Examining Narcotics as a Social Issue

While filling up that vial with that black-tar-heroin, many think about the consequences, but he really didn’t care. He did it anywhere and anytime while driving a car, lying down in bed, even when going to the bathroom. As he was filling up the syringe, he was thinking about the relaxation and easiness that will come after injecting themselves, perhaps to relieve of stress, maybe to fit in, or maybe just as an experiment and to rebel. But every 13 minutes, 1 person will overdose – and not knowing how much he can take – he suddenly feels exhausted and he will never know that he’ll be dead within minutes. Over 70,000 people in the United States alone have died from an overdose of narcotics in 2017 alone, over 10 Million Americans alone use opioids. Not only have Drugs and Opioids caused countless deaths within the United States, but they have also affected millions of individuals and their families. Drugs can mainly leave an individual with effects not only in physical health but also mental health, leaving a person possibly disabled for their whole life, and therefore lead to financial instability which can have a negative impact on an individual. In the end, drug and opioid use can have a large impact on an individual, contributing to the demise of health, parenting abilities, and financial stability.

The utilization of narcotics can leave an individual with serious, and sometimes permanent,  mental and physical health consequences. The problems that come from the use of narcotics are typically life-long and can affect an individual’s life forever. Depending on how life might be affected, the use of narcotics can not only compromise an individual’s physical health but also mental health. For example, in “Prescription Opioids” by the government organization Drug Abuse, opioids can lead to certain disorders or even leading to the loss of muscle memory and short-term memories. Drug abuse can lead to extreme consequences such as slowed breathing, which motives little oxygen to go to the brain (hypoxia) which can have temporary and permanent mental and physical effects; such as coma and everlasting brain damage which can lead to death. Many dire reactions may happen because of the use of drugs and that even an individual may have their downfall. This may lead to an individual losing their health when they may have been taking these narcotics to make them healthy. Also, the mental health of an individual may also be affected largely from the lack of oxygen, which can also cause many accidents to a victim, like when they are driving a car or are already tired. Equally, this can later prove deadly or cause permanent impairment of that individual, which ultimately generates greater pain than what they were trying to get rid of. But many may not think about how immediately Opioids take place, and what it turns they might get for the immediate relaxation they are trying to get. Similarly, the paper “Opioid Complications and Side Effects” thoroughly discusses the immediate effects of narcotics on their users “include sedation, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, constipation, physical dependence, tolerance, and respiratory depression. Physical dependence […] include delayed gastric emptying, hyperalgesia, immunologic and hormonal dysfunction, muscle rigidity”(Benyamin, Trescot, Datta, Buenaventura, Adlaka, Sehgal, Glaser, Vallejo). The usage of opioids and narcotics leads to the loss of hygiene and the ability to function by yourself. These drugs may leave many people stranded regarding human dependance and cause them to be both physically and mentally disabled. As a result, they will dislike their lives, leading to depression and intolerance to others which can repeat in the cycle can cause more physical problems. Opioids can create a need for more and more narcotics, and create a problem in the mentality of a person, and the dependence on narcotics. For example, in “The Most Commonly Abused Prescription Drugs” by Teen Health and Wellness, it’s thoroughly discussed that opioids do truly change who you are and how you act. Dependency is one reason opioid addiction is hard to treat, “Worse, the body also craves the drug, and the user needs to take it in order to not feel sick” Evidently the consumption of opioids can truly change your life to an emotional relationship, and can really mess up who you are, and the dependency on drugs that causes these problems, and mental health can severely deteriorate from trying to get away from these drugs. This is because many think it enjoys living without food or water, therefore motivating the user to pursue ludicrous actions when trying to get opioids, which then leaves the individual distressed and unhealthy. In brief, narcotic use can lead to not only compromising an individual’s physical health but also mental health. Without a doubt, this can also lead to a lack of parenting, therefore, impacting children of families with narcotics use.

Resorting to narcotics can have a large impact on an individual’s family and their parenting skills. The home environment of an individual using drugs can largely vary depending on the use of opioids and it can change how both the parents and children may act, and it may take a toll on the children. For example, in the article “Who Opioids Affect” by Krystina Murray, a writer for the Organization Rehab Spot, the use of narcotics can also cause the baby to become disabled and be undeveloped as a child creating problems later on in life. “Children in the homes of parents on drugs may not form functional emotional connections needed for the child to feel connected and nurtured by their parents […] are more likely to experience long-term effects of neglect or abuse than other children.” Drugs may cause a child to become severely disrupted as a child and may cause them to turn out more different from other peers due to this opioid use, by the parent. Also, these drugs may create problems in the child being disregarded and disliked by the parent because of the intolerance that the child may have now, and how they are being put away from the parent since they are more involved and invested in doing Narcotics. Most children will only feel disappointment in their life since they feel that they are not being encouraged to do good things in life, since they are not sincerely being pushed to doing good things in their life; and they will end up making mistakes in their life, and end up following the path of taking Narcotics. In the article “Who Opioids Affect”, an unstable family environment can create results in “secrecy, loss, conflict, violence, and fear […] may live in a chaotic environment and have little or no stability because of their parent’s drug addiction.” (Murray). Thusly this can create an adult to cause for their children to become dependent on themselves and create an individual that has social problems and notions, like making them act as if they are a nobody or the king of the world since they will have no self-control or ego. This environment that may come from a parent’s drug addiction might change the way an individual act and response to future situations; for example, they may solve a problem in school they may solve it thought violent efforts potentially harming themselves and others around them, all because of this opioid addiction. Lastly, children may become more and more individualized and lack social order and status because of neglect from their parents, “they were less likely to seek contact and more avoidant than children in the control group… the increased risk of emotional and behavioral issues, poor academic performance, and poor social skills.” (“Effects of parental opioid use on the parent”). A child may be neglected when in regards to social status. This can lead to the potential disruption and destruction for a child to become accustomed to social orders. However, they may become more and more disrupted by their pessimistic views and become customary to the way they think and their beliefs. However, it may change the child for the better making them possibly have a more free will, or even making themselves feel that they must become better than their parents and having a high academic performance and try harder to become a better person. In short, an individual using narcotics can take a large toll on their family and parenting. However, this toll on parenting can also leave the family with financial strains.

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Lastly, the application of narcotics can leave an individual with financial instability. Addiction can lead to economic hardships that create more problems in the long term. Individuals will most likely later suffer from missing or losing their jobs and not being able to pay their fees as they should be. For example, the Organization Beachway (committed to providing rehab to drug addicts) describes how long-term drug abusers can affect their lifestyle, “But with drugs like crystal meth and heroin, the cost of use over a year can skyrocket to between $5,000 and $10,000… There are plenty of ways that substance abuse can affect your paycheck… people who abuse drugs and alcohol miss work much more often than people who don’t.” (“Common Financial Consequences of Abusing Drugs and Alcohol”) Furthermore, if an individual’s job relies on how much is worked and not a yearly regular payment, then you lose money anytime you miss work as a result of addiction. It’s not uncommon for individuals misusing Narcotics and alcohol to be fired or quit their job because of missing and worsening work habits. Thusly, once you lose employment as a result of the misuse of Narcotics, you will most likely encounter hassle finding another job; since nobody wants a addict as an employee. Overall, nobody will want to live and work with a drug addict that will not contribute to their lifestyle positively, leaving them stranded financially. Furthermore, the organization Beachway also describes the true cost of substance abuse, “Substance abuse isn’t cheap…burden it places on many aspects of a person’s life, including in terms of employment, health, family, social services, legal services, and more.” (“Common Financial Consequences of Abusing Drugs and Alcohol”). Addiction takes a massive financial toll on individuals and their families, and there is a multitude of reasons for this. As shown the addiction is much more complicated than the cost of doing these opiates, and can create financial instability for an individual and cause for them to have problems with not only their employment but also with financial problems that may come upon them such as the problems that may come up from illegally doing these opiates such as legal services that an individual and their family must take on from this abuse and create financial problems for not only themselves but also their family. Lastly, abuse may take away from funds that may have been used to benefit yourself later on, “often, funds to maintain a drug abuse habit are taken from savings accounts, child education funds and other living expenses” (“The Financial Toll of Addiction”) Substance comes for a price and not a pretty one at that. The funds that may come from the use of Narcotics may depend from time to time, but the money typically used could have been used for something beneficial in the end, but it was pointlessly used on addiction abuse. However, it can prohibit an individual from getting financial support later on in life since they are not dependable and they cannot actually pay back what money they might have irresponsibly used from possibly family funds, or funds were to be used by something else, that can also take away from health and family.

To conclude, narcotics can sufficiently contribute to the demise of an individual’s health, parenting abilities, and financial stability. That man may have died, been taken away, and put to rest; but the true question is to know whether the opioids will ever come to a halting stop not just in the United States but everywhere in the world; and prevents lives like this man’s being lost. However, as previously noted this misuse of narcotics can also lead to further issues like the demise of not only health but also government resources. Perhaps, there will be new treatments to help come away from opioid misuse while it’s happening and perhaps it’s possible that there will be different pain-relieving drugs that are not as addictive. What do you think would happen if we don’t put more resources into Narcotics Abuse?

Works Cited

• Benyamin, Ramsin, et al. “Opioid Complications and Side Effects.” Pain Physician, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Mar. 2008, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18443635.
• “Common Financial Consequences of Abusing Drugs and Alcohol.” Beachway Therapy Center, 24 July 2018, www.beachway.com/common-financial-consequences-abusing-drugs-alcohol/.
• National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Prescription Opioids.” NIDA, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/prescription-opioids.
• Person. “The Financial Toll of Addiction.” DrugAbuse.com, 11 June 2019, drugabuse.com/financial-toll-addiction/.
• Romanowicz, Magdalena, et al. “The Effects of Parental Opioid Use on the Parent-Child Relationship and Children’s Developmental and Behavioral Outcomes: a Systematic Review of Published Reports.” Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, BioMed Central, 12 Jan. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6330457/.
• “Teen Health and Wellness.” Teen Health & Wellness, teenhealthandwellness.com/article/270/2/the-most-commonly-abused-prescription-drugs.
• “Who Opioid Addiction Affects: Getting Help for Opioid Abse – Rehab Spot.” RehabSpot, www.rehabspot.com/opioids/who-addiction-affects/.