Humanities Homework Help

In Chapter 9, your book describes and explains symptoms, causes and possible treatments of substance use disorders.  Wisconsin has a “proud” heritage of Alcohol making, use, consumption, but also abuse.  A national report (see the anouncement for week 4), listed some the the “best” drinking towns in the United States.  I think Wisconsin sported a dozen in the top 25.  As you are reading this section, think about the definitions for tolerance, dependence and addiction.  At what point does drug and alcohol use become an addiction?  At what point does it become abused?  Think about your own use…do you smoke?  Do you binge drink?  What about caffeine…who gets a migraine if they don’t have their morning cup of coffee (I do)?  What affects do different drugs have on the body?  

PARTS ONE & TWO 

After you have read this section, choose a COMMON drug from the unit:  stimulants (e.g., caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, etc.), depressants (e.g., alcohol), Hallucinogens (e.g., MDMA or marijuana).  There are others listed, just make sure you have enough information to answer the questions.  You may use outside sources (please remember to cite them).   

Answer the following:

• What drug did you choose ?
• What are the effects of single use of this drug ?
• How does addiction develop ?
• Does continued use of this drug cause adverse health affects ?  Explain.
• Can continued use of this drug be classified as a disorder ?  Explain
• What problems can this drug cause in a person’s life as well as the community as a whole (if relevant) 9?

1. I am attaching the Wisconsin Epidemiological Profile on Alcohol and Other Drug Use https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/publications/p4/p45718-16.pdf   (Click on or copy the link.)  This study is from 5 years ago – but it is the most comprensive report to date.
2. You may also go to the Wisconsin Department of Health Service website on Alcohol and Other Drug Use Statistics:  https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/stats/aoda.htm  This site also provides a wealth of information.

Choose a drug from the category you reported on above…you will find large sections on alcohol and illicit drugs (including marijuana).  (You won’t find a section on caffeine or nicotine, so please just choose a different stimulant if you wrote one of these.)

Discuss, IN YOUR EDUCATED OPINION, the following (in paragraph form):

• Before reading through the information about your “drug of choice”, what percentage of adults did you believe used this drug?  What about high school students? 
• WHY did you or do you believe this? 
• After reading the report, did you find more or less people in Wisconsin are using this drug? 
• Were the numbers surprising?  Explain Why or why not? 
• Do you believe the use of the drug you chose is problematic in the state of Wisconsin?  Why or why not? 

1-) https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/publications/p4/p45718-16.pdf

2-) https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/stats/aoda.htm