Module 6

• Drugs


  Chemical substances that affect the normal functioning of the body and/or brain
• Illegal drugs


  Drugs so harmful that countries across the world have decided to control them
• Common illegal drugs in the Philippines

  • Shabu
  • Cocaine
  • Ecstasy
  • Marijuana
• Top ten causes of drug abuse among Filipino college students

  • Peer influence
  • Lack of attention from parents
  • Serious problems in the family
  • Lack of guidance from parents
  • Weak foundation on moral value
  • Suffering frustrations
  • Absence of school anti-drug abuse council
  • Lack of drug-abuse prevention activities
  • Means to temporarily forget problems
  • Lack of concern from faculty and staff
• Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 (RA 9165)
• National Anti-Drug Plan of Action
• What students can do in drug prevention

  • Cooperate with anti-drug school policies and national campaign against drugs by not engaging in drug use or trade
  • Help friends who are using drugs by making them know you care, talk and listen to them, and offer to accompany them to their parents or school counsellors
  • Engage in alternative activities and find other outlets that will steer them away from drugs
  • Learn techniques of self-relaxation and stress management to appropriately deal with anxiety and cope with problems
  • Enhance and practice peer-refusal skills to be able to resist peer pressure to take drugs
  • Promote family solidarity by spending time with the family and taking part in family activities
  • Participate in community or school projects and programs for the prevention of drugs
  • Advocate against illegal drugs using different channels, employing one's skills and creativity
• Individual - The use of illegal drugs affects the body by changing one’s appetite, wakefulness, blood pressure and mood. These drugs may cause heart attack, stroke, psychosis, and illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, and hepatitis. Drugs also affect the brain which causes changes in how the individual experiences normal pleasures in life such as food, changes in one’s ability to control the stress level, and changes in decision-making and learning/remembering abilities (NIDA, 2017).
• Family - Quijano (2011) explains that the institution of the family, as sacred as it is, is also under attack from the threats of illegal drug use. The use of drugs disrupts the normal family life as it triggers a dysfunctional relationship brought by distrust or emotional pain inflicted by illegal drug users on their family member/s. A family with a member facing legal repercussions of illegal drug use is also subjected to stress and tension which can affect normal family functions.
• Society at large - Society is affected when organizations connected to these families and individuals also fall back on their goals after these individuals and families fail to perform their functions and duties Quijano (2011). Some drug users he calls “passive”, avoiding their issues through drug use, cannot be productive and fully-participating members of the society, and their development is hindered as drugs tolerate this passivity Fields (2007). Institutions are therefore affected by the disruption and passivity
• Violence is still one of the biggest impacts of illegal drugs.

  • Drug-related crimes continue to proliferate, inflicting injuries, deaths, affecting the fabric of society and diverting resources needed for progress;
• Law enforcers, judges and prosecutors are prone to drug-related corruption, but officials of national and local government agencies are not spared
• Emergence of new or increased health problems:

  • Drug use contradicts the efforts to improve national health. The link between the increase of communicable and infectious diseases including HIV and AIDS, and drug use has been continuously noted
• Lowering of worker productivity:

  • Economic stability is also affected as it lowers productivity through the spread of diseases, occupational injuries, absenteeism, and drug overdose. The effects of drug use on development are significant as productivity gains are crucial for the country to attain a competitive position in the world economy
• Engagement of youth in drug distribution and away from productive education or employment:

  • Drugs have the power to affect not only the present but the future. The youth is targeted in their most productive years;
• Skewing of economies to drug production and money laundering.

  • Like the cash flow circulating as a direct result of crimes and other illegal activities, the money involved in the production and purchase of illegal drugs is not documented and thus not taxable. This hurts the nation’s economy by hindering the propagation of development projects and disrupting the figures of the country’s actual spending power.
• Efforts to Prohibit Illegal Drugs:

  • Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 (RA 9165)
  • National Anti-Drug Plan of Action