Why Illegal Drugs are bad for our Society Allyce Beechy ENG/102 November 26, 2009 Kimberlyn Slagle Illegal drugs should not be allowed in America and we must strive together as a people to do whatever it takes to get them abolished (rid of). Illegal drugs have done more to hurt America than almost anything in our history; lowing the morals of the people, causing the destruction of human lives in the millions, destroying family life, corrupting major companies and businesses, leading our youth down the wrong path, the outlook on the future of America looks worse than it ever has been since the time America was established.
We must as a society do all we can to stop the entrance of these illegal drugs here in America, keeping illegal aliens in here unwarranted to walk are land who might be bringing in the entry way to these drugs, and the government needs to make a bigger effort in seeking out those bringing in the drugs to our streets and into our own homes. We will focus on how drugs can be addicting, harmful to our health, and how it affects are family’s lives and those using the drugs.
Seeing what these drugs do to people will hopefully speak volumes to the heart of American’s throughout the United States and may their be many willing to stand up to fight against illegal drugs which is destroying our young ones lives more than it ever has from any time known in the past. One of the main problems throughout the world with the use of illegal drugs has been the cause of drug addiction with many of its users. “Drug addiction is a state of periodic or chronic intoxication produced by the repeated consumption of a drug (natural or synthetic).
Its characteristics include: (I) an overpowering desire or need (compulsion) to continue taking the drug and to obtain it by any means; (ii) a tendency to increase the dose; (iii) a psychic (psychological) and generally a physical dependence on the effects of the drug; and (iv) detrimental effects on the individual and on society. ” (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , Initials. (2009, November 11). Drug Addiction, Retrieved from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Drug_addiction) Drug addiction is an overpowering problem in human’s lives when it first begins and can have devastating affects in the lives who it takes over.
Once addicting drugs our begun many side effects can occur: constant cravings, going to extremes for the drug, wanting more until it takes over their daily activities, hallucinating effects on the mind which makes the user not know what they’re doing is wrong and they have many deceiving feelings that make them desire the drugs more, in which makes it extremely hard to make the right choices for the user. We have hundreds of illegal drugs today which have dozens of side effects and even more than what I listed.
For an example cocaine can affect the person from 20 minutes to a few hours depending on the dosage and once cocaine enters in the body it can increase the heart rate, increased blood pressure, hyperactivity, restlessness, euphoria, which can cause feelings of discomfort, symptoms of depression, cravings to experience the drugs again, twitching, paranoia, increased sexual desire, and these are from short-term effects. Long-term effects can cause hallucinations, paranoid delusions, and itching.
From just one drug we see how terrible the side effects can be and why I will stand against strongly that illegal drugs our detrimental in all parts of society to humans. The greatest testimonies I guess you can say against illegal drugs today are the ones who have been delivered from these addicting drugs and their own warnings against the dangers of them. How illegal drugs can hurt the body. When it comes to crystal meth, it changes the person’s appearance and they don’t think of the need to eat so they end up very thin and unhealthy. Many drugs can cause liver damage, make your body unable to fight off infection, make your heart beat too fast, cause your body temperature to get so high you could damage your brain, cause a stroke, and even cause death. ” (Stigall, (2009, November 12). What do drugs do to our body? Retrieved from http://www. starliterecovery. com/starlite_featured/what-do-drugs-do-to-our-body. php) Drugs can also affect our body in various ways like are sight, hearing, feeling, smell, our way of thinking, how our body moves, how we eat, and how much we will go to the bathroom.
Those are many of the various ways of how a drug can affect a human and sometimes differently for every person. Crystal meth is a very dangerous drug. It can stay in our bodies for 4 to 12 hours and in some people it can last even longer. If you were going to snort or swallow crystal meth it could take up to 20 minutes to take effect in your body, which is not long. Crystal meth can also be injected or smoked. There are so many different ways to use crystal meth but I do not advise any of those ways at all. If you inject crystal meth you can get HDV, ADS and more.
Now if Crystal Meth is to be snorted it possibly can eat a hole right through our noses. Some of the others things it can do to our bodies is cause low metabolism, high blood pressure, teeth grinding/clenching, agitation, restlessness and decrease in libido. Just knowing some of things that Crystal Meth can do to our own bodies should makes shudder to even think of using it even once. Cocaine is another dangerous drug. If we only knew how it can hurt us and our bodies we might think different about using it. Cocaine is a very powerfully addictive drug.
Did you know that cocaine is one of the oldest drugs out there? Cocaine is most of the time snorted. If we were to snort crystal meth it would possibly cause you to get a hole in your noses. Cocaine will also cause high blood pressure and a low metabolism with many of its users. Just knowing a few things about cocaine should scare our consciences from wanting anything to do with it just like crystal meth. Cocaine does not keep you high as long as crystal meth but that still does not mean it does not hurt your body as bad as crystal meth does.
No illegal drug is good for us and we should want to stay off them and live a good healthy life. Basically I could put this in plain words it is not a good decision to take these kind of drugs, we think that stolen waters will be better but they don’t they leave us emptier and worse off. This kind of goes with many of the world religions of today, they tell you what is wrong to do and what is good in the eyes of their belief system which many believe come from a divine spirit who is God. They clearly tell you that human body gets empted by things in this world and many of those temptations are for things that are not good for you. The answer to the question of these bad temptations like drugs is to resist the temptation and say no for your own good. Do you see the problem of society today now, you take away objective morals (the known good and bad) and you say we get to decide out of our own wills what is right and wrong. What happens, 60 percent of America is committing adultery, premarital sex is the popular thing of today, alcohol is good, smoking is good, aborting babies is okay, getting what you want is okay no matter what it takes.
We must have a right and wrong, our minds no there is a right or wrong, our founding fathers knew that, but we go so much against what was initially established here in America, now we are the Gods of our own lives. People have become so thinned skinned that no one speaks out today and now look what happens all the bad is popular. You turn on your television and look what is shown to millions of Americans every day, look drugs our on television like South Park and the family guy, movies have them in there. A kid can turn on his computer and look up anything on drugs on the computer and find sites that sell them.
I don’t want to go to deep into this but it is not just well there are drugs in the states now let’s tell our kids that it’s bad so they won’t do it. It goes so much deeper than that, it is a moral issue, greed issue, filling ourselves with all our pleasures issue and most of all it is a heart issue. But, unless parents, the entertainment world, schools, and the government say hey this is wrong and let’s do whatever it takes to even get the sight of these drugs before anyone’s eyes anymore here in our country. Illegal drugs hurt the people around us and the people themselves.
When a drug addict comes to a person house you have to make sure that there is nothing valuable around because they also like to steal anything that they can put their hands-on like money or things around people’s homes. The user will also lie to anyone and never be able to hold down a job because of the addicting affects on the user. If they can’t hold down a job how can they support a family? People who are addicted to drugs will not be able to put food on the table or even have a safe place to sleep and call home. Their children will always be wondering where their mother or father is.
If and are they coming home to eat that night? Are they running from the cops? The children are never able to live a normal life like most children can, which forces them to have no choice to grow up and be an adult. If people were going to ask me, I would tell them that it’s not fair to those children because their parents had a childhood and in these kids lives they never are really taken care of the right way. Figure one [pic] (CBS Interactive Inc, Initials. (2009). Poll: Americans oppose legalizing marijuana, lowering drinking age. Retrieved from http://www. cbsnews. om/blogs/2009/03/19/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4877495. shtml) As shown in the chart above. There are many people who would believe that illegal drugs would be great if legalized. Marijuana is probably the most popular drug in today’s culture that people want legalized and believe it’s no harm to anyone at all. Some of the reasons many believe marijuana can be legalized is that it’s not as toxic as alcohol and cigarettes, not as harmful as them, it has been tested to be helpful for ailing medical patients with cancer, easing pain, helping with nausea and spasticity.
Some people believe if it becomes legal that the use of it will be less, and it will keep young children away from the illegal side of the world that it can be a valuable crop that can be sold, and that the government is wasting money on punishing those with time in jail for the usage of it. I would first want to make something clear that they do not say, the greater reason they want marijuana legalized is because of the high it gives them and how they think it makes them feel better. “Some immediate physical effects of marijuana include a faster heartbeat and pulse rate, bloodshot eyes, and a dry mouth and throat.
No scientific evidence indicates that marijuana improves hearing, eyesight, and skin sensitivity. Studies of marijuana’s mental effects show that the drug can impair or reduce short-term memory, alter sense of time, and reduce ability to do things which require concentration, swift reactions, and coordination, such as driving a car or operating machinery. ”(National Institute on Drug Abuse (1984) As a Matter of a fact. Retrieved from http://www. well. com/user/woa/fspot. htm) I have given proved a chart below. Figure two
When we plug in the search term “legalize marijuana,” and limit it to the United States, we end up with a chart that looks like this: What we’re seeing here is 2004-2006. This chart shows the searches relative to a baseline average, which is 1. 0 on this chart. Every year, searches for “legalize marijuana” spike in the spring (around 4-20, I’ll bet) and winter, which is usually election time. (NORML Foundation, Initials. (2009). The People say “legalize marijuana. ” Retrieved from http://stash. norml. org/the-people-say-legalize-marijuana)
As we can see this is a short amount of some of the immediate side effects of marijuana, also it is known that there can be premature birth with women who are pregnant. I see the problem as with the same thing as alcohol, smoking, pornography, and premarital sex that a little pleasure is all fine and that it won’t hurt us if we don’t go too far. The problem is that when we start doing these things we want more and sometimes we can’t stop ourselves. It has many side effects that distort our thinking and make us hallucinating the way we feel. Why would anyone think that we would better our society with this?
I have seen firsthand that they become very addictive and the people who they buy the weed or drugs from become very violent when they do not have their not given the money. Even to the point of stealing from the drug supplier or hurting them. Sometimes they will even steal from their parents or even rob a bank or a store. One last thing about the user’s usage would show a weakness in the person to be satisfied and to try to find outward circumstances to fill them within. It never fills but always wants more; it never gives inner peace and lasting fulfillment.
The reason we should not allow illegal drugs herein America would be the high quantity of people who do drugs. There are many of people who would argue about banning illegal drugs from America. If we look at the chart below us, would most likely agree to banning drugs. I think that it’s very sad that so many people are addicted to illegal drugs. Only if they knew what it can do to them. Figure three [pic] Drug addiction is sky rocketing in America even though we spend billions of dollars on programs to educate people against the danger of drugs. Do we think they should legalize marijuana or any drug?
If we think about it, would we want our child to be driving on the road with people who are allowed to smoke marijuana, or any other drug? In our state they are going to have us vote yes or no to legalize drugs, so please vote no. We don’t need to worry about something else when we are driving or our children are driving. It is frightening to think that the driver next to us may be legally high on some drug that may impair their decision-making processes. So give some real thought about the answer next time someone asks if we are for legalizing drugs or against it.
References Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , Initials. (2009, November 11) Drug addiction. Retrieved from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Drug_addiction Stigall, R. (2009, November 12). What do drugs do to your body? Retrieved from http://www. starliterecovery. com/starlite_featured/what-do-drugs-do-to-your-body. php National Institute on Drug Abuse (1984) As a Matter of a fact. Retrieved from http://www. well. com/user/woa/fspot. htm National Institute on Drug Abuse, Initials. (2007, September 1). The Top ten reasons marijuana should be legal.
Retrieved from http://www. alternet. org/drugreporter/60959/ NORML Foundation, Initials. (2009). The People say “legalize marijuana”. Retrieved from http://stash. norml. org/the-people-say-legalize-marijuana CBS Interactive Inc, Initials. (2009). Poll: Americans oppose legalizing marijuana, lowering drinking age. Retrieved from http://www. cbsnews. com/blogs/2009/03/19/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4877495. shtml LastBritish Columbia, Initials. (n. d. ). How does Crystal meth affect the body. Retrieved from http://www. no2meth. ca/students/AffectTheBody. spx Friman, H. (2009). drugs markets and the selective use of violence. Retrieved from http://proquest. umi. com. ezproxy. apollolibrary. com/pqdweb? index=0=1841035411=1=5=6=PROD=PQD=309=PQD=1255666903=2606 Reuter, P. (2009, March 4). Systemic violence in drugs market. Retrieved from http://proquest. umi. com. ezproxy. apollolibrary. com/pqdweb? index=0=1841035371=1=7=6=PROD=PQD=309=PQD=1255668437=2606 Anonymous. (2009, August 26).
CASA* 2009 Teen Survey Reveals: Teens Likelier To Get Drunk, Use Marijuana, Smoke Cigarettes If They See Parent Drunk. Retrieved from http://proquest. umi. com. ezproxy. apollolibrary. com/pqdweb? index=14=1845202961=1=7=3=PROD=PQD=309=PQD=1255669050=2606 Axia College Material Appendix G Peer Review Checklist* |What is the main point of this paper? | | | |“Drug addiction is an overpowering problem in human ives when it first begins and can| | |have devastating affects in the lives who it takes over. | | | | | | | | | | |What is the greatest strength of this paper? | | |When it talks about if marijuana should be legalized and the ups of it if it does | | |happen. | | | | | | | | | |What material does not seem to fit the main | | |point of the paper or does not seem to be |The part about the “druggy” it kind of throws off the main point of the essay. Like I | |appropriate for the audience? |am trying to figure out why that idea was inserted. | | | | | | | | | |Has the author sufficiently addressed | | |counterarguments? Explain your answer. |Insufficiently. There are more arguments on why marijuana has the ups and downs than | | |on any other drug.
Additionally it only says the good things about marijuana and less | | |of the side effects. | | | | | | | | | | |Where should the author add more details or | | |examples? Explain your answer. Crystal meth what affects does crystal meth have and how do people get hooked on it. | | | | | | | | | | |Where is the writing unclear or vague? | | | |The paragraph about the “druggy” was really unclear. | | | | | | | | | |What is your favorite part of this piece of | | |writing? |My favorite part was from “Drug addiction…. right choices” | | | | | | | | | | |What other comments can you provide for the | | |author? |If you are going to mention about other drugs like cocaine and crystal meth, you | |
