In this article, Alejandra Jimenez writes about Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker addressing prescription drug misuse in 2015. Safe Home Coalition launched a program aiming to reduce the misuse and abuse of prescription medications and help combat the opioid addiction. The organization will distribute re-sealable plastic bags to real estate professionals and public figures to secure and dispose of unused or unwanted medications. Preventing prescription medications from getting into the hands of people who shouldn't have them, especially the children. The program intends to educate and empower people to safely use, secure and dispose of unwanted medication. Easy access to prescription drugs is a major part of the problem and to reduce the number of overdose deaths and curb the addiction epidemic. The opioid epidemic is one of the defining health problems of our time and people who are suffering from substance abuse disorders who need treatment aren't easy. People aren't aware of the risks and there's more that needs to be done to try to get to the root of the condition. One-third of teens say they believe it's okay to use prescription drugs for them to deal with an injury, illness, or physical pain. 43% percent of teens indicate prescription drugs are easier to obtain than illegal drugs. Prescriptions should be closely regulated in order to avoid addiction problems and shouldn't be allowed exceptions beyond dosage even if it's being used up quickly. Pharmaceutical drugs are much too available to the public. Prescription drugs are legally available to the public and are given out to people who shouldn't have them. It's a huge issue because it can lead to abuse of medication.

Jimenez, Alejandra. “Safe Homes Coalition Launches to Combat Medication Misuse, Opioid Addiction.” UWIRE Text, 1 Oct. 2015, p. 1. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.sfis.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.430387711&site=eds-live.

Dr. Nora Volkow expresses what happens when we lose control of our actions. Being able to control our desires, motivations, actions, and thoughts consistently lose control over capacity to control the phenomena called addiction. People addicted to drugs are not taking it because they want to, it's because they can no longer stop. Addiction is a product of exposure to drugs or known as rogue addiction. We can become addicted to anything like our behaviors, foods, and environment. The characteristics of drugs modify the function of the brain triggering the process. Not everyone can become addicted to something because there's many factors involved like biology and genes. If we have the gene risk for addiction, we're more likely to become addicted than if you don't. If multiple people are addicted and may have those genes will make you vulnerable. The most important thing in biology is our age. When we were a teenager or in our early 20’s, it's the period where our brain is particularly plastic. Which actually changes physically as a function of the environment. It allows us to optimize the structure and architecture to be able to survive. The unique capacity is more advanced when we are children and adolescents because we change much faster and it lasts longer. When taking a drug that actually modifies these plastic changes, our brains will physically challenge much faster and are at a higher risk of addiction.

Volkow, Nora. “Teens and Drugs Addiction.” YouTube, uploaded by USA Science & Engineering Festival, 30 September 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-RJauO7dpw. Assessed October 6, 2021.

In the report "Violence and Substance Abuse in Schools," violence and drug use in schools have perplexed not only American society, but societies throughout the world: In an effort to understand and therefore curb violence and drug use, social scientists, scholars, policy makers, and researchers have expended many resources in terms of capital, time and energy. Although television is considered to be a major model with which children spend much of their time , school environment, the availability of drugs within schools, and the presence of gangs and weapons in the school settings may be equally influential in serving as models for children's behavior. Despite the attention school violence has received by the media, studies on school violence are convoluted by the introduction of variables that are more suitable for studies of violence occurring outside the school. For the purposes of this research, the definition of school violence, though inclusive of psyChological, school environmental and personal or individual variables, focuses on the specific act of "being attacked while at school". Student's perceptions of school rules, as to whether the rules are fair/unfair, effective or ineffective, may explain why drug use, gang activity, and violence exist in schools. For rules to work, the authority of teachers and public school officials must be effective. One of the strongest and most intriguing findings of the present study is that the perceived presence of weapons in school was related to avoiding certain "dangerous" places in school. Not surprising but disturbing is the finding that the availability of drugs and the perceived presence of gangs in school were related to being attacked and to getting high at school. Results of the present study indicate that while demographic variables, such as ethnicity, age, and gender, are not strongly related to reports of being attacked in school, avoiding places in school, and substance abuse, contextuality is more highly predictive.

Kimweli, David M. S., and Eric M. Anderman. Violence and Substance Abuse in Schools: Adolescents’ Fears and School Violence. Mar. 1997. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.sfis.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED412442&site=eds-live. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.

According to National Institute on Drug Abuse, women face issues when it comes to substance use like sex and gender. “19.5 million females (or 15.4 percent) ages 18 or older have used elicit drugs in the past year” (National Institude on Drug Abuse, 2020) Scientists discovered that women who use drugs can be related to hormones, menstrual cycle, fertility, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and menopause. Females also use substances differently than men and can respond differently. Women can experience physical effects on their heart and blood vessels as well as having panic attacks, anxiety, or depression. Treatment for females is a different process than men and enters treatment for a shorter amount of time. In the past, women weren't included in research because of beliefs and they are more “complicated” than men.

“Substance Use in Women Drugfacts.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 23 Jan. 2022,https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/substance-use-in-women. Accessed 16 February 2022.