abuse is a major public health concern across the life-span, impacting individuals, families, communities and government spending. This includes both illegal and legal substances. The

abuse is a major public health concern across the life-span, impacting individuals, families, communities and government spending. This includes both illegal and legal substances. The annual cost, including lost wages and productivity, criminalization, and healthcare expenses for illegal drug use, alcohol and tobacco use is over $600 billion annually (Schulte & Hser, 2017; CDC data). Data also shows that there are systemic inequities in how drugs are advertised, distributed, prosecuted, and treated in the healthcare system based on race, gender, and socioeconomic status/poverty status.
Resources to use in this discussion board:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (including link for “Data and Statistics” as well as “Diseases and Conditions”).
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (“Current Topics,” “Data,” and “Find Treatment” areas).
1) Select one age group (e.g., adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults, older adults) and identify the most harmful drug for this group. You can select legal or illegal substances. You must provide specific data/evidence in this discussion board for why this drug is the most dangerous for this specific age group, and discuss the drug’s impact on both physical health and cognitive factors, using information from Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6. Explicitly identify the criteria and resources that you used in identifying “most harmful” for your choice.
2) other drugs did you consider in your research for the most harmful drug? Why did you not identify those as “most harmful” as compared to the drug you did choose?
3) Identify one local (to you) non-profit community resource or agency that you could refer someone to if they were exhibiting substance use/abuse issues. List the name of the agency/resource, give their website and contact information, and explicitly address how they would assist someone in this age group with substance use/abuse concerns. How could you make a referral to this resource? NOTE: National resources with no local address are not appropriate for this question, as