Substance addiction has been associated with many short and long-term health implications for the victims. These effects can be manifested in all organs of the body thus weakening the immune system of the body in general. However, there have been strategies put in place by health providers, family members or religious groups to ensure that there is the prevention of drug and alcohol addiction. These strategies can be categorized into innovative and tertiary prevention. This article entails comprehensive discussion in regard to innovative and tertiary prevention strategies which can be employed to bar people from indulging in the addiction menace.
Innovative prevention takes the approach which is inclusive of the family, academic environment and the society. At the family level, preventive factors can include the parents having good communication skills for interacting with children, developmental appropriate styles of disciplining children and teaching parents to manage their emotions and social cognitive support. At school, the focus is on social and coping behaviors. There are suggestions for the inclusion of computer and the internet as part of the strategies for preventing addiction in the school setups. However, there are few trials conducted in relation to assessing the drug situation in schools. The few trials which have been carried out and the existence of limited tools have proven to be effective in clearing the barriers posed by traditional methods (Champion, Newton, Barret& Teesson 2013). In Canada, there is a concept dubbed “three-legged stool” which is based on three areas. The three areas include minimization of the supply of drugs, demand reduction strategies, and harm reduction. In the supply, there is the application of security enforcement to reduce availability. In demand, the core objective is to reduce the desire to use drug among the potential victims. This is included in police and other law enforcement programs. The third leg referred to as harm minimization has a strategy where its core mandate is to reduce the possible harm which can be caused by illicit drugs or substances. This approach should be exploited to its full potential. It should not be taken literally as harm reduction, but it should incorporate building an integrated and innovative response mechanism which is cognizant of the solution to addiction and function in a direct manner and in earlier stages.
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This strategy is applied in most cases once there is the firm establishment of a severe condition of addiction. The process involves both rehabilitation and therapeutic mechanisms in combating the situation. The main aim of a tertiary strategy is to reduce and prevent the possibilities of overdose, medical complications, and deaths. Tertiary prevention, in this case, can be accomplished by ensuring that the drug addicts can access efficient and cheaper drug addiction treatment. Treatment of drug addiction includes both psychosocial and pharmacotherapy approaches. Added to these are the residential and mutual help programs. Providing the family members of the drug addicts with treatment drugs such as naloxone for the case of opioid addiction can be of importance in preventing addiction challenges (Kolodny et al., 2015). Another tertiary technique for preventing drug addiction is through creating an enabling environment to help the residents with their recovery processes. This will involve recovery home operators which should be characterized by warmth and recovery mechanisms ( Mericle, Miles & Way, 2015).
Religion and spiritual beliefs have played a vital role in the prevention of addiction cases related to drugs and alcohol. The Christians who imbibe spiritual and religious ethos have directives from the Bible through the scriptures. Even though these stipulations exist, it should be remembered that there is a need for obedience by Christians to see that they do not indulge in bad practices. There are about 25 verses in the bible which either warn or talk of bad effects of alcohol. Taking the case of Galatians 5:21, there is a warning to people who engage in drunkenness with a consequence of not inheriting the kingdom of God. It should be noted that some religions are more protective against alcohol than others. Taking the case of Protestants in Brazil, it is realized that the percentage of Protestant students who engage in religious activities are more than Catholics. The percentage is reflected in their alcohol consumption and drug use ( Gomes et al., 2013). From this finding, it can be deduced that religion provides a great mechanism for preventing drug and alcohol addiction. It should be considered that inasmuch as there are no discussions regarding other drugs in religious books like the Bible, the issue if drunkenness answers this concern.
Conclusion
In summary, it is appropriate to infer that these techniques of drug addiction control are essential when put into practice in the best way. Taking, for instance, the three-legged concept, there is an insight as it details out the factors which are geared towards ensuring that there is reduced accessibility to drugs. The religious beliefs backed by obedience can play a vital role in the prevention of these addictions. The tertiary prevention techniques appear to be complicated as they involve technical interventions. From this discussion, there should be the application of a hybrid approach of all these mechanisms to ensure a drug addiction free society is achieved.
References
Champion, K. E., Newton, N. C., Barrett, E. L., & Teesson, M. (2013). A systematic review of school‐based alcohol and other drug prevention programs facilitated by computers or the I nternet. Drug and alcohol review , 32 (2), 115-123.
Gomes, F. C., Andrade, A. G. D., Izbicki, R., Moreira-Almeida, A., & Oliveira, L. G. D. (2013). Religion as a protective factor against drug use among Brazilian university students: a national survey. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria , 35 (1), 29-37.
Kolodny, A., Courtwright, D. T., Hwang, C. S., Kreiner, P., Eadie, J. L., Clark, T. W., & Alexander, G. C. (2015). The prescription opioid and heroin crisis: a public health approach to an epidemic of addiction. Annual review of public health , 36 , 559-574.
Mericle, A. A., Miles, J., & Way, F. (2015). Recovery residences and providing safe and supportive housing for individuals overcoming addiction. Journal of Drug Issues , 45 (4), 368-384.
