Drugs, Alchohol and tobacco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Drugs, Alchohol and tobacco - Essay ExampleThe disease of substance abuse is distinguished by compulsivity, or the irrational, negligent, uncontrollable guess of resorting to drugs, alcohol, and tobacco (French et al., 2010). This essay tries to prove that addiction is a disease through a thorough examination of the nature and extent of alcohol, tobacco, and drug use in the United Kingdom.Some pack consider addiction a disease because a number of occurrences can be associated with a biologic tendency and because habit-forming substances alter the brain. Nevertheless, every goal-directed action is moderated by the brain, and acquired behaviour is largely influenced by changes in mental functioning (Pates & Riley, 2012). For instance, genetic research suggests a biological tendency towards different kinds of criminal activities, and it appears probable that later studies will reveal that particular environmental phenomena change the brain in ways that raise the gap of aggression o r violence (Ghodse et al., 2011). Hence, by the principle of biology, criminal acts would in time develop into a disease. The assumption that addicts abuse substances against their will has been fluently explained by researchers and medical practitioners. Miller and Chappel (1991 as cited in Brownsberger & Heymann, 2009, p. 100) stated that addiction is a disease because addicts reserve an uncontrollable urge to abuse substances.Yet, the assumption that behaviour is uncontrollable does not appear to involuntarily make it a disease. Moreover, the argument that addicts are not capable of controlling their substance use is incorrect (Barton, 2012 Rassool, 2008). For instance, DSM criteria classify people who smoke one pack a day as addicts, but ever since the 1964 statement of the Surgeon General on the health impacts of smoking, tens of millions of heavy smokers have stopped smoking (Brownsberger & Heymann, 2009, pp. 100-101). Furthermore, majority of them quit without clinical suppo rt they