Drug Addiction (Essay Sample)

Miki Wijaya
English 101
Drug Addiction
Drug addiction is a problem that has been progressively growing in the United States. I can affect anybody regardless of gender, class or age. Hence, the problem should be addressed at societal and governmental levels. A smoker endangers his/her life by inhaling nicotine and at the same time pollutes the air around him by releasing the smoke in the air. As a result, the victim and the innocent suffer respiratory problems. Drug addiction is dangerous because it can prevent us from accomplishing our goals and dreams in life, because much time is spent in rehabilitation centers (Hartnett n.p). There has always been a debate whether to legalize drugs or prohibit their usage. Some people think that legalizing drugs would solve the rising drug addiction problems while others believe that putting restrictive measures would reduce drug addiction problems. From personal experience, legalization of drugs can only lead to increased consumption. Prohibition or legalization of drugs such as cocaine and heroin is widely discussed with each correspondence giving reasons why the drugs should or should not be legalized.
The articulated drug abuse in the United States among the teenagers resonates from peer pressure and quest for recognition. This implies that, if we have to deal with drug abuse, we must first address the impact of peer pressure and acceptance of the teenagers in the society. During teenage stage, at least every student wants to identify to a particular group in the school. Some of these groups may compose of drug addicts. Before the innocent student realizes what the group is all about, he/she is lured to drug abuse. For example, teenagers who face rejection from their parents are vulnerable to drug abuse because they search for any group that can embrace them. From my own experience as a teenager, I went to the same high school as my cousin. He grew up in a family where parents were addicted to alcohol and divorced when he was 13 years old. In high school, he wanted attention from his peers because he was not getting enough care from his parents. He wanted to fit in and hang out with the cool kids who are drug users. He slowly began to use drugs until he eventually became an addict. As a result, he had to go to a drug rehabilitation center for three months to help him quit the habit.
Drug abuse should be illegalized because the addicts using the drugs turn out to be more desperate than before. Some drug addicts get into drug abuse because of low self-esteem or lack of better ways to solve problems. Most drug addicts argue that they take more drugs such as alcohol when they have unresolved issues so that they can relax. However, this does not solve the problems because they do not have sober minds to deal with the issues at hand. Therefore, drug abuse is a barrier to one’s goals in life.
A lot of time is wasted in rehabilitating drug addicts hence drugs should be prohibited. From my own experience, many teenagers quit school because they have to be rehabilitated to overcome drug addiction (Hartnett n.p). This has a direct effect to their parents/guardians because they are forced to send them to rehabilitation centers instead of going to school. Additionally, a drug addict is regarded as a bad influence to the family members making them feel like outcasts in the family. By putting restrictive measures to drugs use, it will minimize the accessibility of the drugs. For example, if alcohol is restricted to people below 20 years, the number of teenagers carrying the drugs to schools will minimize because the vendors will fear prosecution for selling the drugs to them. On the other hand, legalizing drugs can turn out to be beneficial to the addicts especially those who fear to come out for fear of stigmatization because they can boldly unfold their status and get help.
Drugs should be illegalized, otherwise they will be more accessible to people causing more harm. For instance, if bhang is legalized today, more shops will stock the product. It is obvious that when something is legalized people tend to misuse the chance probably to cover the time it was illegalized or because it is easily available. Additionally, when society or governments legalize a product, people tend to think that it is fit for consumption. The non-drug abusers will be tempted to consume the drugs while the addicts will add their intake levels because they are at liberty. The crime cases such as robbery will thereby increase as the number of drug addicts continue to escalate because drug addicts have less productivity. Most drug addicts are associated with idleness. They do not have the zeal to work as much as they want to purchase drugs. According to the article by Alexander (2010), “The New Jim Crow, criminals are often discriminated in ways it was once legal to discriminate against them (Alexander n.p).
Drugs have very harmful effects on our body and harmful to the people around the users. The legalization of drugs would have a devastating impact on public health. In 2010, there were 38,329 drug overdose deaths in the United States (Alexander 2). According to a report by health department, drug overdose caused more deaths than motor vehicle traffic crashes. According to ONDCP, the amount of money spent in 2002 to cover the medical care ...