Substance abuse in Durham
Over 20,000 people living in Durham are affected by the substance abuse, which has become a common problem in the community. 19,500 residents are regular users of substance, including middle school and high school students. In this county, the common illicit drugs include cocaine, marijuana and heroin. Smoking and alcohol abuse are widely exercised by the residents of Durham County (Kleiman, & Hawdon, 2011). Durham County is ranked among the top three counties that are mostly affected by the drug abuse in the state.
Substance abuse and use has resulted to more than 30% cases of domestic violence according to the report released by Durham police department. Due to the implementation of the law enforcement, 28 percent of prisoners in Durham county jail, and 35 percent of the inmates in the entire Durham were convicted of drug abuse and offense.
In fact, according to the behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance survey in 2011, the binge drinking in Durham was reported to be 16.6 percent, while the heavy drinking was 7.7 percent. The alcohol abuse has consequently led to deterioration of the road safety. For instance, there were about 24 fatal car accidents in the county and 34 percent were related to alcohol. On the other hand, around 11 percent of Durham resident were reported to be current smokers while the percentage of those smoking daily was 7 percent (Kleiman, & Hawdon, 2011). The smoking condition has resulted to 90 percent of lung cancer cases.
The student especially young and adult youths are not speared by the substance abuse problem. 45 percent of the high school students in the Durham County were reported to be smoking, and in particular marijuana. 90 percent of the aggregate youth were indicated being smokers of marijuana, 37 percent were alcohol abusers and 43 percent were using tobacco.
The stakeholders involved in the program
Including the community in the Durham County, other stakeholders are required to ensure that a program to fight against substance abuse is effect. The Police Department in the county will be involved to reinforce law and make sure that those that are directly or indirectly involved in the substance abuse are facing the law. To implement this program, it requires funds and aids, thus this program calls upon the involvement and support from government and non-government organization. Such organizations include Murray McKinnon Foundation (MMF), American Addiction Center, and Durham Family Court Clinic and community agencies to support the intervention and prevention activities. Other important stakeholders include Individual Substance Therapists in Durham such as Patrick Jeffs, a counselor and Kevin Metz, a psychologist among others. These therapists will treat people with addictive disorders and assist the substance abusers to understand their move and provide alternative ways to make their lives better.
Review of evidence program intervention
NIDA‐CEWG (National Institute of Drug Abuseʹ Community Epidemiology Work Group) has for a long time been supporting clinical treatment and recovery services across United States and more specifically Durham(National Center for Health Statistics, 2012). It developed a surveillance program with an aim of curbing substance abuse in dirham.
In 2008 the surveillance program was implemented in Durham majorly to access substance abuse among the working population. Unfortunately, the program faced many difficulties as it was not able to raise enough information that could enable the health personnel to successfully access substance abuse within the target group. Research indicates that the program generated results that were only 63% accurate since it was basically restricted to the working population (National Research Council, 2013). Citizens and agencies were unable to understand the scope of the problems that are associated with substance abuse. The persistent use of alcohol also hampered the accuracy of the results since it is more prevalent than other drugs used in Durham (Genetic Alliance, 2011).
In 2009, the surveillance program witnessed considerable success. However, its full success was hampered by the fact that it lacked support from the civilians. Most of them did not embrace it. Only 43% perceived the program with positivity and were actually ready to support it in either way. It is also noted that 57% of youths either take alcohol, smoke cigars, or both and actually find it hard to desist from the custom of substance abuse (National Research Council, 2013).
In the face of the continuous failure of the surveillance program in Durham substance abuse is continuously causing poverty despite the fact that most of the people in Durham are learned; 40% of the youths have a bachelor’s degree(National Center for Health Statistics, 2012). Risky behaviors such as tobacco use, smoking, violence and unhealthy sexual behaviors continue to be on the rise. Various researches proposed better ways of ensuring the surveillance program succeeds in Durham. However, in most cases the recommendations have been unheeded and subsequently the substance abuse menace has taken toll on the population.
Applicability of the evidence
Apparently, the Durham population is in a deep mess that has been created by the continuous abuse of substances due to the fact that an effective program that fully discourses the issue at hand has certainly not been implemented (National Research Council, 2013). Since most of the youths are leaned, they should be informed on the importance of living a life that is free from substance abuse. By so doing, the youths will evade abusing substances hence attaining high quality lives that are free from premature death, injuries, disabilities and preventable diseases.
Substance abuse is common among the youths. This implies that the proportion of people who need to receive alcohol or illicit drug treatment is on the increase. Follow up care should be extended to effectively cover all people who are under the influence of drugs since dealing with only one portion of the population will only solve the problem partly (Genetic Alliance, 2011). Early mediation, academic education, comprehensive treatment, and multiple levels of care are important in deterring chronic substance abuse and subsequent complications that might otherwise follow a young person for a lifetime.
Agencies are working hard to increase the number of youths who disapprove substance abuse. However, Durham population offers less of the required support to ensure the success of the surveillance program. Advanced approaches of addressing the issue should therefore be employed to prevent substance abuse from derailing the Durham society.
Hypothetical program
The hypothetical program that will be rolled out to control substance abuse among the youths in Durham is surveillance networks. This is a public health intervention that will study the spread and development of drug abuse and all the associated problems. Surveillance network program will remain glued with a purpose of eliminating drug and substance abuse among the youths in Durham. The program is based on a public health orientation and it aims at creating awareness amongst people by passing information on the dangers and effects of drugs and substance abuse.
The hypothetical program will be guided by measurable program objectives. The major objective of the program will be to increase the number of adolescents who never practice alcohol and smoking. The program will aim at sensitizing the youth so that they can abandon the trend of getting much involved in substance abuse. A schedule will be developed at it will help the program implementers to visit high schools and college creating awareness on the repercussions of substance abuse.
The Surveillance Network Program aims at tracking the use of alcohol, cigarettes and bhang in the community. It serves a purpose of pointing out both the similarities and differences which exists among the population in Durham. The tracking of the trends associated with substance abuse helps the program implementers to identify the most prevalent areas. The second objective of the hypothetical program is to increase the proportion of adolescent who disagrees with the use of substance abuse. The program will give advice to the adolescent group not to recognize drugs as they will harm the state of their good health. In the long run, the goal of having the adolescents who disapproves the use of alcohol and smoking will be achieved (National Center for Health Statistics, 2012).
The hypothetical program will also ensure that it introduces screening and treatment. This is a strategy that will be helpful in increasing admissions for the treatment of injection drug use for the already addicted. The addicted youth will be put under specialty treatment and at the same time, guidance and thorough counseling. The program will also ensure that it increases the proportion of individuals who will require specialty treatment over a period so that the condition of substance abuse can be rectified.
In conclusion, the hypothetical program will help to track the use of substance abuse among the youth and this will help them in implementing interventions that will serve the purpose of eliminating substance abuse. The program will solve the problem of substance abuse and this will generate much benefit to the adolescents. Both mortality and morbidity rates will be reduced due to successful interventions that are supported by the hypothetical program.
References
Genetic Alliance,, Family Voices (Organization), (2013). Children and youth with special healthcare needs in Healthy People 2020: A consumer perspective.
Kleiman, M., & Hawdon, J. (2011). Encyclopedia of drug policy: "the war on drugs" past, present, and future. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.
National Research Council (U.S.) (2010). Review of the Department of Defense Enhanced Particulate Matter Surveillance Program report. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press.
National Center for Health Statistics (U.S.). (2012). Healthy People 2010: Final review. Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
