Wonder

Research Outline

Prepared for Ahmad M. | Delivered August 10, 2019

Impact of Drug Abuse

Goals

To understand the impact of drug abuse in order to educate others on the harmful effects of drugs.

Early Findings

This source provides information and insights surrounding drug addiction and the negative effects it can have. One in four deaths results from illicit drug use.
Substance use disorders are treatable.
The resources here cover a variety of drug related issues, including information on drug usage, emergency room data, prevention and treatment programs, and other research findings.
This source describes nationwide US trends in drug abuse and addiction, focusing on past-month use for illicit drugs (including marijuana and prescription drugs), alcohol, and tobacco. 
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 19.7 million American adults (aged 12 and older) battled a substance use disorder in 2017.
In 2017, approximately 4% of the American adolescent population age 12 to 17 suffered from a substance use disorder; this equals 992,000 teens or 1 in 25 people in this age group.

Heroin use among young adults between 18 and 25 years old has doubled in the past decade.
Drug abuse also has adverse effects on the addict’s immediate family.
 Several studies have found that a large percentage of child abuse and domestic abuse cases involve the use of drugs or alcohol.
The connection between drug addiction, alcoholism, and violence crosses many thresholds (individual psychology, public health, and domestic violence, to name a few), and is vitally important in understanding the scope of how controlled substances can affect people.
Before seeking treatment for substance abuse, the rate of violent acts was as high as 72 percent among men and 50 percent among women.