Substance abuse, drug addiction and the role of primary health care amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Authors

  • Mustafa Elsaied Esmail Department of Psychiatry, Al Amal Mental Health Complex, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • Majed Diaa Mosly Department of Psychiatry, Al Amal Mental Health Complex, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • Abdulaziz Abdullah Alghamdi College of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • Alalaa Hussain Hakami Department of Emergency Medicine, Prince Mohammed Bin Nasser Hospital, Jazan, Saudi Arabia
  • Ahmed Ali Majrashi Department of Psychiatry, Eradah Mental Health Hospital, Abha, Saudi Arabia
  • Safwan Shaker Abdulrahim College of Medicine, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • Areej Mohammed Alnashry Department of Psychiatry, Eradah Al Amal Mental Health Complex, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • Anwar Saeed Alalsaba Department of Psychiatry, Eradah Al Amal Mental Health Complex, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
  • Baneen Abdullah Akakah Department of Psychiatry, Eradah Al Amal Mental Health Complex, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
  • Khaled Abdullah Alshahrani General Administration of Medical Services in Public Security, Health Center in the Great Holy Mosque of Mecca, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
  • Nawaf Hatem Salamah College of Medicine, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20214623

Keywords:

Substance abuse, Drug addiction, COVID-19, Primary care

Abstract

The definition of substance abuse is the use of certain types of drugs such as alcohol, cannabis, hash, cocaine and others that have serious side effects and clinical complications. There is a significant difference between substance abuse and the term addiction. The significant difference between substance abuse and addiction is that drug addiction or substance addiction is classified as a chronic disease controlling the physical and mental ability of the individual to unpleasant force to use specific drugs such as cocaine or else. The literature has a positive correlation between the COVID-19 pandemic and illegal drug abuse in substance abuse or addiction. COVID-19 caused emotional emptiness for many people around the world, in addition to anxiety and depression. The particular group of people started addicting to specific drugs to induce temporary happiness due to the unpleasant events they had from the pandemic. This article aimed to review the challenges of substance abuse and drug abuse in the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of public health in addition to primary care facilities against this phenomenon. To our knowledge, this is the first review providing a complex review about this issue since the beginning of COVID-19.

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Published

2021-11-24

How to Cite

Esmail, M. E., Mosly, M. D., Alghamdi, A. A., Hakami, A. H., Majrashi, A. A., Abdulrahim, S. S., Alnashry, A. M., Alalsaba, A. S., Akakah, B. A., Alshahrani, K. A., & Salamah, N. H. (2021). Substance abuse, drug addiction and the role of primary health care amid the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 8(12), 6175–6178. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20214623

Issue

Section

Review Articles