Public Health Policy Paper

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Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse and substance use disorder, is a patterned use of a drug in which the user consumes the substance in amounts or with methods which are harmful to themselves or others, and is a form of substance-related disorder. Widely differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, medical and criminal justice contexts.
The exact cause of substance abuse is not clear, with theories including: a genetic disposition; learned from others - or a habit which if addiction develops, manifests as a chronic debilitating disease.
Drugs most often associated with this term include: alcohol, substituted amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cocaine, methaqualone, cannabis and opioids.
In many cases criminal …show more content…
In 2013 drug use disorders resulted in 127,000 deaths up from 53,000 in 1990.
Classification
Public health definitions
Public health practitioners have attempted to look at substance use from a broader perspective than the individual, emphasizing the role of society, culture, and availability. Some health professionals choose to avoid the terms alcohol or drug "abuse" in favor of language they consider more objective, such as "substance and alcohol type problems" or "harmful/problematic use" of drugs.
The Health Officers Council of British Columbia — in their 2005 policy discussion paper, — has adopted a public health model of psychoactive substance use that challenges the simplistic black-and-white construction of the binary antonyms "use" vs. "abuse". This model explicitly recognizes a spectrum of use, ranging from beneficial use to chronic dependence
Medical definitions
'Drug abuse' is no longer a current medical diagnosis in either of the most used diagnostic tools in the world, the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and ICRIS Medical organization Related Health …show more content…
Prescription misuse has been defined differently and rather inconsistently based on status of drug prescription, the uses without a prescription, intentional use to achieve intoxicating effects, route of administration, co-ingestion with alcohol, and the presence or absence of dependence symptoms. Chronic use leads to a change in the central nervous system which means the patient has developed tolerance to the medicine that more of the substance is needed in order to produce desired effects.When this happens, any effort to stop or reduce the use of this substance would cause withdrawal symptoms to
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