Social Problems As Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Essay

social problems as alcoholism and drug abuse as diseases rather than behavior disorders? What are the implications of treating other social problems as diseases? What are the implications for the medical care system of the proliferation of these new diseases?

It is not as important to distinguish between behavior disorder and disease as it is to find the root causes of these classifications. Behavior disorders suggest that the person's actions are somewhat preventable while diseases are portrayed as unpreventable. Much grey area and confusion arise in these discussions because causes and effect relationships are not explicit. Obesity can be considered both a disease or a behavior problem, like other kinds of substance abuse. But what are the factors that lead to any specific problem? Unfortunately until individuals realize that they are responsible for their own conduct and rampant victimization ceases to be celebrated, these problems of identifying causes of problems will still exist.

Social problems being treated as diseases suggests that these problems are inescapable. This pessimistic attitude implies that the medical care system will continue to grow and become a dominant factor in fixing problems in society, when before court systems and other helping organizations took responsibility for helping others with their problems.2. What are the costs to society of cocaine use? Alcohol use? Tobacco use? Which of these presents the biggest problem? Explain.

The costs to society in material terms are great when applying the losses of money and efficiently due to the abuse of drugs. Tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, food, exercise, anything that can be consumed is liable to being abused. Distinguishing between different types of abuse does little to remedy the main problem. Abuse problems arise when little or no self-confidence is held by the abuser. A reliance on the heavy usage of a foreign substance gives that person power to face the world. This is not an issue unless dealing with substances that possess strong healing properties such as cocaine and alcohol. Addiction itself is the problem, and if cocaine disappeared over night something else would replace it. Addressing the root causes of addiction and ignoring the morality behind each individual drug or substance allows for society to deal with this problem in a more civilized manner.

3. What are some of the….....