Call to Action This catastrophe needs to be addressed now because as you read this, people are dying from multiple types of cancer, blindness, bladder cancer, cancer of the esophagus, cancer of the kidneys, cancer of the pancreas, and cervical cancer. 5.4 million deaths are caused a year because of nicotine; because of tobacco. Every pack of cigarettes has a warning, that it can be harmful to your health. If you can smoke, you are very capable to read. Then why are you still smoking?
There are many ways Meth can be used, in which include smoked, injected, orally ingested, or snorted. When Meth is smoked or injected it causes more of a rush. When it is snorted or taken orally it produces a longer lasting high instead of a rush, which can continue for as long as twelve hours. Both the rush and the high result from the release of very high levels of dopamine into areas of the brain that regulate feelings of pleasure. This is why people become addicted.
Morphine is derived from Opium. Many people were suffering from alcohol addiction and Morphine was used as the “cure” for the alcohol addiction. Morphine is far worse than alcohol and doctors were well aware. Doctors preferred to have people addicted to Morphine because it was socially and domestically safer. Alcoholics were more likely to beat their wives and children and cause havoc upon the city (“The Problem of Pain Relief”).
The American Cancer Society states that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women. Cigarette smoking is directly responsible for 87% of lung cancer cases in the United States annually. Secondhand smoke, which is the inhalation of smoke from another’s smoking, is a cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers (“Lung Cancer and Smoking Cigarettes”). According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 3,000 adults that do not smoke will die each year from lung cancer due to breathing in secondhand smoke. Smoking cigarettes is by far the main contributor to lung cancer.
The symptoms of narcotic withdrawal are legendary since they can be the most dramatic of any and include vomiting, uncontrollable shaking, hot and cold flashes and diarrhea. When taken in large doses, like those contained in OxyContin, opiates can cause severe respiratory depression that can lead to death. The latest report from, the Drug Enforcement Agency states that OxyContin tablets "have played a role in over 282 deaths since the beginning of 2002". OxyContin is at the forefront of America's addiction problem and cases like radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh's addiction has forced Perdue Pharma into the limelight. Purdue Pharma funded a recent study in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology that examined 1,243 deaths from Aug. 27, 1999, through Jan. 17, 2002, in which medical examiners determined oxycodone, the narcotic in OxyContin, was involved.
In reference to drugs, that would mean we as US citizens would have a legal right to buy, use, sell, and outright possess a certain amount of an illicit drug without penalty. Being that cocaine is addictive and destructive in large and repeated doses, I am against legalizing cocaine. The increased levels of ruthless behavior, overdoses, drug wars, and overall decline in the neighborhood across the country would be devastating. The inner cities would suffer an even greater decline in despair and hopelessness due to the streets being overly infested with open drug dealing. Although illegal activities occur on a daily basis, I think if cocaine was legal, people would be dying in the streets.
There is evidence saying marijuana is very harmful to the body and there is also research that says it only harms the lungs, as done with the inhalation of any kind of smoke. In the 1930's marijuana was thought of as the “dreaded assassin of the youth”, sending them into a troublesome life of crime and despair. Later in the1960's people thought of smoking marijuana as a harmful “giggle” that did no harm. Then, in the 1980's society went back to the “assassin of the youth”
per year (“U.S. War on Drugs” 7). Alcohol is toxic to healthy cells and organs and causes about 35,000 deaths in the U.S. per year (Armentano 2). Anyone who is eighteen years of age or older is able to purchase cigarettes and other forms of tobacco. If you are twenty-one years of age or older, you are able to buy alcohol.
Thompson Jr. states, “Secondhand smoke is defined as the combination of the smoke emitted by the lit tobacco at the end of a cigarette or cigar…called side-stream smoke.” Research has found that secondhand smoke is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths every year in non-smokers. Side-stream smoke is also included 3,400 lung cancer deaths and almost 46,000 heart disease deaths and maybe even a role in the development of breast cancer. However, children are the most vulnerable victims to secondhand smoke, said Thompson Jr. “About 35 percent of kids in the United States-some 21 million children- live in homes where they are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke.” I am included in this statistic as my mom is a smoker who is trying her hardest to stop. I suffer from many upper-respiratory problems from a reaction to smoke inhaled from
Smoking is the primary causal factor for at least 30% of all cancer deaths, for nearly 80% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and for early cardiovascular disease and deaths (Adhikari B., PhD, J Kahende, PhD, A Malarcher, PhD, T Pechacek, PhD, V Tong 1). World wide smoking is the number one most preventable cause of death. Nearly 430,000 Americans annually die from smoking-related illnesses. I am a smoker, and understand the effects of chemical dependence. Chemical dependence comes in many forms.