DRUG ABUSE

Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are
harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of
drug abuse are used in public health, medical and criminal justice contexts. In some cases criminal or
anti-social behaviour occurs when the person is under the influence of a drug, and long term personality
changes in individuals may occur as well. In addition to possible physical, social, and psychological harm,
use of some drugs may also lead to criminal penalties, although these vary widely depending on the
local jurisdiction.

Substance abuse is when you take drugs that are not legal. It’s also when you use alcohol, prescription
medicine, and other legal substances too much or in the wrong way.

Substance abuse differs from addiction. Many people with substance abuse problems are able to quit or
can change their unhealthy behavior. Addiction, on the other hand, is a disease. It means you can’t stop
using even when your condition causes you harm.

Commonly Abused Drugs

Both legal and illegal drugs have chemicals that can change how your body and mind work. They can
give you a pleasurable “high,” ease your stress, or help you avoid problems in your life.

Alcohol
Alcohol affects everyone differently. But if you drink too much and too often, your chance of an injury or
accident goes up. Heavy drinking also can cause liver and other health problems or lead to a more
serious alcohol disorder.

If you’re a man and you drink more than four drinks on any day or more than 14 in a week, you’re
drinking too much. For women, heavy drinking means more than three drinks in one day or more than
seven drinks a week.

One drink is:

 12 ounces of regular beer

 8-9 ounces of malt liquor, which has more alcohol than beer
 5 ounces of wine
 1 1/2 ounces of distilled spirits like vodka and whiskey
 Prescription and Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medicine
These can be just as dangerous and addictive as illegal drugs. You can abuse medicine if you:

 Take medicine prescribed for someone else

 Take extra doses or use a drug other than the way it’s supposed to be taken
 Take the drug for a non-medical reason
Types of prescription drugs that are most often abused include
 Opioid pain relievers
 Medicine used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
 Anxiety medicine
The most commonly abused OTC drugs are cough and cold medicine that have
dextromethorphan, which in high doses can make you feel drunk or intoxicated.

Heroin
This illegal drug is the natural version of manmade prescription opioid narcotics. Heroin
gives you a rush of good feelings at first. But when it wears off, everything slows down.
You’ll move and think more slowly, and you may have chills, nausea, and nervousness. You
may feel a strong need to take more heroin to feel better.

Cocaine

This drug speeds up your whole body. When you use cocaine, you may talk, move, or think very
fast. You may feel happy and full of energy. But your mood may then shift to anger. You may feel
like someone is out to get you. It can cause you to do things that don’t make sense.

Using cocaine for a long time will lead to strong cravings for the drug.

Marijuana
A growing number of states have legalized medical uses of marijuana. A handful of states also allow
recreational pot. But in most states, it’s still illegal.

Marijuana can make you feel silly and laugh for no reason. Or you may feel sleepy and forget things that
just happened. Driving while high on pot is just as dangerous as drunk driving. And heavy marijuana use
can leave some people “burned out” and not think or care about much.

Symptoms of Addiction
Recurrent use of a substance or engagement with an activity leading to impairment or distress, is
the sine qua non of an addictive disorder. The diagnosis is based on the presence of at least two of a
number of features:

 The substance or activity is used in larger amounts or for a longer period of time than was
intended.
 There is a desire to cut down on use or unsuccessful efforts to do so.
 Pursuit of the substance or activity or recovery from its use consumes a significant amount
of time.
 There is a craving or strong desire to use the substance or activity.
 Use of the substance or activity disrupts role obligations at work, school, or home.
 Use of the substance or activity continues despite the social or interpersonal problems it
causes.
 Participation in important social, work, or recreational activities drops or stops.
 Use occurs in situations where it is physically risky.

Psychological causes of addiction

 Personality factors. Both impulsivity and sensation seeking have been linked to substance
use and gambling disorders. Impulsivity may be particularly related to the risk of relapse.
 Trauma and abuse. Perhaps by sensitizing brain pathways of alarm/distress, perhaps by
adding to the burden of stress, early exposure to significant adverse experience can
contribute to the development of substance use disorder by overwhelming the coping
ability of an individual.
 Mental health factors. Conditions such as depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder, and
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) increase the risk of addiction. Difficulties managing
strong emotions are also linked to substance use.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/addiction

DRUG addiction in Pakistan

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Pakistan has 6.7 million drug users. More
than 4 million of these are addicts, amongst the highest number for any country in the world. Abuse
of cannabis and heroin is rife in the country and the drugs are extremely cheap and easy to get. Most
of the drugs come from Afghanistan, the country that is responsible for at least 75% of the world's
heroin. UNODC calculates that more than 800,000 Pakistanis aged between 15 and 64 use heroin
regularly. It is also estimated that up to 44 tons of processed heroin are consumed annually in
Pakistan. A further 110 tons of heroin and morphine from neighboring Afghanistan are trafficked
through Pakistan to international markets. Furthermore, Pakistan’s illegal drug trade is believed to
generate up to $2 billion a year.

The number of drug (Cannabis) users is particularly high in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of
Pakistan, which neighbors Afghanistan, where close to 11 percent of the population is hooked on
drugs (mainly Cannabis) .In 2013, the number of drug users in Balochistan was 280,000.
In Pakistan, the total number of drug addicts as per a UN report is 7.6 million, where 78% are male
while the rest 22% are female. The number of these addicts is increasing at the rate of 40,000 per year
making Pakistan one of the most drug affected countries in the world. Drug Usage Is Increasing day
by day. In Pakistan more than 800,000 people are addicted to drugs.

The number of injection drug users in Punjab has also increased sharply in the recent years. In 2007,
Pakistan had an estimated 90,000 injecting drug users but the number had risen to around 500,000
by 2014. This increase has also been accompanied by an increase in HIV positivity. According to
research, in 2005, about 11 percent of Pakistani drug users were HIV positive. That number had risen
to 40 percent in 2011
References

Mosby's Medical, Nursing & Allied Health Dictionary. Sixth Edition. Drug abuse definition, p. 552.
Nursing diagnoses, p. 2109. ISBN 0-323-01430-5.2002

Ksir, Oakley Ray; Charles (2002). Drugs, society, and human behavior (9th ed.). Boston [u.a.]: McGraw-
Hill. ISBN 978-0072319637.

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/substance-abuse#1

"Drugged up Pakistan". AlJazeera. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

David Browne (23 March 2014). "How Pakistan succumbed to a hard-drug epidemic". Telegraph. The
Telegraph. Retrieved 18 March 2015

The Newspaper's Staff Correspondent. "6.7m Pakistanis used drugs in 2013: report".

Drug, Report. "UN Report".

"Pakistan: The Most Heroin-Addicted Country in the World". The Diplomat. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 18
March 2015.