Talk To Your Kids About Drugs
In order to prevent substance abuse, it is important to talk openly about drugs and alcohol especially to your children. Talk openly to your children about the consequences of drug use and the difficulties that recovery brings at that age. Having an open dialogue about the dangers of substance abuse greatly minimize the chances your kids will succumb to substance use in the first place.
Helping Someone Quit Drugs
Watching someone you care about use drugs is stressful. Their behaviour can be erratic and talking to them about their problem is challenging.
Here are some tips on how you can help:
- Learn about the effects of drugs this will help you understand why quitting can be hard.
- Show that you care without judging being calm and respectful may encourage them to be open and honest with you.
- Be positive and encouraging rather than negative and nagging remember relapses may happen, but they dont mean the person cant try again, and succeed.
- Offer practical support sometimes just being there is enough, but you can offer to go with them to parties or join them for a walk or run.
Find more tips on helping someone quit drugs on the Alcohol and Drug Foundation site.
Allocating And Protecting Funding
Additional investment in treatment and recovery cannot be allowed to disappear to fund other local priorities. We recommend that funding for drug treatment be allocated to local authorities based on a needs assessment and then protected. Where relevant, other government departments should protect funding at local level for their wider recovery services.
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Can One Get Addicted To Prescription Drugs
Many people think that one can only get addicted to recreational drugs. The truth, however, is that one can get addicted to prescription drugs as well.
For a long time, abuse of prescription drugs has been common among adults than in teenagers.
However, the recent past has seen a drastic increase in the number of teens abusing prescription drugs. The most commonly abused prescription drugs are
- Anti-anxiety and sedatives
- Opioids
- Stimulants
Just like recreational drug abuse, abusing prescription drugs has side effects depending on what one is using. However, some common signs can alert you that a loved one is abusing drugs. These signs include
- Oversleeping or sleeplessness
- Looking all revved up than usual
- Making poor decisions
- Mood swings
- Major Causes of Drug Abuse
If you want to know how to prevent drug abuse, you need to understand the root cause of abusing. Below we look at common triggers of drug abuse risk factors.
Significantly Increasing The Funding For Drug Treatment And Wider Support
Part 1 of the review showed that funding for treatment fell by 17% overall between 2014 to 2015 and 2018 to 2019. The reduction in funding for young peoples specialist substance misuse services was even worse at 28% over the same period. Meanwhile increased prevalence of drug use, harm, drug-related violence and mortality now affects every area of the country, fuelled by county line drug supply. The amount of unmet need for treatment is growing, but the treatment workforce is declining in number and quality.
Theres a strong invest to save case for drug treatment, all the more important given the pressure on government finances caused by the pandemic. Although Part 1 of the review showed that the societal costs of drug misuse are £20 billion each year, in 2020 to 2021 only £650 million was spent on drug treatment. Every £1 currently spent on harm reduction and treatment gives a combined health and justice return on investment of £4. Failure to invest will inevitably lead to increased future pressures on the criminal justice system, health services, employment services and the welfare system.
On current estimates of prevalence, in order to provide a full range of high-quality treatment and recovery services for adults and young people with a drug dependence, significant investment is needed on top of the current expenditure, rising from £119 million in year one to £552 million in year 5.
This additional investment is urgently needed to provide:
Recommendation 2
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Where To Get Help For Drugs
A GP is a good place to start. They can discuss your problems with you and get you into treatment.
They may offer you treatment at the practice or refer you to your local drug service.
If you’re not comfortable talking to a GP, you can approach your local drug treatment service yourself.
Visit the Frank website to find local drug treatment services.
If you’re having trouble finding the right sort of help, call the Frank drugs helpline on 0300 123 6600. They can talk you through all your options.
Review Of Drugs Part Two: Prevention Treatment And Recovery
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-drugs-phase-two-report/review-of-drugs-part-two-prevention-treatment-and-recovery
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Quitting And Handling Withdrawal
Relapse And Prevention Planning
For some people, prevention may mean more than not using drugs in the first place it can mean preventing a return to drug use. For people in recovery from addiction, prevention means creating a relapse prevention plan to reduce the risk of sliding back into substance abuse. A relapse prevention plan can teach a person in recovery how to cope with stressors, drug cravings and triggers for drug use. For example, the plan may include strategies a person can use, such as going for a walk, exercising or reading a book when stressed. It might also involve developing a list of triggers and how a person can avoid them.
A relapse prevention plan could also involve attending support groups on an ongoing basis to discuss stressors and triggers in a supportive, drug-free setting. Some people may continue to attend counseling from time-to-time to help them process difficult emotions or devise strategies for managing triggers.
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Finding The Right Help For You
The path to sobriety is a long and difficult journey, and the process is different for everyone. While some may never relapse, others may relapse several times at some point during recovery. At American Addiction Centers, we offer a 90-Day Promise that gives you 30 additional days of complimentary treatment if you relapse after 90 consecutive days at one of our facilities. Whether you are going to rehab for the first time, or have relapsed in the past, we will work with you to find the best treatment plan for you.
Deal With Life Pressures
With the busy and stressing world were living in, people feel like getting a reward at the end of the day is a good thing to do. Well, having a reward for a day well spent is not a problem, rewarding yourself with a drug is. Drugs only make life more stressful but most people come to realize this when it has turned sour.
To prevent using drugs as a reward, you need to discover new ways to handle stress and relax your mind and body. You can read a book, take up exercising, help the needy or do something productive. Doing these things will relax your mind and eliminate the feelings of drug use to relieve stress.
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The Avoidance Of Stigma
Harm reduction practitioners accept people who use drugs as they are and are committed to meeting them where they are in their lives without judgement. Terminology and language should always convey respect and avoid stigmatising terms or divisions between good and bad drugs. Stigmatising language perpetuates harmful stereotypes, and creates barriers to health and social services.
How To Help Prevent Your Teen From Using Drugs And Alcohol
It is most likely for someone to start trying drugs during their teenage years, and starting drug or alcohol use as a teen can lead to drug or alcohol addiction and other health problems later in life. Learn how to help prevent your teen from using drugs and alcohol.
Teens and young adults can hear about drug and alcohol use on TV, radio, news, online, in movies and even at school. A person is most likely to start trying drugs during their teenage years. Starting drug or alcohol use as a teen can lead to drug or alcohol addiction and other health problems when they grow up.
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Find Effective Ways To Handle Peer Pressure
Human beings have a habit of not wanting to be left out and especially by their friends and peers. For this reason, youll find that most teens and some adults start abusing drugs as a way to fit in with their friends.
If you find yourself in such a situation, try finding the courage to say no. Better yet, you can find better friends who wont pressure you into copying their habits. Whenever you find yourself being tempted to try drugs, find an excuse that will get you out of the temptation.
Admit You Have A Problem
The first step in quitting drugs is to admit that you have a problem. If youre not sure, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are you taking drugs first thing in the morning or to get through the day?
- Do friends or family worry or complain about your drug use?
- Do you lie about how much youre using?
- Have you sold possessions or stolen to pay for your drug habit?
- Have you participated in dangerous or risky activities, such as driving under the influence, having unprotected sex, or using dirty needles?
- Do you feel that youve lost control of your drug taking?
- Are you having problems with relationships?
If you answered yes to any of these questions it might be time to accept that you have a problem and ask for help.
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Prevention And Early Intervention
Preventing drug misuse is more cost-effective and socially desirable than dealing with the consequences of misuse. The Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England survey has shown that drug use among children has increased by over 40% since 2014, reversing a previous long-term downward trend.
The Department for Education must ensure that schools seize the major prevention opportunity presented by the statutory guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education . This guidance came into force in England from September 2020 and sets out requirements in relation to teaching about tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs and illicit drugs.
It is equally important that children attend school and have rewarding, fulfilling activities available to them outside of school. They also need adequate support services, particularly for mental health. We recommend that the DfE and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport lead investment in age-appropriate evidence-based services and support all young people to build resilience and avoid substance misuse. Local authorities should identify, and provide additional support to, those young people most at risk of being drawn into using illicit substances or involvement in supply.
What You Can Say:
Grownups make their own decisions and sometimes those decisions arent the best or healthiest choice for their bodies. When someone starts smoking, their body feels like it has to have cigarettes and that makes it harder for them to stop doing it. Thats why its so important to never even try smoking or vaping.
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Medicines Involved In Alcohol Treatment
According to Psychiatry, the US Food and Drug Administration Has Approved Four Medications for Addictions to Treat Alcohol Use Disorders:
- Disulfiram
- Acamprosate
- Naltrexone
Disulfiram has long been a medications for addictions, it is used to treat alcoholism. If disulfiram interacts with alcohol and persists in the body for a week or two, it causes headaches, nausea, and vomiting, among other things. As a result, it is supposed to prevent alcoholics from resuming their drinking. Disulfiram, on the other hand, may have unplanned or potentially dangerous health effects when an overdose occurs. Side effects include death, low blood pressure, chest pain, and shortness of breath.
While alcoholics may stop taking disulfiram before purposefully drinking, reducing its long-term efficacy in preventing withdrawal, it may still be the most successful way to avoid impulsive drinking. When family and social care networks are active and attentive in ensuring that the drug is administered on a daily basis, disulfiram is thought to have the best success rates.
Popular Substance Abuse Recovery Programs
When a person with an addiction seeks treatment, odds are they will be directed to a 12-step recovery program such as Alcoholics Anonymous , Narcotics Anonymous or similar spiritual approach to recovery. The AA model was developed by Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson in 1935, and remains the traditional model for addiction recovery in the U.S. It works like this: You admit that you are powerless over the substance or situation, you recognize that a higher power can restore your sobriety, you examine past mistakes with the help of a sponsor and make amends, then you learn to live by a new code of behavior and agree to help others who suffer from the same addiction.
There are other popular out-patient addiction recovery approaches as well. These include motivational techniques, cognitive behavioral therapy and SMART Recovery, a support group model that employs a 4-Point program of building and maintaining motivation, coping with urges, managing thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and living a balanced life. Unlike AA, SMART Recovery does not accept that individuals are powerless, but rather helps participants find their strengths and use them.
When all else fails, there is jail! Of course, this usually is not a solution.
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S You Can Take To Overcome Addiction
There is a ton of information out there about addiction recovery, and there are always new theories and science that lead to new programs. Recommending the best program or way to recover from addiction is a loaded topic because each individual will respond to something different. Its important to know that there is no right or wrong approach in fact, the only right approach is the one that works for you!
Its also worth mentioning that there are many stories of recovered addicts who quit using without the help of any recovery programs! Some have turned to their churches or have received paid incentives for clean drug tests. Some have received psychiatric help or used cognitive behavioral therapy. And there are even people who simply outgrew their addictions. These people are usually those who used drugs and alcohol in their teens and 20s and then found a life that was more fulfilling, either through meaningful relationships, work, or other interests.
With all that in mind, here are some steps that you can take to help with recovery:
Seek Help For Mental Illness
As mentioned above, there is a strong correlation between substance abuse and mental illnesses or trauma. That fact makes it especially important for people to see a therapist or psychiatrist to treat these issues.
Without treating mental health problems, preventing addiction becomes an almost impossible battle. This is because when things get difficult, you will likely turn back to your drug of choice if you dont have other means of working through it.
Mental health professionals not only give you space to safely talk, but they also give you ways to make it through those tough times. After seeing a professional, youll have a toolbox full of healthy ways to cope with mental illness.
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