The range of the word “drug” is huge, but the phrase “drug abuse” is generally centered around the use of some nerve intoxicating agents, which can provide some mental relaxations but ultimately takes a heavy toll on the user. Sometimes the performance enhancing drugs that are generally taken by the sports persons are also called drug. Uses of drugs like “benzodiazepines, cocaine, methaqualone etc are punishable by law in some countries” (Sacks 2007). In a survey by United Nations, it has been found out that there are more than 50 million drug users in the World (here the drug addicts use heroine, cocaine and other synthetic mental enhancing drugs) (Anglin 2005).
The treatments for drug abuse are now getting much attention now-a-days. In some cases, behavior counseling has helped the addicted people to come back to the normal lives as far as possible. According to the doctors, drug abuse is a really complex mental illness that has profound effect on the patient’s body too. Drug abuse has many dimensions and the treatments have many components in them, each has a special attention to a particular segment of the treatment. Any medical practitioner treating a drug abuse patient has to be careful in many aspects, like:
- He has to be careful on the issue that if the addiction has effected the brain of the patient.
- Every patient is different and has to be treated with different perspective.
- The treatment should be readily available, unless it can create a lot of adverse effects on the patient (Sacks 2007).
There are some new therapies like counseling, and specialty addiction care. These types of care are provided in small medical facilities and they mostly focus on psychosocial behavioral treatments, rather than resorting to medicines. Therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (which mainly focuses on dysfunctional emotions that present in most drug addicted patients) and relapse prevention (another method of controlling obsessive compulsive behavior) are getting popularity among the doctors. A lot of agencies have also developed their own specially designed programs to help the drug abuses, but these methods are not widely recognized still today (Arthur 2006).
As with the other mental diseases, in the case of drug abuses, the use of medicines are not usually preferred until a very complex point as the medicines often create adverse effect on the patients health, both mental and physical, and that can lead to some other problems. There are some vaccines available for the immunization from drugs like cocaine. There is a research going on phencyclidine, which can cure a lot of drug addictions. But it is still in the stage of research, and expected to be available in a few years. In this aspect, we have to also mention that all these medicines are meant for adult males and females who are not pregnant (Anglin 2005).
In the final analysis, we can say that the treatment of drug abuse is a complex subject and it has many different aspects that need to be synchronized to completely cure a patient. Medicines, therapies and most of all a whole hearted effort from the patient, all these aspects together can cure a person completely. Along with these, the family support of the patient is needed too. All these aspects can together cure a patient. Scientists are trying their level best to find medicines that can cure the patients in a short time, and there are hopes that they will be successful one day (Zimmerman 2006). However, until the medicines are discovered, the drug addicts have to go through the long process to get rid of the deadly addiction.
References
Anglin, D. (2005). Criminal justice and the drug-abusing offender: Policy issues of coerced treatment. Behavioral Sciences & the Law 19(3), 243-267.
Arthur, W. (2006). Bridging the gap between science and practice in drug abuse prevention through needs assessment and strategic community planning. Journal of Community Psychology 28(3), 241-255.
Sacks, J. (2007). Women with co-occurring substance use and mental disorders (COD) in the criminal justice system: a research review. Behavioral Sciences & the Law 22(4), 449-466.
Zimmerman, D. (2006). Drug Abuse: A Study. Auckland: IPCL Press.