Drug abuse - Definition


Drug abuse - Definition

Drug abuse or substance abuse is the use of any chemical substance (especially controlled substances such as psychoactive drugs, narcotics, hormones, prescription medication or over the counter medicines) in a way that society deems harmful to the user or others.

Drug abuse is most commonly associated with addictive substances. Alcohol is also addictive and prone to abuse, however the term alcohol abuse is generally used distinctly from "drug abuse".

Contents

1 Approaches To Managing Drug Abuse

1.1 Advocation Of Recreational Drug Use
1.2 Medical Treatment
1.3 Legal Treatment

2 See also

Approaches To Managing Drug Abuse

Advocation Of Recreational Drug Use

There are those who advocate strongly that the right to use drugs, even to the point of harming oneself, is an individual right. Their proposal is that recreational drug use should be allowed by society, with societal intervention only when harm comes to others. This model is already followed in many countries for alcohol and cigarettes, and in a few countries for additional substances like marijuana.

The counter argument to allowing recreational drug use is that addictive substances, by definition, limit the individual's ability to make a free choice in their use of drugs, and therefore drugs should be controlled and criminalized at a societal level. There are many countries that prohibit the use of all addictive substances including alcohol, and the Prohibition movement in the United States was an eventually revoked attempt to do just that.

Medical Treatment

Non-dietary substances entering the body can often have a deleterious effects both acute and chronic. Furthemore, the addictive nature of most drugs limits the individual's ability to discontinue drug use even when experiencing these adverse health effects.

Medical treatment then centers on two aspects: 1) breaking the addiction, 2) treating the health problems.

Most societies in the world have health facilities that specialize in the treatment of drug abuse, although access may be limited to larger population centers and the social taboos regarding drug use may make those who need the medical treatment reluctant to take advantage of it.

Legal Treatment

Most countries in the world have lists of controlled substances, which are those substances that the society has deemed too harmful for individuals to exercise their individual choice to use. For controlled substances, the legal punishments for the creation, distribution, possession and even personal use can be quite severe (including death penalty in some countries).

Despite the illegality of controlled substances, many very large, organized criminal drug cartels operate world-wide. Advocates of decriminalization argue that it is the illegality of these substances that is making drug dealing such a lucrative business.