Substance and Drug Abuse on Human Health; A Case Study of Youth in the USA

Abstract

A drug is a chemical substance that alters the functioning of the whole body and brain. The study sought to determine the effects of substance and drug abuse on human health among the youth in the USA. The study adopted the descriptive research design. The study used a purposive sampling technique to get a sample size of 200. The collection of the data was done using questionnaires. The analysis of the study was done using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study used tables to present the data. The study found that substance and drug abuse is negatively and significantly related to human health (β=-0.548, p=0.005). Thus, when the rate of substance and drug abuse increases by one unit, the human health among the youth in the USA will reduce by 0.548 units while other factors that influence human health are held unchanged. Substance addiction has numerous negative physiological and psychological health consequences. Drug addiction affects your brain and behavior to the point where you can't control your use of legal or illegal drugs. The study concluded that youth substance and drug abuse is a problem affecting both developing and developed countries. The study recommended that prevention of drug problems can employ knowledge about family dynamics to address personal and social concerns of family members that otherwise would lead to drug abuse, both concerning dysfunctional and intact families. The youth need to be enlightened on the consequences of substance and drug abuse on their health. Measures should be put in place to help the affected youth reform from the use of drugs. Centers for counseling and rehabilitation should be set up to care for the youths who have fallen into this trap of substance abuse. Keywords: Substance and drug abuse, human health, youth, USA