Abuse of medicament of adolescents and students in Zadar (pilot research)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15291/ai.1245Keywords:
alcohol, abusage, health, illness, medications, usage, youthAbstract
Back in 1804, aware of their therapeutic effects, the pharmacology experts were interested in morphine-based medications. The chemical formula of morphine, an opium derivate, was established in 1925, which represents a significant advance in development, production and medical therapy by medications (Richard and Senon, 1999: 279). "But the excessive dosage may cause the stop of breathing and death of the consumer", dr. Lucas Salomon pointed out (2010, 116). He accented that every abuse of medications, particularly from the group that includes sedatives, stimulants and analgesics, has the same impact to the brain as the consummation of illegal substances, carrying the risk of toxication, occurrence of mental and physical addiction and/or death. But these reports do not prevent an increasing number of people from overuse of medications. According to some assessments, an increasing number of youth aged 16 to 24 are "drugged" by medications than all other illegal substances, including marijuana. This problem is especially present in the USA, where the abuse of controlled medications causes more death cases than anything else, with the exception of car accidents. The medications are getting more often referred to as "new drugs".The presented pilot-research was conducted among 300 secondary school students and higher education students in Zadar. The paper states data which at least partially explain the attitudes and the relation of youth toward medications: the frequency of abuse, causes, level of information about the adverse effects on health and the group of medications which are abused with alcohol. The relative marginalization of this problem in preventive programmes in schools still remains prompt serious analysis.
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