Drug Abuse And Dependence Policy

Drug policy is a crucial topic in the country today. Substance abuse, as well as drug-related crime rates, are a huge problem. This is a fact. The way to fix the problem of substance abuse, however, is widely disagreed upon. Some think that stricter laws regarding drug possession and use would solve the problem, while others believe that loosening the restrictions would be a better option. The issue of legalizing drugs, especially marijuana, is one that is debated all the time. In fact, in 1995, a survey was conducted on the most important policy issues and eighty five percent of the country placed drugs at the top of the list (Falco 1996). Many states are actually beginning to decriminalize, and even

This policy was enforced because a statistic was made; that between 2011 and 2012, an estimated 8.9% of adults used an illegal drug. And 19.3% of young people aged between 16 and 24 also used an illegal drug. Drug misuse has a negative effect on the health, wellbeing and quality of life of too many people. It also drains public resources. Crimes related to drugs cost the UK £13.3 billion every year.

The disease model of addiction rests on three primary assumptions predisposition to use a drug, loss of control over use, and progression (Krivanek, 1988, p.202). These physiological alterations cause an undeniable desire to take more drugs (McNeece & DiNitto, 2012). Addicts are viewed as individuals with an incurable disease with drug addiction as the symptom. The disease model argues users cannot be held accountable for their addictions (Kirvanek, 1988).

Prochaska and DiClemente(1984)  deals with intentional behavioural change and views change as a process rather than an event.The change process is characterised by six stages of change.These include the precontemplation,contemplation,preparation,action,maintenance and relapse which can occur at any stage in any part of the cycle.

How Addiction Happens, How Change Happens, and What Social Workers Need to Know to Be Effective Facilitators of Change is an article written by Jill Littrell. Littrell addresses the complexity of underlying physiological demands made on patients throughout the addiction and treatment process. Even if a patient has whole heartedly committed themselves to their sobriety , physiological components of the brain can unknowingly trigger the need to use. Therefore, the trans-theoretical theory with the motivational interviewing approach are believed to help clients experience less resistance and be more open to change by learning why they want or need to make changes. Hence, using more direct or confrontational methods in addiction treatment could

The Transtheoretical is a theoretical model of behavior change that integrates model of key concepts from other theories. This model is widely used by professionals to effectively promote health behavior change. This model describes how an individual modifies a certain behavior – such as smoking. TTM uses the stages of change as the central concept that integrates the most powerful principles and processes of change from leading theories of counseling and behavior change. The stages of change are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination. Studies related to change have found that individuals go through series of stages when modifying behavior. Processes of change work

The policy chosen for this analysis is the Washington Administrative Code, title 388, chapter 388-877B section 0400-50 substance use disorders services (WAC 388- 877B-0400-50). This policy applies to behavioral health agencies and any agencies that provide substance disorder opiate substitution and opiate treatment in Washington State (WAC, 2016). The Center for disease control and prevention (CDC) (2016) defines opioid addiction as a problematic pattern of opioid use that causes clinically significant impairment or distress.

The current substance abuse policies are affected by the political canges. These political changes went into effect April 24, 2013. (Jones, 2013). The Obama administration created a drug policy for the 21st century. (Jones, 2013). The new policy which is refered to as the strategy notes that substance abuse disorders are a major public concern (Jones, 2013). The author notes this new strategy is based on science, promotes prevention in programs offered community wide, they try to promote community responsibility in this new strategy, have treatment available to all, and support others in recovery. It also notes that medical and law enforcement professionals play a vital role in all of this whether it be in intervention, prevention, or in

Among highly developed nations, the United States is known for its stringent illegal drug use policy and the high percentages of its population that have consumed illegal substances. The United States has issued a drug war against millions of Americans who use and sell illegal substances. This war has cost taxpayers billions annually and continues to contribute to an incarceration rate that surpasses any other country (Walmsley 2009). Although, stringent policies have lowered the decline in U.S drug consumption since the 1970’s, the war on drugs in the United States has not succeeded in changing America from being the world leaders in use rates for illegal drugs.

It is paramount to attempt to understand why individuals become ‘addicts’/ drug dependent, as in doing so treatments and therapies may be adopted in line with the needs of the drug dependent individual. A greater understanding in the area of causality may produce more effective interventions at earlier stages of drug misuse.

This article provided a definition of the Trans Theoretical model of behavior change and provided ways to support change based on the client’s stage of change. The Trans theoretical model (TTM) is a tool that can be used to promote behavior change. The TTM focuses on the decision making of the individual and intentional behavior change. Although the TTM was originally designed to describe changes in addictive behavior, it has recently expanded to include preventive health behavior change. The TTM says that people do not change all at once, rather they move through a series of five stages toward behavior change. These five stages include pre contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. Table 2 from the article provided

In order to successfully decrease the cases of drug addiction, society needs to remember that we cannot change the physiological effects of drugs, but we can prevent individuals from turning into them. In other words, the primary focus should be on the individual and not the drug.

The aim of this chapter is to explore the current prevalence of substance misuse in the UK. The chapter aims to discover the prevalence of substance misuse, the character of individuals that misuse substances and the availability of substances on UK streets. The effects of this on individuals, families and community’s will be explored, as will the results this has on the UK prison population. We will end this chapter with a brief exploration of why individuals use substances, and why they become problematic for some and not others.

Drug overuse has raised considerable awareness for several decades and individual who have drug overuse problems usually have difficulty controlling their drug intake or even their normal life. Approaches like Harm minimisation has been used in policies, programmes and practices to deal with problems associated with drug overuse. The drug policy of Australia is based on harm minimisation and lots of Australians take at least one psychoactive drug on a regular basis, such as some kinds of medication, alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs that all have a potential risk to cause harm (Australian Drug Foundation, 2014). Harm minimisation is one of the most effective approaches towards drug overuse. This essay will examine how the Harm minimisation approaches deal with drug overuse and evaluate three Harm minimisation programs, respectively, Needle and Syringe programmes, Methadone Maintenance Treatment, Medically Supervised injecting Centres.

“Drug misuse refers to the use of a drug for purposes for which it was not intended or using a drug in excessive quantities” (Powell, 2011). It is a widely discussed topic in contemporary society. The argument as to whether drugs should be legalised has been ongoing for many decades. Legalisation and regulation of some illicit drugs are now on the agenda. Statistics have shown that in 2014-2015, around 1 in 12 (8.6%) adults aged 16 to 59 had taken an illicit drug (Home Office, 2015). Illicit drug use is said to be rising in the UK. Research was conducted by the Observer whereby they found that in 2008, 27% of the population had taken illegal drugs. However, this figure has now increased to 31% (Mann, 2014). In addition to this, in 2014,