drug distribution control but, in reality, very often “ineffective regulatory obligations in money laundering control are more often the rule than the exception, prompting the comment that the impressive set of instruments amounts to not much more than a façade of control.” (Levi, 45).

Drug addicts become a health and financial burden for the society. Drug distribution results the appearance of more and more drug addicts and this increases the expenditures in the field of the health care. The government has to spend large sums of money to anti-drug companies and treating drug addicts. The course of treatment in institutions for drug addict is very expensive and one course is usually not enough to return person to normal life. It’s evident that this money is taken from the budget of the country and brings damages to the economy.

Drug law enforcement and legal costs compose about 9 per cent of general drug abuse costs (Commission of the European Communities).

Prison keeping makes about 5 per cent of this amount. Healthcare and treatment of drug addicts and rehabilitation costs make about 2 per cent from general amount. (Commission of the European Communities).

Premature mortality, loss of earnings and reduced productivity are also the direct causes of drug abuse. And though their share in the loss caused by other consequences of drug abused is comparatively small, it should also be taken into account.

The negative impact of terrorism on the economy of the country is a proven fact. Latest researches prove that there is a interrelation between illegal drug use and distribution and terrorism. Very often drug magnates make investments into the development of terrorist organisations.

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