To know how to prevent addictions in adolescents and adults it is essential to avoid the problems derived from them. Once a person is addicted, damage has already occurred to the person, family and society, making detoxification more difficult.
An addiction is a repetitive, compulsive behavior that the person finds it difficult to avoid. This concept can be applied to addictions to substances, behaviors, games or technologies.
Some of the most common substance addictions are to cocaine, heroin, nicotine, methadone, or morphine. Non-substance addictions can be gambling or addictions to new technologies. Finally, there may be addictions to behaviors, such as eating, shopping, physical exercise or sexual relations.
One of the main differences between addiction to substances and to behaviors or technologies is that in substance addictions, the withdrawal syndrome is much more intense and polydrug addiction occurs more frequently..
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The goal of drug addiction prevention is to reduce or eliminate addiction and its associated problems. This reduction can be done with two general measures:
-Detecting and reducing risk factors for addiction; that is, what facilitates the start or maintenance of consumption.
-Strengthening the protection factors; that is, what favors the development of the person and guides them towards a healthy lifestyle.
This prevention will not be carried out only with the individual, but in a framework of education for health and well-being aimed at an entire community.
Programs and actions aimed at preventing addictions will have to take into account a series of populations:
-Society: strengthening social entities, promoting cultural values of family and personal responsibility, social skills, long-term information actions ...
-The family: improvement of family cohesion, participation of families to promote prevention, information to families ...
-Child, adolescent and youth population: youth and adolescents are the population that most consume drugs such as alcohol or cannabis. They need to be taken into account to apply prevention actions and develop them.
-Educational community: involvement of students, families and teachers, and their coordination with health centers.
-Labor population: involvement of companies, workers and unions
Addiction prevention programs can be carried out at three levels:
- Establish education programs on drugs, addictions and health education
- Inform the child and adult population about the consumption and effects of drugs.
- Detect addictions
- Establish contact with the person to seek solutions, seeking to make them aware of the addiction and informing them about the resources and alternatives available to them.
- Motivate and promote an attitude favorable to change
- Foster stable and healthy personal relationships within families with addicts.
- Evaluate the physical and psychological state of the addict to propose a treatment and follow-up
- Establish an emergency care system for substance use
- Encourage the addicted person to establish constant contact with prevention centers near their home.
The main goals to achieve with children, adolescents and young people in general:
- Inform the general population about the phenomenon of drug addiction
- Establish positive role models
- Reduce the age of initiation of addictive substance use
- Identify causes that may generate risk situations for the initiation of drug use, proposing action proposals
- Intervene on the social conditions that affect the consumption of substances capable of generating dependence
- Educate the population for responsible decision making
- Implement and develop community prevention programs.
- Limit the presence, promotion and sale of drugs in the social environment
- Minimize the harm associated with drug use
- Promote training and free time actions
- Generate leisure, cultural and free time alternatives, promoting healthy lifestyle habits.
The types of drugs that have caused the greatest addiction in Europe and Latin America are:
The cultivation and production of cannabis herb (marijuana) remains widespread, but the production of cannabis resin (hashish) is still limited to a few countries in North Africa, the Middle East and South-West Asia.
Read more about its consequences here.
Cocaine use is still more concentrated in America, Europe and Oceania, while practically all world production takes place in three countries in South America. Has serious side effects.
According to the WHO, a drug is any substance that, when introduced into a living organism, modifies one or more of its functions. This definition includes toxic substances, medicines and some foods.
To clarify doubts, alcohol and tobacco are drugs, although it is allowed in practically all western countries.
Both substances produce effects at the neuronal level, generating structural changes in the brain in the medium and long term.
They are psychoactive substances that have the ability to modify mental activity:
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