Drug and Opium Abuse

Reports indicate that the use of opium is the fastest growing drug use problem in the United States (Bart, 2012). Use of the drug is associated with overdose, hepatitis C, and mortality and morbidity related to HIV/AIDS. In the year 2016, a total of 63,600 deaths were reported due to overdose. Out of this number, a total of 42,249 were due to opioids forming 66. 4% (CNN, 2018). He narrates that he got lots of habits like womanizing from his dad while growing up. Bryan was raised by both parents who were taking alcohol and drugs, and after his parent's divorced drugs became usual in the house which made him comfortable interacting with drugs. The six, including Allison, Kenn and go ahead to explain their young life and how they got into drugs and finally addiction, their progression of relationships, their decision to quit using; rock bottom, and steps of recovery.

The video has presented insightful thoughts towards the need for addicts to keep off drugs. All the participants indicate a better life after quitting using the drugs. Using the legal medicinal pills over time becomes expensive and unbearable leading to the need for the drug at cheaper rates. The patient would thus try to find it for drug peddlers and before he or she notices addiction occurs. Further research suggests that the use of opioid can be traced back to the history of the United States more so in South America after the civil war. Some opium habits have been traced back to 1868 where Horace B. Day’s estimates indicate that 80000 to 100000 Americans were opium addicts (Caroll, 2016). Philip narrates that he developed the habit of the love of multiple women forms the father; a habit that led to the separation of his parents.

Another factor that comes out in the documentary is the effects of parents’ indulgence in drugs to their offspring. From the documentary, we realize that Philip, Alison, Nate, and Bryans parents were all abusers of alcohol. Nate even thinks that drug abuse is a genetic disorder in their family. We can sufficiently claim that children whose parents indulge in drugs have a higher likelihood of getting into drug and substance abuse. A research in Kenya, on the other hand, in the year 2009, 75% of adolescents confessed that they were introduced to drugs by friends (Somani & Meghani, 2016). There are diverse effects of drugs and substance abuse. The first effect is addiction. Once a person uses a particular drug continuously for a particular period, they become dependent on the drug.

This dependence means that they cannot do without the drug. The use of opium and other drugs leads to the loss of employment hence losing an income and source of a person’s livelihood. When a person overindulges in drugs, their performance in the place of work significantly diminishes, and their relation to colleagues becomes rather hostile. Most forms will, in turn, try to put efforts to rehabilitate the employee but when it goes overboard, they will have no option but to do away with the employee. Loss of employment for a large number of people further leads to an increase in crime rates since the loss will trigger then to seek criminal means to maintain their livelihoods. The government, on the other hand, spends a lot of money trying to fight terrorism and net drug traffickers which negatively impacts the economy of a nation hence the need for governments to put in more efforts to aid in drug and substance abuse reduction.