Substance Abuse

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The Effects of Substance Abuse on the Individual, the Family, and the Community
For many years, substance abuse has been one of the major challenges facing most nations. Notably, the abuse of substances poses adverse threats to health, wealth, and security. As such, it is apparent that the issue of substance abuse is not only a complex phenomenon but also a growing societal problem. In essence, the implications of substance abuse impact every facet and level of the society. While substance abuse may appear as an issue of dependent individuals, research indicates that cumulative effects of substance abuse have a major impact on families and communities respectively (Orford et al. 71). Among the profound effects of substance abuse on the family, community, and the substance-addicted individual is the costly socio-economic problems combined with mental and physical problems.
At the economic level, substance abuse has been linked with imposing economic costs, thus, impacting the overall spending of the government, families, individuals, and the society at large. As it pertains to the individual level, substance abuse has been directly linked to violent behavior, different forms of crime, risky sexual behavior, and both premeditated and accidental injurious caused by interpersonal violence. At the family level, research indicates that substance abuse significantly contributes to child abuse and neglect, emotional stress, economic, and even legal problems.

Consequently, substance abuse can lead to impaired attachments in the family and disrupt family relationships. The different forms of family disruptions include substance-abusing parents, losing their children’s custody, marriage breakdown, job loss, depression, psychological, and physical abuse (Orford et al. 71). It is also best to take into account that parental substance abuse can negatively affect a child’s social and emotional functioning, which in turn can also cause developmental and educational problems in the child’s growth. Research also demonstrates that the impact of parental substance abuse strongly transitions into the child’s adulthood and continues affecting both parties.
In conclusion, it is evident that substance abuse has effects on the individual abuser, the affected family, and the community at large. Due to the magnitude of the effects, it highly recommended that a multi-faceted approach which integrates all societal structures is utilized through social mobilization and advocacy campaigns to combat substance abuse.
Works Cited
Orford, Jim, et al. “Addiction in the Family is a Major but Neglected Contributor to the Global
Burden of Adult Ill-health.” Social Science & Medicine, vol. 78, no.1, 2013, pp. 70-77.