Dependence disorders as disorders of society, family and individual: A critique of non-action

Since early 1990s substance abuse and dependence among young people in our country has been growing. Therefore to devise a prevention program should be a task number one for the government. Social factors (economic and political crisis, forced migration, unemployment, etc), on one side, family disfunction and individual causes on the other, can result in insecurity fear, feeling of meaninglessness in the young mind and hence the need to "solve" these problems by using one of psychoactive substances (PAS). Studies have shown that the young and especially their families have a very poor knowledge of PAS - their kinds and uses, how to recognize a person (ab)using PAS, and what somatic and psychological consequences are produced by taking them. Social tolerance to alcohol use and abuse is high, society is supportive of alcohol use, while on the other hand individuals with substance dependence disorder are stigmatized and ostracized. The very first steps have been made in investigating this problem, some action has been taken, but serious comprehension of the problem and creation and realization of the national prevention program for substance use disorder are still missing. Bolesti zavisnosti, tj. zavisnost od psihoaktivnih supstanci (PAS) - alkohola, droga, cigareta - u populaciji mladih u nasoj zemlji u poslednjoj deceniji XX veka i danas dobijaju takve razmere da nacionalni program prevencije bolesti zavisnosti mora da bude "zadatak broj jedan" za drzavu. Zloupotreba PAS se pomera ka sve mladjim starosnim kategorijama, zavisnost od PAS raste. Drustveni faktori (ekonomska kriza, politicka previranja, prisilne migracije, nezaposlenost itd), s jedne strane, disfunkcionalnost jednog broja porodica i individualni faktori, s druge, mogu dovesti do osecanja nesigurnosti, straha, besmisla zivljenja kod mladih i potrebe da se ovi problemi "rese" uz psihoaktivnu supstancu. Istrazivanja u nasoj zemlji ukazuju na nedovoljno znanje mladih, a posebno njihovih porodica, o vrstama PAS, nacinima upotrebe, izgledu i ponasanju osobe koja je pod dejstvom PAS i ozbiljnim somatskim i psihickim posledicama uzimanja ovih supstanci. Tolerancija drustva prema uzimanju i zloupotrebi alkohola je velika, uloga drustva u upotrebi etila podrzavajuca, dok su, s druge strane, zavisnici od drugih PAS ("narkomani"), stigmatizovani i odbaceni. Napravljeni su prvi koraci u smislu istrazivanja ovog problema, preduzete su neke akcije, ali izostaje ozbiljno sagledavanje problema, stvaranje i real