Category: Substance Abuse

How The Family Court Deals With Parents Who Use Drugs

How The Family Court Deals With Parents Who Use Drugs

It is a simple fact that drug use takes place in our society, and when the user of drugs is a parent with responsibility for a child, it can create a number of ramifications for that parent, and dramatic changes for the child. As any family lawyers will tell you, family law places an emphasis on what is in the best interests of a child, and those interests most certainly do not involve being in the presence of a parent who is taking drugs.

If a court should be given an indication that the parent of a child is using illicit drugs then it will act. The way in which a court is informed of this is usually by someone close to the child filing either a ‘Notice of Child Abuse, Family Violence or Risk of Family Violence’ or a ‘Notice of Risk.

Despite the long names, these are basically documents that someone completes when they believe a child may be at risk. Specifically, they would submit that the child is being exposed to drugs, for example, the parent or parents are taking the drugs in full view of the child.

Read More

Substance Abuse

What Drinking Does to Your Body

Drinking to excess is a universal problem, with most countries facing an uphill battle against the bottle. As those in drug rehab facilities will tell you, however, the effects of drinking on your body are more than only a hangover. Here is why you should take care of a drinking problem sooner rather than later.

Liver Damage

When you drink to excess on a regular basis, such as alcohol addiction, your liver can succumb to irreparable damage. In the long term, your liver stops being able to remove harmful substances from your body effectively.

Heart Damage

Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common and fatal conditions in the world. While leading a poor lifestyle is one of the leading causes, drinking to excess can also be a contributing factor. If you drink to excess on a regular basis, and you have come to realise you have a problem, booking into drug rehab could help to prevent heart damage in the future.

Infertility

Studies carried out over many years now show that excessive drinking and alcohol problems can lead to an increased risk of infertility.

Cancer

Chronic drinking is not only harmful in the short-term, hurting those around you, but long-term effects can also be fatal. If you’re a heavy, frequent drinker, you are more at risk of mouth, throat, or oesophageal cancer. Females are also more at risk of breast cancer.

Read More

Drug Addiction

How Drug Addiction can Ruin Your Life

Many people take harmful substances without giving any thought to the damage that will occur to their body or their life.  It is only those who get to the stage of drug rehab that realise the truth. For those people have already experienced losing just about all the things that make life worthwhile, including loved ones and their sense of self worth.

While it is true that taking one harmful substance once won’t make you an addict, it can still cause severe health and even mental problems.  Addiction often starts through peer pressure, especially if a young person is having trouble or perceived trouble at home. They take the substance once and when it makes them feel good, they want to repeat that feeling.

However, over time they need more of the substance to get the same good feeling and this is when they are addicted, whether they believe it or not. Many people don’t believe they are addicted; they are convinced that they can stop at any time, it’s just that they don’t choose to stop. In reality, they could not stop even if they tried.

Most people try to hide their addiction until it gets to the stage where it is impossible to hide it or they become too ill from the side effects of taking it to hide their condition.  Or when their life falls apart due to the neglect of their loved ones, then they seek help and may go into drug rehab.

Read More

Meth Addiction

Your son is acting strangely. He has periods of extreme activity and seems agitated or upset. He is losing weight and has no appetite. He has sores on his face and arms and continues to dig at them as though bugs are crawling on his skin and he cannot get them off. You’ve noticed the behavior increasing over time and you suspect substance abuse. You start finding evidence that your suspicions are true – empty soda cans with holes in the sides, crumpled pieces of aluminum foil, and his manner has changed. You find yourself facing a harsh, upsetting reality. Your son is using “meth,” and you’re not sure how to go about helping him or if you even can.

In order to help your loved one struggling with meth addiction, it is important to understand “meth” and why it is such a popular drug of choice.

The use of Methamphetamine, or meth, continues to gain popularity with young adults. The stress of a fast paced lifestyle and the urge to have more energy often contributes to the desire to try meth for the first time. Methamphetamine is an intense stimulant that can last anywhere from 8 to 10 hours when it is ingested. Meth provides a fast, strong euphoria followed by a long, less intense euphoric phase. Meth is so addicting that users can become addicted within a few uses. Meth is easy to obtain and, according to HealthResearchFunding.org, costs about $25 for one hit, which equates to about a quarter of a gram. HealthResearchFunding.org also states that the first high from Methamphetamine is so pleasurable and intense that users feel compelled to keep chasing that high, trying again and again to replicate it. For a meth user, the craving is constant.

Read More

Control the addiction

The horse was uneasy and had given his handler every sign that he was upset. The big gray gelding had tried to pull away, tried to bite, and finally, reared up on his hind legs and thrust his front legs forward, connecting his front hooves with his handler, one hoof landing square in the middle of his chest, the other on his shoulder. The handler cried out in pain as he tumbled to the ground, the horse stepping on his left arm as he landed. The handler let go of the lead rope as he grasped his arm and chest in agony. The big gray horse took off running, his black mane and tail flowing freely behind him. There was no catching him now. He had quickly found his stride and was eagerly distancing himself from the man that had caused his panic. He was free of the negativity shown by his handler and was heading straight to his place of comfort – his paddock on the other side of the ranch.

It has been said that animals are a good judge of character. Many people have stated that they do not trust someone their dog doesn’t like. In this particular instance, the horse was showing good instinct and protecting himself. Animals, especially horses, have an uncanny knack for sensing when something is off. If a person is angry or upset, the horse will pick up on that energy and respond accordingly. If a person is nervous, again, the horse will pick up on that energy and begin to act nervous. And in the case of the big gray gelding, he was responding to the tumultuous emotions raging through his handler, a horseman that is a professional farrier by trade, who was displaying erratic emotions brought on by an evening spent doing meth and drinking alcohol until the sun shown in the sky and it was time to start a new day trimming horses.

Read More

© Copyright 2018. Harvard ED Center : All rights reserved | Health & Medical Education Blog – Website Design: Web Netz