Alcohol is 61% more affordable than it was in the 1980s; this affordability and ease of purchase make alcohol easy to misuse, even unknowingly, making it a hidden harm amongst the British public.<\/p>\n
On the UK drugs scene, around a third of adults claim to have taken illicit substances in their lifetime and drug misuse is a particular problem with 16-24-year-olds. In recent years, the use of cocaine, ecstasy, LSD and ketamine has increased amongst young people.<\/p>\n
This is bad news for the nation’s mental and physical health and the NHS.<\/p>\n
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What is Substance Abuse?<\/h2>\n
Substances are illegal drugs, alcohol, solvents, \u201clegal highs,\u201d and prescription medicines. When used or overused they cause people to change the way they feel, think or act.<\/p>\n
Consuming illegal drugs is always considered misuse. <\/strong>Your relationship with legal substances becomes misuse when:<\/p>\n Misuse impacts everything from health and parenting ability to the perception of reality, priorities, finances, and the ability to cope with day-to-day life and work.<\/p>\n Our Drug and Alcohol Awareness Training<\/a> raises awareness of the size and scale of substance misuse in the UK, the most commonly abused drugs, and how to spot signs of a problem. It also provides learners with strategies and guidance to support employees and service users who have problems with substance misuse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For users with family and children, it can have wide-ranging implications even causing detrimental developmental issues for children.<\/p>\n Substance misuse can cause the child to:<\/p>\n Using any prescribed drug for a nonmedical purpose or using drugs that were not prescribed to you or for a different issue is substance misuse. The misuse of prescription drugs can range from taking your friend\u2019s prescribed codeine for a headache to using prescription drugs to get high.<\/p>\n Common prescription drugs that are abused are pain medications such as codeine, methadone, and morphine, CNS (central nervous system) depressants such as Valium, and stimulants such as Adderall or Ritalin.<\/p>\n Dependency in prescription drug misuse is characterised by:<\/p>\n Prescription medicines can cause a myriad of problems when they are abused. The effects can even be fatal depending on the circumstances of the person misusing them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Illegal drugs such as heroin and cannabis have been made illicit because of the detrimental effects that these substances have. Illegal drug use is substance abuse. <\/strong>A large proportion of young people will experiment with illegal substances and for some those experiments can be fatal. The use of any drug, even if it\u2019s casual, can lead to dependency and can have a negative effect on your physical and mental health as well as your wellbeing, relationships, and career.<\/p>\n People who are abusing drugs and have become dependent could:<\/p>\n Alcohol abuse can be hard to detect since it\u2019s legal and socially acceptable. But it can happen to anyone, regardless of age, gender, social class or level of education.And any vision of what an alcoholic may look like could actually blind you to a friend who needs help.<\/p>\n Sadly, there are various trends of alcohol abuse seen in UK culture at the moment such as the binge drinking culture seen in universities or the phenomenon of the middle-class drinker<\/a> who consumes enough on a regular basis to cause harmful effects over a long period of time. These trends make abusive patterns socially acceptable and even encouraged.<\/p>\n Other signs of alcohol abuse are:<\/p>\n Commonly abused solvents are often fluids found in household items such as fuel canisters, aerosol cans such as hairspray and air freshener, glue, paints, thinners, and correcting fluids. The vapours of these are sniffed or inhaled to create a dizzying and inebriated effect.The effects of solvents can last from 15 minutes up until roughly 45 minutes. Inhaling solvents will cause:<\/p>\n Solvent abuse comes with many risks, and it can be fatal from the first use. According to The Mix<\/a> \u201cin 60% of deaths from VSA (Volatile Substance Abuse), there is no known history of solvent abuse. This suggests that for many, the first time they try solvents is fatal.\u201d<\/p>\n Other risks are:<\/p>\n On May 26th,<\/sup> 2016, the UK Government introduced a new bill called the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. This bill makes it illegal to produce, supply or import any psychoactive substance if it\u2019s probable that the substance will be misused.In recent years the use of legal highs or novel psychoactive substances (NPS) has skyrocketed amongst young people, and they\u2019ve \u201cchanged the face of the drug scene remarkably and with rapidity\u201d posing new problems according to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2015 alone, 602 new legal highs<\/a> were reported. These drugs mimic the effects of illicit drugs and used to be readily available in \u201chead shops\u201d and online stores.<\/p>\n Whilst the use of NPS use has exploded, the levels of addiction tend to be low. However, these drugs are untested and are always unfamiliar, making any use of a \u201clegal high\u201d substance misuse and potentially fatal.<\/p>\n Since legal highs are synthesised to mimic the effects of their parent drugs such as cocaine, heroin, LSD and so on, they come with similar risks and effects as well as many more that are completely unknown. Taking NPS is volunteering yourself as a lab rat.<\/p>\n If the worst does happen, \u201clegal highs\u201d are also a nightmare for health professionals as they can\u2019t identify what you\u2018ve taken and can\u2019t make decisions on how to act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Sometimes substance abuse and mental ill-health go hand in hand. When this happens, it\u2019s termed a co-occurring disorder or dual diagnosis.<\/p>\n It\u2019s thought that untreated mental health problems can lead to a substance misuse problem, and vice versa. It can be hard to say which came first when both are present because of the way that they affect each other and interact.<\/p>\n Drug misuse can be borne out of the desire to self-medicate. Some people choose to use illicit or prescription drugs to try and cure or alleviate the symptoms of mental ill-health. However, this can often make the situation worse or can merely temporarily hide symptoms leaving the root problem untreated.<\/p>\n Similarly, for someone misusing illicit substances, the use of drugs \u2013 even prescription drugs \u2013 can lead to an increased likelihood of certain mental illnesses.<\/p>\n Substances that are known to have detrimental effects on mental health are:<\/p>\n In the UK, mental health and drug services work together to provide those with a dual diagnosis the support, advice and help they need to reclaim their life.<\/p>\n If you or someone you know has a co-occurring disorder, their GP will be able to help and find them the support services that they need.<\/p>\n A drink or drug culture is formed when certain behaviours become popularised in social, generational, cultural, and economic groups. This behaviour then mutates into and forms a cultural pattern of abuse where the abuse is normalised.<\/p>\n In the UK, recent cultures of alcohol abuse to hit the headlines have been the university<\/a> drink culture, underage drinking<\/a>, and the middle class<\/a> and middle age<\/a> drink culture where \u201cmore than a quarter of adults living in some of the wealthiest towns, such as Harrogate and Guildford, are drinking enough alcohol every week to damage their health.\u201d<\/p>\n Middle class \u201chabitual wine drinkers\u201d drink enough every day for such a long period of time that they have a substantial and detrimental effect on their health. This kind of alcohol abuse can be very difficult to detect and even harder to acknowledge.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve recognised a problem in yourself, the first thing you should do is speak to someone you trust<\/strong>, whether that is a friend or someone in your family or even a health professional that\u2019s up to you.<\/p>\n When you do take that step, make sure you take the full step and be honest about your problem \u2013<\/strong> covering up the extent of the problem doesn\u2019t help anyone, and it won\u2019t spare feelings in the long run!<\/p>\n The next step is taking action, let your GP know<\/strong> and get involved with a treatment programme that can support your recovery.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve recognised the problem in someone else, make sure you handle that initial conversation in a caring way. Don\u2019t be aggressive; this will only aggravate the situation, instead, calmly express your concerns <\/strong>and give them plenty of time to respond.<\/p>\n One way you can help is through seeking competent professional support <\/strong>for the individual.\u00a0There are a number of organisations who offer counselling support for the individual and affected family members.\u00a0<\/strong>It’s also important to remember that throughout this process, your ongoing support is imperative to the recovering individual.<\/p>\n Learn about the main types of substance abuse that occur, as well as why they have become so prevalent and the side effects of the abuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":29115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[79,76],"class_list":["post-8182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-safeguarding","tag-addiction","tag-safeguarding-adults"],"acf":{"schema_disabled":false,"schema_properties_FAQPage_question_answer":null,"schema_properties_HowTo_howto_tools":null,"schema_properties_HowTo_howto_supplies":null,"schema_properties_HowTo_howto_steps":null,"schema_properties_WebPage_cssSelector":null,"schema_sameAs_repeater":null,"schema_custom_json_repeater":null,"schema_custom_json_override":false},"yoast_head":"\n\n
![\"expert](\"https:\/\/www.highspeedtraining.co.uk\/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/expert-tip-icon.png\"){kind=icon}
<\/div>\nNeed a Training Course?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nWhat substances are abused?<\/h3>\n
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Substance misuse has a much further reach than just the person who misuses.<\/h4>\n
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![\"drug](\"https:\/\/www.highspeedtraining.co.uk\/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/substance_abuse_suffering_addiction.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPrescription Drug Abuse
![\"down53\"](\"https:\/\/www.highspeedtraining.co.uk\/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/down53.png\")
<\/h3>\n![\"types](\"https:\/\/www.highspeedtraining.co.uk\/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/medication_epilepsy_license.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
Illegal Drug Abuse
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Alcohol Abuse
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Solvent Abuse
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“Legal High” Abuse
<\/h3>\nSubstance Abuse and Mental Health<\/h3>\n
![\"mental](\"https:\/\/www.highspeedtraining.co.uk\/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/mental_health_substance_abuse.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
\nCultures of Abuse in the UK<\/h3>\n
![\"UK](\"https:\/\/www.highspeedtraining.co.uk\/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/drinking_culture_uk.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nRecognised a problem in yourself or a loved one?<\/h3>\n
Is the problem with a loved one?<\/h4>\n
\nFurther Resources:<\/h3>\n
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