Drugs and Alcohol Assignment Paper
Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs are affect youth negatively. Youth especially student?s e.g. secondary and tertiary students abuse alcohol, tobacco and other Drugs. Drugs and Alcohol Assignment Paper Drugs such as tobacco, cocaine and marijuana are the major drugs which students abuse or use. Youth may end up drinking alcohol and using drugs because of various situations or reasons e.g. youth especially school going drink alcohol, use tobacco and other drug as a result of peer pressure because they may want to feel grown up among their peers, some youth use drugs to relieve boredom and give themselves personal excitement, some use drugs to rebel and get violent without any fear of people or authority, some use drugs to experiment, some use drugs and drink alcohol because their parents also drink alcohol so they end up indulging in the practice as well, social background may also influence youths to use drugs and to drink alcohol e.g. if they are many drug dealers and bottle stores around its easier for youths to indulge in the use of this drugs and lastly some youth may drink alcohol and abuse drugs to feel pleasure and escape the pressures of life or to alter their view of reality. Drugs and Alcohol Assignment Paper Youth who get into drugs may get it from a friend?s friend, who also got it from his friend?s friend and so on this is to say that drugs are not of easy access because they are illegal. At the end of this long line of friends is a dealer who is making money out of destroying young people futures. The use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs has negative impacts among st the students who abuse this substances e.g. excessive alcohol consumption and the abuse of drugs are dangerous because alcohol and drug abuse can affect health and ability to function and think properly, almost every system in the body can be negatively affected by use of drugs and drinking of alcohol. Drugs and Alcohol Assignment Paper Alcohol can cause cancer, liver disease, heart attacks and brain damage, to mention a few. Alcohol, tobacco and other drug use does not only affect youth especially students? health wise it also affects their academic performance, it also affect them financially, psychologically, physically and ultimately students may suffer some legal consequences. Youth more so teens, who engage in sexual intercourse and drug abuse including abuse of alcohol and tobacco, are more likely than youth who abstain from such activities to become depressed, have suicidal thoughts and or even attempt suicide.
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HEALTH EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND DIFFERENT DRUG USE
The use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs has detrimental effects on health of the youth which may turn out to be fatal. The type of drugs which students commonly use are Stimulants (drugs that produce alertness, high energy, more awake and confident e.g. cocaine, amphetamines, caffeine) and Hallucinogens (give strange and intense visions called hallucinations)
ALCOHOL
The scientific name for alcohol that people drink is ethyl alcohol or ethanol. Beer, wine, and liquor all contain ethyl alcohol. Other types of alcohol, like rubbing alcohol are poisonous if ingested. . Excess alcohol is the most common cause of preventable death. Alcohol is highly toxic to almost every organ in the body but when alcohol is taken in allowed limits amounts it is detoxified by the liver and therefore does little or no harm to the body. Drugs and Alcohol Assignment Paper Alcoholic drinks contain ethyl alcohol and it is metabolized in the body to acetaldehyde. Both ethanol and acetaldehyde interfere with normal functioning of organs in the body including the heart and the liver and therefore if the liver and the heart get damaged disease occur which may eventually kill, teenagers maybe more prone to this effects in the youth as their organs are still developing thus toxic substances from alcohol damage their body organs.
When people drink too much, with time they risk becoming addicted to alcohol. This is called alcoholism, or alcohol dependence. It?s a disease, and it can happen at any age, Common signs include, loss of control not being able to stop or cut down drinking, not feeling well after heavy drinking (upset stomach, sweating, shakiness, or nervousness), neglecting activities giving up or cutting back on other activities. Binge drinking happens when someone drinks more than four (for women) or five (for men) alcoholic drinks in about two hours, with the intention to getting drunk. Binge drinking is the most harmful type of drinking. It usually happens at teen or student parties
TOBACCO
The dangers of smoking are so great, but because of it governments get a lot of tax money from tobacco and cigarettes manufacturers, they are less hesitant to ban it totally. Government and society is aware of the danger that is why they made it illegal for teens to possess and use cigarettes. Drugs and Alcohol Assignment Paper
Smoking of tobacco can cause many with many diseases like respiratory and heart disease including, respiratory infections, lung cancer as well as cancer of the larynx, pancreas, stomach, & uterine cervix, bronchitis, emphysema and stillborn or premature children ().Smoking causes surges in the concentrations of catecholamine?s (the stimulator chemical messengers of the autonomic nervous system) as well as increases in carbon monoxide in the blood. Both of these short- term effects can exacerbate existing heart disease, resulting, for instance, in attacks of angina (chest pain). Nicotine raises blood pressure and heart rate, requiring the heart to work harder. It also constricts the coronary arteries, thereby lessening the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart muscle. It also promotes irregular heartbeats (cardiac arrhythmias). Smokers are not the only people harmed by tobacco. Toxic fumes from cigarettes pose a health threat to all those around smoker?s family, friends, and. Because the organic material in tobacco does not burn completely, smoke contains many toxic chemicals, including carbon monoxide, nicotine, and tar. As a result of this exposure, smokers? children have more colds and flu, and they are more likely to take up smoking themselves when they grow up.
Smokers also affect other people as well e.g. passive smoking. This is the involuntary inhaling of smoke from other people cigarettes and we all suffer when we have people smoking around us. It is called second-hand smoking and it is known to be even more dangerous than smoking itself Drugs and Alcohol Assignment Paper
COCAINE
Use of cocaine has increased among youth over the years, along with the myth that the drug is relatively safe, especially when it is sniffed rather than injected or smoked as ?crack.? In fact, no matter how it is used, cocaine can kill. It can disturb the heart?s rhythm and cause chest pain, heart attacks, and even sudden death. These effects on the heart can cause death even in the absence of any seizures. Even in the absence of underlying heart disease, a single use of only a small amount of the drug has been known to be fatal. Cocaine use is not healthful for anyone, but especially for certain groups like the youth. Although the drug has been shown to impair the function of normal hearts, it seems even more likely to cause death in people with any underlying heart disease. When pregnant women use cocaine, they not only raise the likelihood of having a miscarriage, a premature delivery, or a low-birth-weight baby, but also of having a baby with a congenital heart abnormality, especially an atrial-septal or ventricular-septal defect.
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Use of cocaine raises blood pressure, constricts blood vessels, and speeds up heart rate. It may also make blood cells called platelets more likely to clump and form the blood clots that provoke many heart attacks. In addition, cocaine?s effects on the nervous system disrupt the normal rhythm of the heart, causing arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats). Recently, scientists have established that cocaine binds directly to heart muscle cells, slowing the passage of sodium ions into the cells. Drugs and Alcohol Assignment Paper Cocaine also causes the release of the neurotransmitter nor epinephrine (nor adrenaline), a chemical messenger that stimulates the autonomic nervous system. Both changes can lead to arrhythmias. Heart attacks in young people are rare. However, when they do occur, cocaine is frequently the cause.
Cocaine is a highly addictive substance, and crack cocaine is substantially more addicting, as the drug is far more potent and is smoked. Users quickly develop a tolerance to crack cocaine, needing more of the substance to achieve the desired effects. Because the high from crack cocaine is so short-lived, users commonly smoke it repeatedly in order to sustain the high. This can lead to an even faster onset of addiction. Also, because crack cocaine works on the brain?s system of reward and punishment, withdrawal symptoms occur when the drug?s effects wear off. These symptoms can include depression, irritability, and extreme fatigue, anxiety, an intense craving for the drug, and sometimes even psychosis. Users will often keep using crack cocaine simply to avoid the negative effects of withdrawal Drugs and Alcohol Assignment Paper
