Drugs & Alcohol
Final Paper HDFS 2400 AU 13

Section I
The topic that I had most interest in throughout the chapters 1-19 of our assigned text- book, Exploring Lifespan Development Second Edition by Laura E. Berk, was in chapter 13: Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Adulthood the section about ‘Substance Abuse.’ This topic is really appealing to me because being a 21-year old female a lot of people around my age, especially being a college student, have done sometime of substance abuse before. It seems to be the “cool thing” to do on the weekends with an over amount of binge drinking, while casually having a cigarette to keep the ‘tipsy’ feeling alive in the body. According to the textbook, “As many as 20 percent of U.S. 21- to 25- year olds are substance abusers (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009b)” (Berk p. 348). Substance abuse is the use of marijuana, smoking cigarettes, chewing tobacco and taking stimulants to enhance physical or cognitive performance. Also, binge drinking and experimentation with prescription drugs and “party drugs” are a common substance abuse among those in early adulthood that can lead to tragic consequences. The most common substance disorders in those years is cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. Some tragic consequences from cigarette smoking are deterioration of the retina, skin abnormalities, premature again, hair loss, decline in bone mass and many more extreme consequences. Alcohol consumption is best known for chronic liver disease, but it is also linked to cardiovascular disease, irritation of intestinal tract, inflammation of the pancreas, bone marrow problems and many disorders of the blood and joints. Tragic consequences of substance abuse are a huge increase of the psychological problems that lie with addiction that can lead into abuse in adolescence and adult years. The earlier started for any form of addiction the likelihood of continuing for future years to come.

Section II
“Alcohol Addiction” by Pride-Institute.com, states that almost 18 million Americans abuse alcohol. With many types of people and cultures that do abuse alcohol, in the LGBT community research of alcoholism suggests that the abuse and dependence of it occurs higher rates than in the mainstream population. In the LGBT community alcohol abuse occurs more than in the mainstream population. The abuse of alcohol can be the result of much stress and difficulty of dealing with discrimination and heterosexism that many do face who are homosexual. Many who abuse alcohol development a high tolerance for it, which results in the need to drink more to achieve that intoxication or the desired effect. Abuse of alcohol is the continuing to drink all the time, more time spent on drinking and thinking about drinking. Another aspect affected besides the body is the interaction with the real world; important work, family or social activities are more likely to be given up or reduced as a result of it.
According to Cancer.org, “Cigarette smoking is the major single cause of cancer mortality in the United States.” Smoking cigarettes are activities that people choose to do, and is the most preventable cause of death in our society. When comparing the many cultures American Indians/Alaska Natives are the highest cultures to abuse cigarette smoking, and about 18% of high school students were smoking cigarettes in 2011. It is said that cigarette smokers die younger than non-smokers, and smoking can harm just about every organ in the body. The causes of diseases are seen as always chronic with bronchitis, heart attacks, strokes and cancer. Smoking can also steal away a person’s quality of life years before death. It limits the person’s daily life with playing, working and even harder to breath. Life expectancy for men and women who do smoke is more likely to die between the ages of 35, and 69 years old for those who have chosen not to smoke.
Is there a relationship