Personal Narrative Essay: Why Drugs Have Taken Over

According to the text, what factorshave been major contributors to the demise of the two-parent household?

From a very early age, I was always an extremely curious and anxiety-ridden child. I had an extreme interest in anything that was outside the realm of mundane activities and the notions of everyday life. Unknowing at the time, this was setting me up for a very self-destructive path towards drug and alcohol abuse. It isn’t easy to reflect on why I sought comfort in drugs and alcohol from an early age, but it is necessary in order to remind myself why I am on the continuous path towards happiness and wellness without the need for any alternative substances. My inner desire to alter consciousness, my drug use as a passive activity, my extreme boredom, and my impulsivity were all factors that led to my drug and alcohol abuse which has been made

To fully understand the significance and the seriousness of a War one must first fully understand the reasons that caused it in the first place. In this specific case the solution begins with several important yet seemingly simple questions…What is marijuana? How is it used? And why is it so coveted and widely distributed in Jamaica as well as the rest of the world?… All these questions help clarify the reasoning behind the war on drugs and further investigation shows how Jamaica ends up being an important country in this puzzle as well. Lets begin with the first question, (What is marijuana), of course the dictionary definition is simply put,-a preparation of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa, for use as an

1b. List and describe briefly the major structures of the brain, as presented in your textbook, including the function of those elements that are most related to psychoactive drug reaction.

Substance abuse is the habitual use of mind altering substances (Substances). Addicts have a false or altered look on reality; they need help seeing what is wrong with the life style they are living. Nikki Sixx once said,” Addiction- When you can give something up at any time, as long as it’s next Tuesday!” Recovery is teaching a person to break old habits. Substance abuse counselors are very important, not only in the mental health field, but in society as well.

Spearheaded by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, the movement known as the “War on Drugs” sought to control the sale and use of psychoactive drugs as well as promote access to treatment for those who abuse and misuse these substances (Bagley, 1988; Elkins, 1990). Policies implemented prohibited the possession and distribution of narcotics (e.g. marijuana, cocaine, heroin); the punitive policies, which often resulted in hefty fines and prison sentences for violators, ultimately prompted the emergence of a black market, more potent and lethal drugs, synthetic drugs as well as led to the increase in organized crime and prison population (Bagley, 1988; Broden, 2013; Cussen & Block, 2000; Elkins, 1990; Friedman, 1991; Henderson, 1990; MacCoun, 1993; Powell, 2013). Despite the initial intention, there was rarely sufficient funding allocated towards achieving the latter goals—of promoting and advocating treatment for drug addicts (Bagley, 1988).

“People who do drugs are evil”, “drugs are the cause of crimes”, and “all drugs harm you”. These are all said about drugs in our society, but what most people don’t know is that 81% of Americans use drugs on a daily bases for their remedies of minor ailments (consumer health care productions association).Drugs like prescription pain killers, aspirin, Tylenol, and other OTC (over-the-counter) drugs you can find almost anywhere are used every day in our society. If people see someone pull out a bottle or ibuprofen and take 4 or 5 nobody even thinks twice about it. So is our society taking advantage of the drugs available to them? And if nobody does anything about the amount of drugs Americans are using, will the society norm turn into that of the Brave New World?

As things started to get worse since Jay joined the Troublemakers the principal had made a decision to expel Jay from school for causing too much trouble. His mom was so upset that she put him out of her house. He had moved in with some of his homeboys a few blocks away. A month later Jay had joined the worse gang in ATL. The Bloods were known for most of ATL mass murders and people going missing. The Bloods had initiated him into their little circle. After he joined The Bloods he started to mug, rob, and jump people ever since. Upon hearing the news his family didn’t know what to do they tried praying for him and going to the church but nothing worked at the time.

Hey, I’m Adam. When I was younger something happened, and it was scary. Now this had no affect on anyone except me. I was playing baseball and it was turn to bat. I stepped into the batter's box, took my stance, and awaited for the pitch. It was outside for ball one. The very next pitch hit me right above my left ear. Thank god i was wearing a helmet. When the pitch was coming I didn’t know what to do. I stood there frozen waiting for the pitch to hit me, and as soon as I did I knew that the choice that I just made was a terrible one. I went to first after the coaches checked me out and I looked fine. I stole second and then the inning ended and I was put on the bench even though I insisted I was fine. I didn’t know until the next day that

As the food coma sets in my body and drop of sweat rolls off of my forehead, my gaze locks onto the sunny afternoon rays peeking through the classroom window. My eighth grade English teacher drones on and on about the end of the year benchmark test while the musky air encases me in a trancelike state. I could not be bothered to listen what the two boys were arguing about, but soon realized it was a mistake as I got a whiff of drugs passing through my nose. The distinctive smell of marijuana wafts throughout the classroom and somehow the mother-like woman didn’t even notice, she just continued to bore the students. At the time, I could not fathom how these 13 year old boys were doing something so dumb that they would want to jeopardize their

Ever since I was only a few months old, my birth mother put drugs and herself before anyone else, including my father and I. My father is originally from Saudi Arabia and came to America for better opportunities and to make his family proud. After a few months of living in Oklahoma, he met my mother and they ended up getting married. They soon found out that my mother was pregnant with me and they were both elated. After I was born, my father began to notice that my mother was acting strangely and not being herself; this was obviously a result of her getting back on drugs. My father did not have the prior knowledge that my mother had been on drugs and had quit them multiple times before having met him. One night my father came home from work

When I was 12 years old, I recall watching as my brother piled into my father’s Honda, leaving for his first stint in rehab. As tears streamed down my face, I promised myself I would never try any sort of illicit drug as I grew older. A promise that I would inevitably break within a few more years. Growing up, I watched both my brother and mother fight terrible drug addictions that almost cost them their lives. Even after witnessing the terrible side effects of drug abuse throughout my childhood, by 18 years old I found myself, too, battling a drug addiction. Today, one in every 10 Americans over the age of 12 are addicted to alcohol, or some sort of illicit drug. Out of that staggering number of citizens, only 11 percent receive any sort of treatment for their addiction. Temptation is present in everyone and the truth is, most people do try illicit drugs at some point in their lives. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to prove that drugs are becoming more and more accessible on the streets and have become a growing problem in our society, especially with college-aged kids.

In “Drugs in Schools: Myths and Realities,” Peter Venturelli (2000) discusses the reasons as to why many students and young adults turn to drugs and how the increase rate in drugs encouraged schools to adopt a policy on them. It is evident that there has been an increase in the use of licit and illicit drugs among teenagers in the United States. According to Venturelli (2000), drugs are defined as “any substance that modifies body functions.” With that being said, drugs can affect an individual’s perception of reality through their attitude, personality, and behavior. The article reports an increase of drug use from teenagers aged 12 to 17 and indicates the rate has increased from “11.7 percent in 1992 to 18.0 percent in 1995” (Venturelli, 2000). As the public became aware of the results, many schools decided to implement a policy of zero tolerance for drugs for safety and education purposes. For example, drugs can create problems for students because it can affect their thinking, which can hinder their education. In addition, researchers realized that education on drugs and TV advertisements, has had little to no effects for frequent drug users (Venturelli, 2000). Venturelli (2000) thoroughly discusses the reasons as to why teenagers turn to drugs for help. Individuals between the ages of 13 through 18, also known as adolescents, experience changes as they begin to discover the world around them. Adolescents bodies begin to change as they go through puberty. For instance,

Why should I care what they are doing? Are they bothering me? Is it affecting me? These are questions that I would say to people when they ask me about individuals doing drugs. Drugs like heroin, but it didn’t hit me until someone I knew overdosed, and them someone else within the same month. It is an awful feeling, saying goodbye to someone who died too young, someone who didn’t need to pass, someone you cared for taken too soon by something so foolish.

Drug use in America is one of the major issues we face and the problem has skyrocketed over the past three decades. Heroin and painkiller addictions exceed all other countries. It is important that we address some of the causes that lead to the abuse, how to treat the abuse, and how to prevent the distribution of illegal prescription drugs.