Speech On Drugs

The drug abuse is the most serious issue not only in United States but other parts of the world too. The statistic has shown that 24.4million of American including teens from age of 12, had used an illegal drugs. The primary purpose of drug is a medicine which is to cure diseases, but people in United States nowadays, have misused the usage of drugs by consuming them without recommendation or supervision from the expert.

In the present times, drug abuse is a major cause for concern and has an adverse effect on society in general. Although students comprise of a large section of drug abusers, grown-ups also capitulate to drug abuse. In fact among the middle-aged people there is an inclination to abuse prescription drugs.

First Main Point: Last month president Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency (Merica, 2017). This goes to show that the opioid problem is a huge deal in the United States and it should be treated so.

Non-medical drugs can affect everyone no matter what color they are, where they live, and even their culture. Heroin can affect anyone including young, old, male, female, wealthy, urban, rural, and most of all suburban. A report in New Mexico pointed out that over 60% of death rates have been between 2001 and ‘10 and 10 youths used drugs to get high.New Mexico’s Youth Risk and Resilillency survey said 1 in 10 youths have admitted to using opiate-based prescription drugs to get high.

“Drug policy regarding the control of the traditional illicit substances (opiates, cocaine, cannabis) is currently moving through upbeat times in almost all Western countries. Prohibition on the basis of repressive law enforcement not only seems to fail on a large scale, but also to create vast additional costs, problems, and harm for drug consumers, who often find themselves in extreme social, economic, and health conditions” (Fischer 1995: 389).

Many drug addicts do not have jobs or any legal means of generating income; they resolve to criminal activities such as theft, robbery, or aggressive panhandling. Due to the addictive nature of drugs, the user will be compelled to want more and more in order to continue feeling “normal”. It is what fuels their addiction and as a result, a lack of motivation to do anything other than obtaining more drugs. The drug addict’s family suffers from the effects of the drug addiction as well through emotional stress and psychological decay. Drug addicts also encourage illegal drug trafficking by helping fund criminal organizations. In fact, drug addicts are the reason why the billion dollar drug industry is as lucrative as it is. Without drug addicts, drug traffickers would have no customers or buyers to help generate income. Huge amounts of tax revenue is going towards the war on drugs which includes money going into police departments, border agencies, harm reduction programs, and anti-drug campaigns. The tax money being used to fight drugs could be used to better our education or health systems; instead it is being used to fund harm reduction programs such as Insite.

Would you believe me if I tell you that the number of deaths related to prescription drugs abuse has surpassed the number of deaths related to car accidents? In 2009, according to statistics from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug abuses accounted for at least 37,485 of deaths in America, doubling the number in the last decade. While most of these deaths are due to the abuse of opioid painkillers, excessive use of antidepressants and antibiotics have also led to many problems. Furthermore, overprescribing by doctors have contributed a huge part in promoting these deaths.

Mark Rodriguez English 3 Honors Christina Nidowicz 29 October 2017 Annotated Bibliography Dr. Tedros. “Substance Abuse.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 2017, www.who.int/topics/substance_abuse/en/. Dr. Tedros, director of the World Health organization, refers to the harmful and hazardous use of psychoactive substances. He explains how the use of these drugs can lead to a change in behavior, a strong desire to take the drug, difficulty in controlling its use, and a severe change in behavior. He then explains the many policies his organization has to prevent the use of non medication cannabis.

On 13 June 2016 I was at my home of residence when I punched a door after my girlfriend Melissa and I had an argument about moving and me being deployed. Over the past few months I have had quite a few new stressors introduced into my life and haven’t been having the best time copping with them. It all started back in October when I was brought into a drug investigation and was unsure of the outcome due to them believing I was involved in the events taking place. A month or so went by and then a friend of my Michael West was discharged from the U.S Air Force for substance abuse, and then I was told by Jordan Bell that he was now being investigated and that my name was once again brought up in the situation by someone involved, he is now out

Many people who use drugs try it to cope with stress or anxiety, but after the effect of the drugs wear off they may feel much worse than before. Helping people find healthy ways to deal with stress may be one way to reduce the amount of drug addicts. (Butler Center for Research) Another thing to be aware of is a family history of substance abuse, you might try drugs with friends and feel addicted to the drug after the first use your friend might be perfectly fine. Also persuading the youth to stay away from drugs is a key in prevention. “Research indicates that adolescence who begin drinking or doing drugs before age 14 are significantly more likely to experience alcohol or drug dependence at some point later on in their lives compared to individuals who begin drinking after 21 years of age.” (Butler Center for Research) Strong family bonds and proactive parenting can play a big role in helping keep teens away from drugs and alcohol.

There always seems to be debate on whether the decriminalization of drugs would be of great public interest. It is a very important and controversial issue that has many people wondering if legalizing drugs would be a right move or not. In the article, “Decriminalization Would Increase The Use and The Economic and Social Costs of Drugs” by David Mineta, Mineta argues about why drugs should not be decriminalized and how keeping illicit drugs illegal outweigh the possible negative consequences of legalizing these substances. Mineta himself writes that, “Our position is simple and evidence-based: both decriminalization and legalization of illicit drugs would increase their use, along with their associated health and social costs” (Americas Quarterly). According to Mineta the decriminalization of drugs will only allow more people to become addicted causing more health and social costs because seen as they will be more widely used. (Americas Quarterly)

Pressure to use heroin and other drugs from some students as well as pressure from non-students.

Today is the first day of the April Blogging Challenge. Are you excited? My posts throughout April will be about Addiction and Recovery.

My aunt struggles with an addiction to prescription drugs after being prescribed pain medication for endometriosis for over 3 years. She found ways to continue to get these drugs 2 years after the doctors stop prescribing it too her. I don’t understand the disease and yet it is so common, so I am bringing you information that I have researched in the hopes that you all may understand it better as well.

Since 2000, the drug use rate in America has risen to the highest it’s ever been. In a survey done in 2009, 8.7 percent of people age 12 and up said that they used illegal substances within a month of taking the survey, a 9 percent increase since 2008 (Abuse, National Institute on Drug, 2010). This statistic alone is very concerning due to