Prevention And Treatment Essay Sample

One of the issues that affect children or adolescence is drug abuse. Drug abuse is the characteristic taking of illegal or addictive drugs. When an individual takes a medication that was prescribed for someone else or takes their medicine in a way not proposed by a doctor or to get high. Such drugs include happy pills, alcohol, cigarettes, heroin, marijuana, etc.
The most abused drugs are marijuana, alcohol, and opioid pain relievers and are abused by American the age of 14years and above. In 2014, the University of Michigan carried out a study and found out that there is 12% use of drugs. Statistics shows that marijuana was abused most with 35.1%, then Amphetamines 8.1%, etc. (National Institute Health, 2014).
The abused drug is a growing health issue among the children. Marijuana has negative issues like it affects memory, attention, and learning, and it can last for long before it wears off, it can take a couple of days. The drugs abuse affects physical, cognitive and socio-emotional development of the kids in several ways. It affects developing brain, neuropsychological, neural developments and among others and also can lead to addictions and mental illness (Monti, Colby & O'Leary, 2012).
Prevention strategies such as selective prevention strategy focus on helping an individual develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes to make a right choice or change harmful behavior. It’s based on classroom students or kids schooling. Also, Universal prevention approaches that include environmental prevention strategies that are designed to local communities characteristics addressing the root course of the risky behavior to act in a healthy ways. It targets broader audience within the community and thus can produce widespread changes in behavior (Rosner, 2012).
Intervention strategies help an individual who is loved to overcome addictions. It motivates one to seek help for alcohol or drug abuse. It’s planned carefully by the family and friends with the help of doctor’s consultations, they come together and confront an individual who is addicted and ask him to accept treatments. In addition, it provides concrete examples of destructive behavior and their impacts, offers clear steps goals and guidelines and spells out the consequences of the loved refuses to accept treatment (Rosner, 2012).

References

National Institute Health. (2014). DrugFacts: Prescription and Over-the-Counter Medications. National Institute of Drug Abuse, Retrived March 28, 2015 From www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/prescription-over-counter-medications.
Monti, P. M., Colby, S. M. & O'Leary, T. (2012). Adolescents, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse: Reaching Teens through Brief Interventions. New York: Guilford Press.
Rosner, R. (2012). Clinical Handbook of Adolescent Addiction. John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken.(Monti, Colby & O'Leary, 2012).