The Dark Side Of Drugs

To illustrate the magnitude of the research problem and provide a frame of reference, this section begins with a brief overview of the increased use of pharmaceuticals and prescription drug abuse in the US. The section continues with the relationship between illicit drugs and prescriptions, adolescents’ abuse, personal and social factors; then concludes with the theoretical approach. The Social-Ecological Theory, will be applied in researching prescription drug abuse, possible influences and protective factors in adolescents in relation to prescription drug abuse, to develop focused intervention strategies and educational programs for this population, similar to other substances such as tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana.

If cocaine were legal, what would the little packages be called? Sweet N' High! Unfortunately, this is an example of what is commonly known as a “crack joke.” Drugs are increasingly being misused and abused. Yet, today’s youth in its ignorance takes drugs as a light matter. It is a different story altogether from someone who has actually used drugs. In Beautiful Boy, journalist David Sheff recounts his own and his son, Nic’s journey of drug abuse. Sheff’s memoir is a haunting experience filled with tears, brawls, and ample amounts of crystal meth. In Beautiful Boy, Sheff, while applying a casual and conversational style, effectively uses rhetoric to share his experience with an addicted teen.

In order to spread lies about marijuana use, various agencies released propaganda films, most notable of these films is “Reefer Madness”. In this film, high school students are lured into using marijuana, which leads the students to commit murder, rape, suicide, and an overall decent into madness. Despite the strong use of propaganda, marijuana use saw an upward trend between the 1950’s and the 1960’s. Use of marijuana had spread to the white upper and middle classes by the 1960’s, partially changing the negative connotations attached to marijuana use. The drug was used by these middle and upper class whites to rebel against the older generation’s way of thinking. Many teens were introduced to marijuana use in college, where various other counter-culture ideas were being expounded. While the use of marijuana experienced a rise since the 1800’s to the middle of the 20th century, use of the drug saw a strong downward trend in the 1970’s through the early 1990’s, in part due to the strongest

In Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, there is a drug used and mentioned throughout the story called Soma. The characters have been conditioned by birth that Soma is always the answer when you feel alone or sad. This drug is used so people can go on "holidays" from their reality and is used as payment for the lower caste groups. People want Soma because they go on these highs and live in their "Heaven" to escape reality. After all, they do call Soma "All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects"(Huxley 54). Soma becomes a tool to control the people in society.

Since the beginning of time people have been using all kinds of substances to make them feel liberated. Alcohol and marijuana are consumed every day in America by teenagers to elderly people; there is no set range on who consumes these drugs. Despite efforts from imposed laws: people feel the need to consume these substances and encage in behaviors out of the ordinary. Drugs and alcohol are used in the story “Cathedral” but also they are used in Raymond Carver’s personal life.

Methamphetamine: A Love Story is a book documenting the lives of various people who were immersed in the culture of using, selling, and manufacturing methamphetamine. Through interviews with over 30 individuals, Rashi Shukla brings to light the drastic effects that manifested when this drug took over their lives. Shukla aims to “illuminate this dark world,” (Shukla 2016, p. 11), and to provide insight as to why methamphetamine becomes more than just a drug to those involved with it.

One day you are living a beautiful and content lifestyle, and then next day you are lying on the floor dead without telling your friends and family you loved them. This could happen to you, if you do not avoid the dodgy lifestyle of a drug user and abuser. Every day drugs, such as: heroine are misused in-order to get a certain feeling called a high. The high is suppose to make you feel good or forget about the world’s everyday problems, but in most cases, the use of these powerful drugs end up hurting, or even killing the users. The PSA “Best High” explains how heroine can easily be influenced into using for amusement. In the Public Service Announcement (PSA), “Best High,” produced by DrugFreeWorldInc, the company is reenacting a story about

Flyers and posters were placed everywhere reading “Marijuana a puff- a party- a tragedy! Assassin of Youth(marijuana).” All sharing one common goal: convincing the public of the abominable drug that marijuana was being presumed to be. Then came the grand slam, the Reefer Madness film. The film’s main focus was how badly the teenage marijuana users were affected by the drug. These adolescents became unexplainably violent and deranged. The film even showed an extremely irrational behaviors, like suicide, because of how “potent” the high was. The movie was successfully advertised and pushed to be seen. Quickly after, this falsified idea of marijuana spread across the US like wildfire and its information was absorbed. Generation after generation carried on these false interpretations on cannabis. All medical miracles and its obvious economical benefits were lost due to blind ignorance and lack of knowledge.

Imagine a straight A student, getting a full academic ride to a state college. Now imagine he decided to take his first sip of alcohol at his first high school party. He starts focusing on parties rather than his studies; he starts going to more and more parties. Eventually he smokes his first joint, no big deal right? Wrong, marijuana is called the gateway drug, meaning it is the drug that gets you to try worse drugs. He starts trying other things with his friends. He is presented with his first pipe, with crystal meth in it. He didn’t like it at first, but he discovers that he likes the high. he likes how he feels a rush when using it. He starts to use it once every week, then it becomes

“Hollywood usually ends up swallowing people and eating them alive”, are some of the beginning words in the National Geographic docu-series Drugs Inc... The documentary is rightly names “Hollywood high” because of its raw footage. This film is a chilling depiction of drugs and Hollywood. Its uncut material shows the reality of how drugs can affect people of every walk of life. A person doesn’t have to be rich or poor to become drug dependent. The film goes on to say how “fame hungry wannabes” and the “panhandling homeless” are two of the main populations to be affected by Hollywood’s thriving drug trade. Some of the other populations affected by Hollywood’s thriving drug trade are those who want to “stay up” and “be thin”. This film is not only about the populations affected by the thriving Hollywood drug trade but also the drug dealers and doctors who provide the drugs to that population.

Did you know that in 2011, almost five people per hour dies of a drug overdose in the U.S alone? Good morning/afternoon everyone, isn’t it shocking to learn how easy it is to die of a drug overdose, yet, it seems, people in Brave New World are willing to take them in order to retain a permanent happiness holiday 24/7. Drugs both play a massive role in Brave New World and our modern society. I’m sure if I were to ask you if you knew of anyone who has ever tried drugs, I think we all would know the answer. It seems that in The World State you cannot find one person who doesn’t take drugs. Throughout this seminar we are going to see how drugs play an important role in both Brave New World and our modern day society for different reasons but also for some of the same reasons.

After trying ecstasy at a party Kristina affirms, “Ecstasy is hard to describe. It’s like falling softly into a pool of crystal mountain water/ floating on your back circular beneath vibrant sky…It isn’t at all like throwing yourself in front of a runaway train insane” (Hopkins 427). In school, many young adults learn about the harmful effects of drugs, but throughout the novel Kristina undermines all that prior knowledge by telling the reader that doing drugs is a relaxing experience, allowing one to get away from the pressure and stress of everyday life. This positive depiction of drug use scares teachers and parents because they fear it may guide young adults down the wrong path towards habitual drug use (Merchant). Since young adults are easily influenced due to their age, the portrayal of drug use in movies and literature as cool, alluring, and relaxing temps kids to become apart of that world

These same individuals recount their experience and the thrill the drug provides. The viewer is informed in depth about sex parties at which time the drug is used by an individual to heighten the sensation of these sexual exploits. Although some reported continually using to the point they did not recall engaging in sexual acts. Instead they only remember the method in which they used to get high but report feeling as though it was a great party due to level of energy the drug had caused them to feel. It is described and used by these interviewers in an effort to change the individuals mood to be care free and to have fun. One interviewer stated wanting to feel the experience will never fade away even now as he recounts the experience he wishes he was back in it. While most addictions start as a curiosity the individuals response to it creates the long lasting love hate relationship. Some individuals have been known to start using crystal meth as a way to find a new high transferring a previous addiction to a new

Staring at the enclosed tennis backboard of the graffitied wall, it was my third consecutive morning there and i still didn't know what to make of it. “Hello, Brenda are you there?”, said my friend Miller as he abruptly strike me back to reality, “here its your turn, take a hit. And remember this time hold it in”. I've always felt i had an inner mystical esoteric view on life, suppressed by naive realism. I wanted to answer the great philosophical questions. So i tried marijuana.

Since “Hotel California” debuted in the seventies, one can understand why the topic would be Californian drug-using lifestyle. “The scare tactics of the 1960s gave way to the contradictory messages of the late '70s and early '80s. Drugs became glamorous, without becoming better understood”