These dangerous drugs are all over our streets in urban and in rural parts of the U.S. The centers for disease control say that 100 people die every day in the U.S. from drug overdose, with prescription painkiller use being a serious offender. The prescription addiction epidemic has led to the creation of mass prescription databases, where your pharmaceutical habits are tracked by doctors and pharmacists alike in many states. The legal crack-down has made it difficult for many to obtain the drugs they are addicted to. In an effort to lessen the wave of prescription opiate addiction, the legal system has pushed many already-addicted people to a cheaper, easier to score opiate high—heroin.” (Renter, 2013) However, the regulations haven’t decreased the alarming amount of young adults who are currently addicted to pharmaceutical drugs.
Thirteen million people over the age of twelve have tried one of the most addicting substances known to man at least once. Out of those thirteen million 529,000 of them became regular users the United States government reported in 2008. This addictive substance is methamphetamine or meth for short. This stimulant can boost mood, increase feelings of well being, and increase energy and alertness, however it has some very dangerous side effect, which include but are not limited to high blood pressure, accelerated heart rate, and even death. Meth is considered one of the greatest drug threats to our nation with its affects costing anywhere between $16.2 and $48.3 billion dollars a year according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
When Marijuana is illegal, you have to find a drug dealer or someone who sells it. This can indeed be dangerous; but that also helps keep some people away from perusing it. If you were able to have a friend or someone you know buy it for you over the counter, yes it would definitely be safer; but it will be pretty much in the hands of anyone who wants it now. And having a increased population of people smoking pot will not benefit in anyway. It will only make the people become even more lazy then what we already are.
Since that declaration the United States has spent up to one trillion dollars in order to continue this “War on Drugs”. However, this political strategy has had major negative effects on society as a whole and, has proven to be rather ineffective. The consequences range from loss of productivity due to massive amounts of incarceration to perpetuating racism against African Americans and prejudice against the
February 8, 2008 “The Persons Behind the Addiction” Every day, youngsters are obtaining drugs that stimulate or denounce their physical being. All over the news it is heard about how prescription drugs are falling into the wrong hands and kids as well as adults are succumbing to the harsh reality of these drugs. The death of Heath Ledger is a prominent example. The reason for his death was the mixture of his prescription drugs that without him knowing put him in danger. The use of these certain drugs such as hydrocodone, xanax, and others are becoming a threat to our society and stopping the wide distribution of these drugs seems to be a high priority to be looked into.
Bennett acknowledges the opinion of the proponents of legalization. He agrees that it could decrease crime, take away profit from the black market, make poor neighborhoods less crime filled, and enable a public war against drugs like we have on alcohol and tobacco. However, he says we must ask ourselves what the potential costs can be of doing something so drastic is. Bennett says, “We do know, however, that wherever drugs have been cheaper and more easily obtained, drug use and addiction has skyrocketed.” He then gives examples of relatable situations to the one that would be brought upon us from drug legalization. He mentions how the British legalized heroine for a short period of time and addiction increased forty fold, and consumption of alcohol increased by three hundred and fifty percent when prohibition ended.
Bennett acknowledges the opinion of the proponents of legalization. He agrees that it could decrease crime, take away profit from the black market, make poor neighborhoods less crime filled, and enable a public war against drugs like we have on alcohol and tobacco. However, he says we must ask ourselves what the potential costs can be of doing something so drastic is. Bennett says, “We do know, however, that wherever drugs have been cheaper and more easily obtained, drug use and addiction has skyrocketed.” He then gives examples of relatable situations to the one that would be brought upon us from drug legalization. He mentions how the British legalized heroine for a short period of time and addiction increased forty fold, and consumption of alcohol increased by three hundred and fifty percent when prohibition ended.
Marijuana may cause panic and stress attacks in extreme cases but helps ones gain back loss of appetite, and can dull pain from radiation treatments (GetGoing, 2011). The withdrawal effects of marijuana are minimal but can reverse the features it enhances. Conversely is the use of drugs such as cocaine and heroin. According to GetGoing (2011) using heroin or cocaine, powdered or crack (rock), even one time causes such intense cravings for some individuals that they use it again and again, rapidly becoming addicted. Furthermore, crack is the most highly addictive of all the drugs available because it is smoked and therefore stimulates the brain directly (GetGoing, 2011 p. 2).
People may feel like it would do more harm than good. The fact is, however, that the drug users themselves are to blame for taking these benefits away from the family members that truly need it. If we were to look at this from another view it might make more sense. In the workplace, for instance, if you fail a drug test, there is a simple solution……no job. It would make sense to do the same for public assistance.
Executive Summary: Methamphetamine is considered by many to be one of the most addicted substances to man. The drug has been responsible for destroying families, devastating communities, causing property crimes to surge, and causing severe neglect to children. Many states want the federal government to take action to fight the methamphetamine epidemic. One solution that is getting a lot of attention is whether or not methamphetamine’s key ingredient, pseudoephedrine, should be prescription-only. While this is one possible solution to battle the methamphetamine epidemic, other options should also be analyzed.