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 THE PROBLEM 

In a general population sample of 10‐ to 20‐year‐olds, roughly 12.4 percent (96 of 776) met criteria for a substance use disorder (Cohen et al. 1993). Alcohol and other psychoactive drugs play a prominent role in violent death for teenagers, including homicide, suicide, traffic accidents, and other injuries. Aside from death, drug use can lead to a range of possible detrimental consequences:

  • Violent behavior

  • Delinquency

  • Psychiatric disorders

  • Risky sexual behavior, possibly leading to unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases

  • Impulsivity

  • Neurological impairment

  • Developmental impairment

In the U.S., about 4,300 people under age 21 die each year from injuries caused by underage drinking, more than 35 percent in car crashes.

How Many People Are Using Drugs and Driving?
 

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) National Roadside Survey, more than 16% of weekend, nighttime drivers tested positive for illegal, prescription, or over-the-counter (OTC) medications (11% tested positive for illegal drugs).  In 2009, 18% of fatally injured drivers tested positive for at least one drug (illegal, prescription and/or over-the-counter).

Even more concerning……the Monitoring the Future Study (MTF) found that 1 in 12 high school seniors reported driving after smoking marijuana.

FACT:  Number of Deaths:  In 2009, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) reported that 3,952 fatally injured drivers tested positive for drug involvement.

1-800-662-help There are different types of treatments to meet your specific needs. You can get referrals to treatment programs by calling 1-800-662-HELP (a confidential hotline), or by visiting the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration online at www.findtreatment. samhsa.gov. 

In situations where one person is substance dependent and the other is not, questions of codependency arise. Codependency has become a popular topic in the substance abuse field. Separate 12‐Step groups such as Al‐Anon and Alateen, Co‐Dependents Anonymous (CoDA), Adult Children of Alcoholics, Adult Children Anonymous, Families Anonymous, and Co‐Anon have formed for family members (see appendix D for a listing of these and other resources).

CoDA describes codependency as being overly concerned with the problems of another to the detriment of attending to one’s own wants and needs (CoDA 1998). Codependent people are thought to have several patterns of behavior:

  • They are controlling because they believe that others are incapable of taking care of themselves.

  • They typically have low self‐esteem and a tendency to deny their own feelings.

  • They are excessively compliant, compromising their own values and integrity to avoid rejection or anger.

  • They often react in an oversensitive manner, as they are often hypervigilant to disruption, troubles, or disappointments.

  • They remain loyal to people who do nothing to deserve their loyalty (CoDA 1998).

THE HARD TRUTH

 ALCOHOL AND DRUGS: 

 STEALING OUR SOCIETY ONE TRAGEDY 

 AND ONE PRECIOUS LIFE AT A TIME

Our Nation’s #1 health problem is alcoholism and drug dependence.  For decades, our National Network of Affiliates have seen how the disease of addiction not only affects the individual, but millions of family members.

Fathers, mothers, single parents, couples straight or gay, regardless of ethnicity or social group, rich or poor….drug and alcohol abuse destroys relationships.  Most of all, young children and adolescents suffer the greatest from the effects of the abuse of alcohol and drugs in the family.

 

 

FACT--DRUG ARRESTS:  According to the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCRP) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), there were almost 1.7 million state and local arrests for drug abuse violations in 2009.

The Facts on Drugs and Crime in America

 

Our nation’s prison population has exploded beyond capacity.

  • 1 in 100 U.S. citizens is now confined in jail or prison.
  • The U.S. incarcerates more people per capita than 26 of the largest European nations combined.
  • Incarceration rates in the U.S. are nine times greater for young African-American men between the ages of 20 and 34 years.
  • Most inmates are in prison, at least in large part, because of substance abuse.

  • 80% of offenders abuse drugs or alcohol.

  • Nearly 50% of jail and prison inmates are clinically addicted.

  • Approximately 60% of individuals arrested for a crime tests positive for illegal drugs at the time of arrest.

THE PROBLEM

You and I are, in some way, engaged in a life or death battle in this country. We currently face an enemy that practices the most dangerous form of terrorism.

 

In this fight, we are pitted against a biological disease which, after infecting the host victim, attacks from the inside, first convincing the victim that he or she has no disease, then proceeds to it's evil rein of terror in the lives of everyone connected to the host victim.  Sadly, the current statistics show that much suffering, loss of health, destruction of family, breaking-up of relationships, legal tragedies and early death await as the causalties of this modern conflict pile up before us.

'Drug Dealers, M.D.'s: Misunderstandings And Good Intentions Fueled Opioid Epidemic

December 15, 20162:35 PM ET

America's attitude toward pain has shifted radically over the past century. Psychiatrist Anna Lembke says that 100 years ago, the medical community thought that pain made patients stronger.

"Doctors believed that pain was salutary," she tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross, "meaning that it had some physiologic benefit to the individual, and certainly some spiritual benefit."

But as prescription painkillers became more available, patients became less willing to endure pain. Suddenly, Lembke says, "doctors began to feel that pain was something they had to eliminate at all cost."  click here to read full article

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