DRUG ADDICTION
Introduction According to a recent report, drug addiction is underestimated as a cause of several types of cancer, particularly in the mouth, larynx, colon, esophagus, liver and breast. This is in light of the increasing rate of drug addiction in both developed and developing countries. Colvin (2001) reported that as of 2000, excessive drug intake is the cause of 185,000 deaths among men and 142,000 among women. However, moderate intake of drugs is considered to have prevented 71,000 and 277,000 deaths among men and women respectively. Stemmed (2002) discriminates between excessive and moderate drug intake in discussing disease and death causation. In the case of developing countries, excessive drug intake is associated with 1.52 million and 301,000 deaths among men and women respectively. Despite the lower cases of cardiovascular health problems in developing countries, excessive drug intake accounts for more deaths than in developing countries. According to Rich (2000), the direct relationship of drug addiction and cancer determines a person’s risk of developing the medical condition. Increasing the intake of drugs increases the risk of developing cancer. American Cancer Society reported that the development of oral cancer is 6 time higher among drug addicts relative to non-drug addicts. Moreover, around 75% to 80% of patients with cancer have been drug addicts. Drug addiction is also the primary cause of several other cancers. People who are drug addicts have a higher rate of dying from cancer as compared to non-excessive or non-drug addicts. What is epidemiological data of drug addiction? According to the Bissell (1987), drug addiction causes around 1.8 million deaths annually. Excessive drug intake is attributed to 20-30% of cancer in the esophagus and liver. Thus, drug addiction consists of the highest risk factor for the development of disease in developing countries with low mortality rates and the third highest risk factor in the developing countries. Epidemiological information has determined chronic drug addiction as a significant cause for cancers,including cancer of the larynx and the esophagus as well as of the liver. The increased risk attributable to drug addiction of cancer in the large intestine and in the breastis much smaller. Thus, in considering the high prevalence of such tumors, even a small increase in cancer risk is of great importance, in individuals who exhibit a higher risk for other reasons. Methamphetamine addiction
First and foremost, methamphetamine is a very serious problem that causes tremendous headaches not only for families who have been affected by drug addiction but to the lawmakers as well. Quick facts about the use of methamphetamine are that it kills by causing serious diseases that involves vital body organs such as heart and brain, women are more likely to use methamphetamine than cocaine, methamphetamine addicts are the hardest to cure, produced methamphetamine leaves toxic waste that damaged streams and sewage systems and the serious one is that it can cause paranoia.
There have been initiatives made by some United States legislators to eradicate the rampaging use of methamphetamine based on the findings of some doctors of the adverse effects and consequences of methamphetamine addiction. Many experts contend that the now popular use of methamphetamine begun as a biker gang’s drug choice in the Southwest. Although currently, it is evident that methamphetamine is a known drugs all over the world. Seemingly, addictions now exist at all levels of society. In 2005, legislators have focused on reducing the access of methamphetamine by proposing to contain drugs that have a pseudo ephedrine ingredient in the pharmacy. However, the stiff proposal of requiring pharmacist to report any transaction involving pseudo ephedrine by Representative Bob Ring to the Senate was a failure. On the contrary, the executive director of Law Enforcement against Prohibition worries that the prohibition of the purchase of pseudo ephedrine may be reinforcing.
The comparison drawn from the insights gained from the readings and interview is very comparable and similar from the conclusions that are anticipated. The problem of methamphetamine use is a very tough task to deal with. Despite the efforts of the government, the impediments are still to the greater extent. According to Senator Jackie Spear of California, 85 percent of methamphetamine has been manufactured in California. Methamphetamine labs have been cleaned up yet the problem does not seem to be eradicated. Questions have been raised as to what is the right thing to do to solve the unending problem of methamphetamine, whether to prohibit or monitor the selling of pseudo ephedrine, as one of the ingredients in the manufacturing of methamphetamine. “Our experience with every kind of drug has been that when you prohibit it or restrict access to it, you only push it more into the hands of the criminals,” says Jack Cole. Conversely, say Carol Fallows, “You can try to restrict access to ingredients and shut down as many methamphetamine labs as you can, but you are still going to have a methamphetamine problem until you emphasize treatment.” The medical institutions somehow lack efforts in promoting awareness to the public of the different adverse effects of methamphetamine addiction. As an institution of knowledge, their opinions and findings would be of great help since they have the reputation of being the specialist in the field. As they say, prevention is better than cure. The promotion of awareness about the abuse of methamphetamine will alarm the people at the same time can shed hope for the drug addicts that it is still not too late to get methamphetamine out in their system.
Recent Methamphetamine Research
In the advent that the media was quick to report suggesting that prenatal exposure to methamphetamine caused serious defects in children, human studies has predicted formidable consequences. Due to this awareness, the Americans expressed resentment to mothers who uses methamphetamine during pregnancy. Without a benefit of a doubt, mothers were readily judged rather be offered with treatment and support. To end the media’s speculations and claims, the US Department of Health and Human Services concluded that there is irrelevance in the findings of the serious effect of exposure to methamphetamine between the animal study and humans because there is no such thing that mothers directly inject the methamphetamine into the peritoneum.
In an experiment by Californian researchers, they found out that brain chemical levels of a normal person from a formerly drug users, that concentrations of the N-acetyl-aspartame were reduced by five percent. This indication connotes neuronal damage or loss. It is of interest why drug addicts in spite of the very serious adverse effects seem to not have the effort of quitting the use of any drugs.
Interview of Juvenile Drug Addict
The most important thing that any interviewer learned when interviewing a drug addict is that how hard it is to put a halt in drug addiction. Methamphetamine adverse effects is so pervasive that it would really take tons of determination and loaded commitment for methamphetamine addicts for them to be able to put an end in the use of it. As a person, the need to empathize is important so that one is able to open his or her mind for a deeper understanding of the needs of a methamphetamine addict. Methamphetamine addicts needs immediate attention and care so that they will still have a chance to make better out of their lives (Jay, 2000).
In contrast from the insights from the readings, the problem of the spread of methamphetamine is not a one solution based situation. The dilemma will continue to be an endless puzzle not only for the legislators to solve but for the big community as well. Jim, a former juvenile methamphetamine addict from Houston, Texas, states that, “Addiction has been around for a long time and it is going to continue. But lawmakers can take an important step forward in this battle if they focus on everything at once.” The need for cooperation of everybody and the need to get involved by the community rather than the community prosecuting the addicts would contribute to gradually solve the mystery that unravels the continuing problems of methamphetamine use. As quoted by Jim, these kinds of addictions bring with them many problems but unfortunately they can rarely be solved with only one solution.”
Conclusion
To further extend the knowledge learned from this project, the need to dig deep about the key issues can be of help. Perhaps, interviewing more drug addicts to explore their real sentiments since only few cared to hear them out. Instead of just reading articles about the effects and the persistent problem of methamphetamine, the realization to get involved in the actual programs being set by the government is imperative. The biggest challenge would be to volunteer in a drug rehabilitation institute to give you clear and more precise picture of the real world suffered by drug addicts.
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