What Is The Issue? Impact Of Drug Addiction On The Family

What Is the Issue
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Overview of Drug addiction
Drug addiction is one of the main issues affecting families today. The addiction occurs in a case whereby one or more of the family members are unable to control their intake of both legal and illegal drugs hence making them unable to survive without the drug. It also defined by a case whereby a person is unable to control their need for a particular medication. Among the drugs abused include alcohol, marijuana, and other hard drugs. In a situation of addiction, the person yearns to keep on using the drug despite the harm that it causes in their body. A drug addict has an uncontrollable urge to use a particular drug, and they can do anything regardless of whether it hurts the people around them or not in order to get drugs. This mostly affects teenagers who lack enough money to cater for their drug’s needs, and in turn, they end up engaging in criminal activities to get the money (Mowen & Visher, 2015). Depression and other life frustrations are the leading cause of drug addiction among adults. Peer pressure has contributed to most of the drug addiction cases among teenagers and young children. It begins as a fun habit that a child finds it difficult to stop with time. The availability and affordability of the drugs also contribute to the increased cases of drug addiction among family members. It is the extreme desire for such drugs that results in addiction.
Impact of drug addiction on the family
Drug addiction on one or more of the family members alters the normal functioning of a family because most of the attention has to be paid on the addicted persons. In some cases, parents are known to have quit their jobs for them to be able to watch over a drug addict child. This is common in the case whereby the child has reached a situation of being a danger to themselves or the people around them. It becomes difficult to leave such a child in the company of the rest of the siblings and, thus, a parent or adult has to keep a close watch on them. The overall impact of such an action to most families is a downfall of their financial situation. The family lacks enough money to take care of their basic needs since the parents have focused on the addict instead of their job. As well, an addict is exposed to a higher rate of participating in criminal activities. Therefore, if their moves are not monitored, it is easy for them to participate in any kind of activity that will result in them getting the desired drug. Some go to the extent of stealing from their family members. The situation gets worse on the family in the case whereby the drug addict is one or both of the parents. This reduces their ability to effectively take care of the family since they ca barely attend to work (Smith & Wilson, 2016). In addition, the healing process of a drug addict can be a bit expensive for the middle class and poor families. Some families have reported losing their drug addict members to death since they could not afford to take them to rehabilitation centers. Therefore, having a drug addict among the family members affect not only the family's financial situation but also affects...