Substance Abuse Disorders
By: Taylor Travis, Madison Pratt, and Logan Warner
Alcohol
Yes, alcohol should be included in substance abuse because the definition of substance abuse is “overindulgence in or dependence on an addictive substance”. Alcohol is something someone becomes depend on. Even people under age will drink because it is so easily accessible. “86.4 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime 26.9 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the past month; 7.0 percent reported that they engaged in heavy alcohol use in the past month. Alcohol not only cause can cause serious health issues such as liver problems but take a serious toll on one's life. When someone drinks the chance of injury goes up if you drink often. A lot of people take alcohol to calm down and relieve stress most of the time. This is where people get in trouble, they depend on the alcohol to take away stress then they start to build up a tolerance and consume more and more.
The higher your BAC, the more impaired you become by alcohol’s effects. These effects can include:
Reduced inhibitions
Slurred speech
Motor impairment
Confusion
Memory problems
Concentration problems
Coma
Breathing problems
Death
Other risks of drinking can include:
Car crashes and other accidents
Risky behavior
Violent behavior
Suicide and homicide
Nicotine
Yes, nicotine should be included with substance abuse. Tobacco use disorder is the most common substance use disorder in the US. Approximately 60% to 80% of smokers have classified for drug dependence.
More than 480,000 deaths each year are caused by cigarette smoking. In 2014, an estimate of 66.9 million Americans aged 12 or older are users of tobacco product (25.2%). Age from 18 to 25 had the highest rate use of tobacco product (35%), adults age 26 or older (25.8%) and youths age 12 to 17 (7%). Tobacco smoking can lead to lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema. It increases the risk of heart disease, which can lead to a stroke or heart attack.Smoking has also been linked to other cancers like leukemia, cataracts, and pneumonia. All of these risks apply to use of any smoked product, including hookah tobacco. Smokeless tobacco increases the risk of cancer, especially mouth cancers. Secondhand smoke can lead to lung cancer and heart disease as well as other health effects in adults and children. Nicotine is poisonous and overdose is uncommon to happen.
Nicotine poisoning usually occurs in young children who accidentally chew on nicotine gum or patches used to quit smoking or swallow e-cigarette liquid. A child or adult that might be experiencing a nicotine overdose, they should seek immediate medical help.
Caffeine
Health wise, caffeine has been thought to reduce or restrict blood circulation to the brain, raise blood pressure, and accelerate the heart rate to unnatural levels. Consuming 400mg of caffeine every day while pregnant may increase this risk of respiratory distress when the child is born because of sudden withdrawal. Half of people who quit stated that they had difficulty avoiding the use of caffeine permanently and experienced severe headaches that lasted typically between 2-9 days, extreme symptoms could include manic episodes, panic attacks, hallucinations, delusions, disorientation, and the lowering of one’s inhibitions. Because of its use in 5-hour energy (69mg), shots of espresso (51mg), drip cups of coffee (18mg per cup), and tea (5mg), people often have no idea of the possible health detriments.
It is estimated that roughly 75% of regular caffeine drinkers are actually addicted to the substance, but remain unaware. Caffeine can pose health risks, but the wide usage and shortage of restrictions lead to use by 85%-90% of Americans a day. Because the dose must be so high for serious consequences to manifest, we believe that caffeine should still be legal and not have a substance abuse disorder, but that it should have a simple program (like alcoholics anonymous rather than a full on rehab) to help people who want to stop drinking it so often and an age minimum to legally be implicated so that people are more inclined to research the risks.
Comparing and Contrasting
Nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine all have addictive qualities. They are also all considered drugs to an extent (as per the definition of drug "a medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body"), and they are all, to a certain extent (as alcohol has its restrictions), legal in the United States.
They all three impact the body in some way negatively. Alcohol is a depressant (as it slows down or depresses the central nervous system) while caffeine is a serious stimulant (it speeds up the functions of the central nervous system). Nicotine, however, shows symptoms of being both a depressant and a stimulant varying with mood and dosage (lower doses act as a depressant, and higher as a stimulant).
Differences:
Unlike nicotine and alcohol, there are no public service announcements or social stigmas against caffeine. If someone smokes in public, they will likely be heckled or belittled. On the contrary, if someone is drinking coffee in public, they are encouraged as it is accepted as the social norm.
It takes much more than the normal dose to have any serious negative health impacts when it comes to caffeine (going beyond just headaches and light insomnia, as alcohol impairs the body short term and long term in detrimental ways). Whilst with alcohol, in only short doses (depending on a person's size and tolerance) can lead to symptoms of intoxication and mental impairment for a short term (and later detriments to things like the liver with heavy, consistent drinking). Nicotine's negative consequences manifest long term in the increased risk of things like lung cancer. Caffeine, on the other hand, does not appear to have any serious long term risks as these two do.
Sources
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/substance-abuse#1
https://healthresearchfunding.org/shocking-caffeine-addiction-statistics/
https://www.aaap.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/AAAP-nicotine-dependence-FINAL.pdf
https://www.samhsa.gov/disorders/substance-use
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/cigarettes-other-tobacco-products
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/cigarettes-other-tobacco-products
https://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/SMA11-4636CLIN/SMA11-4636CLIN.pdf