Drug and Alcohol

Drug and alcohol abuse is more common than people think and even some people you think are drug free just might not be. Everyone has heard over and over how bad drugs and alcohol abuse are yet some of you have a reason to be shocked. A few interesting facts from the Addiction Research Foundation: Did you know more than 60 percent of teens said that drugs were sold, used, or kept at their school. Or that 20 percent of 8th graders report that they have tried marijuana. Did you know 63 percent of the youth who drink alcohol say that they initially got the alcohol from their own or their friend's homes? Lastly, underage drinking costs the United States more than $58 billion every year. These are just a few of unknown though terrifying facts and it doesn't stop there. The abuse of these can change so much such as your life and your health, but there are ways to keep safe.

So you decide one day you want to start using drugs illegally or you decide you want to start drinking all hours of the day every day. How is this going to affect your life? This will affect all aspects of your life most likely affecting the ones closest to you such as family and friends. Ensman states," the problem is right in front of our faces with three out of ten adults report that drinking has been a cause of trouble in their family." As drug or alcohol abuse accelerates in you, most likely you will end up missing work more and more. On top of that the money you do make will start to go fast while you're spending it to keep up with your habit. It's not uncommon for a drug abuser to end up unemployed and unemployable. Eventually, if your habit gets to be too controlling, then you will end up seeing all your old priorities as unimportant. Say before your habit it was important to pay off your loan to a bank and you actually paid more each month just to pay it off early. After your habit takes control, the loan you wanted to pay off is now meaningless to you and the money you used to pay off the loan all goes to your habit and you could end up on the streets. With this abuse, it's only a matter of time till you're in jail. Not only are you doing something illegal, such as taking drugs, you have a higher chance of making dumb decisions such as drinking and driving.

So it's very obvious why you should not abuse drugs and alcohol because of the bad changes it can make to your life. Though what other dangers are there when it comes to your health? As you might assume nutrition related problems commonly occur when a person abuses drugs or alcohol. A person consuming these mind altering substances can end up so focused on finding the next fix that they simply don't care about their health anymore. In a very short time of abuse, the failure to maintain a balanced diet will negatively impact a person's body, including significant weight loss and a negative impact on organ functioning. A person's immune system ultimately can end up damaged through drug or alcohol abuse. With a weak immune system, it leaves an abuser vulnerable to many serious diseases or conditions. Some common problems start at liver cirrhosis. Brain damage, including cellular death, is possible when an individual abuses alcohol and drugs.( Addiction Research Foundation ) Also, mental and emotional problems can come into play with an individual who abuse drugs or alcohol. Depression is a very common mental condition for substance abusers. Depression typically causes a person to increase his drug or alcohol use. The abuser will try to help his depressive symptoms through consuming more drugs and alcohol. This increase in the use of drugs or alcohol will increase the severity of the depression.( Addiction Research