DRUG ADDICTION

Drug Addiction in United States

Drug Addiction in the United States

Introduction

Drug use or abuse is one of major concerns prevailing in the American society. The increasing number of youths addicted to drug use is surely an alarming sign and the issue needs to be addressed properly. Although there are a number of drug intervention programs in place, but they have failed to produce any substantial results depicting any decrease in the drug using trends among the adolescents. This paper discusses the pros and cons of drug use among the American youth and the factors that have influenced them to take up drugs. The findings will provide an insight into the contemporary trends of drug use among the American youths.

Hypothesis

“Drug Addiction is the major social problem in United States”.

Sociological Perspective

The problem of drug addiction has the critical impact on the social structure of the United States. According to different studies, drug addiction is the crucial issue that has a significant impact on adolescents and the adult population. There are several studies conducted to explore the root cause behind the rapid augmentation in drug addiction; yet, effective strategies have not been formulated to address the issue of drug addiction (Simpson, 2007). Substance abuse is the most critical social issue that deteriorates the sociological structure of United States. The addiction to drugs minimizes individual's competency and depreciates his skills. The influence of drug addiction is not limited to a particular age segment. The addiction of drugs is witnessed from the age segment of adolescents to adults in the society. Therefore, there should be effective strategies in order to eliminate drug addiction from the society.

Factors Influencing Drug Use among Adolescent

There are many factors, social, economical, and emotional that influences an individual's through process during adolescence, eventually leading him or her to get addicted to drug use.

Ethnicity

During the analysis phase, it was found that ethnicity is one of the major factors that contribute to the prevalence of increased drug usage among individuals. It was found that Native Americans and Whites are more likely to use legal drugs, whereas other groups, more significantly, blacks and African Americans were found to be attracted towards using illegal drugs (Stevens, 2006). It is also an established fact that the number of male adolescents using drugs is much more than that of adolescent girls involved. This fact points out to another fact that adolescent males are more likely to go for drug abuse treatment as compared to girls.

Socioeconomic Status

Individuals, who belong to the families, living below the poverty line, are most likely to get addicted to drug use (Wallace, 2008). It was found that Native American adolescents tend to use more drugs as compared to any other group. An interesting fact remains that the percentage of drug use among African American adolescents was low as compared to the adults of the same group.

School Dropouts

Education plays an important role in shaping the personality of an individual. The increase in the rate of school and college dropouts is ...