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Recommended: Edgar Allan Poe poems
This quote by famous poet Edgar Allen Poe, who himself was suspected to have died due to, among other reasons, drug abuse, fits in well to the argument of my essay. Drug abuse, is as rightly pointed out by Poe, the indulgence in stimulants. To be clearer, drugs serve the basic purpose of being medicinal, that is when taken in appropriate doses and illness- specific drugs. The use of drugs becomes abuse when it is used for reasons such as recreation or simply put for non-medical or inappropriate purposes. Addiction is defined as a compulsive use of a drug in spite of negative consequences. Whether the use of a drug is illegal or otherwise depends on different countries and their drug laws. For this essay, I will be looking at the local context. This essay will prove that the abuse of codeine is indeed an act of deviance and will employ deviance theories to back the claim that over the counter drugs perpetuate the drug scene in Singapore.
According to the Central Narcotics Bureau’s yearly drug situation report, within the period of 2012 and 2013, the percentage of drug abusers have been increasing, at a rate of about 2%. Previous years show even higher increases of about 5%. According to the Misuse of Drugs Act (AGC, 2008), there are 3 main classes of drugs categorized with alphabets and another group of drugs known as controlled drugs. Class A drugs are considered to be the most harmful followed by Classes B and C. The use and trafficking of the drugs listed across these groups warrant arrest and conviction if caught. Some of the common drugs that are used include heroin, cannabis, and cocaine among many others. Another such drug that is gaining prominence as a recreational drug is codeine.
Certain regular over the counter coug...
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...he cough mixture repeatedly.
An article from the Straits Times, which was referred to earlier, mentioned examples of illegal suppliers having been caught with up to 3600 litres of codeine laced cough mixture, which undoubtly would have supplied countless addicts. But, the report stated that that particular supplier had been sentenced to merely 9 months in jail, which he was appealing. This, in my opinion is a very lax sentence and may send the wrong signal to drug addicts and other drug deviants who may interpret the consumption of cough syrup, which I emphasize, has similar effects to heroin, as legally less punishable and less policeable.
I do accept the valid point that unlike heroin which is clearly legally defined as an illegal drug, codeine containing cough syrups cannot be considered under the same legislations due to their common use as a medicinal product.
Before the mid 1900’s the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was formed to tax those making, importing or selling any derivative of opium or coca leaves. In the 1920s, doctors became aware of the highly addictive nature of opioids and started to avoid treating patients with them (Center, 2004). In 1924 heroin became illegal. However according to a history published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2003, anesthesiologists opened "nerve block clinics" in the 1950s and 1960s to manage pain without having to resort to surgery (Meldrum, 2003). This push for treating pain without surgery was a major factor in the opioid epidemic we see today. In 2008 the overdose death rate was almost four times the rate in 1999, and the sales of prescription pain relievers in 2010 were four times higher than in 1999 (Paulozzi et al, 2011). The substance use disorder treatment admission rate is also greater than in 1999, with it having been six times higher in 2009. Chasing Heroin’s claims surrounding the fear of prescribing pain medications is accurate as you see an increase in public policies surrounding opiate use in the early 1900’s. The climbing rates of overdose deaths and the increased amount of people seeking addiction treatment suggests that the fear of prescription opiates was
Almost one hundred years ago, prescription drugs like morphine were available at almost any general store. Women carried bottles of very addictive potent opiate based pain killers in their purse. Many individuals like Edgar Allen Poe died from such addictions. Since that time through various federal, state and local laws, drugs like morphine are now prescription drugs; however, this has not stopped the addiction to opiate based pain killers. Today’s society combats an ever increasing number of very deadly addictive drugs from designer drugs to narcotics to the less potent but equally destructive alcohol and marijuana. With all of these new and old drugs going in and out of vogue with addicts, it appears that the increase of misuse and abuse is founded greater in the prescription opiate based painkillers.
The wonder-drug of the early nineteenth century was finally being recognised as a dangerously addictive substance, although the interests of imperial traders kept it legal for another five decades, until the Dangerous Drugs Act was passed in 1920. This Act made it illegal to possess opiates without a doctor’s prescription.
Brecher, Edward M. (1972) Licit and Illicit Drugs; The Consumers Union Report on narcotics, stimulants, depressants, inhalants, Hallucinogens, and marijuana- including caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. New York, 291-390
The Government needs to draw the line somewhere. In Sweden the Government was giving out free heroin, in order to keep the drugs free from being impure. However, Margaret McKay (2001) declares that if we follow in same steps, soon we will be giving out not only free heroin, but also other illegal substances as well. It will then lead to problems with other drugs as well.
A common recreational drug that is illegally dealt is Heroin. To many this drug is known by a few slang/street names, some being; smack, brown stone and junk (Tracy, 2012). Heroin is a highly addictive opiate that caused many different issues regarding physical and mental health. It can be consumed in 3 different ways: snorting, injecting and smoking. The original purpose of heroin is far different then the purpose that it is used for today in society. In 1874, heroin was first produced from morphine and 24 years later began its journey in the field of medicine to help morphine addicted patients (Scott, 1998). After use of the medicine it became present that the drug was just as addictive as morphine and was in turn creating patients to become addicted to the new drug. In 1902, doctors ceased the use of heroin in the medical field and a few years following, 8 years later, the first case of a heroin addict was admitted to a hospital for treatment (Scott, 1998). The drug is no longer used for a medical purposes but is still present in the legal drug selling market. Many countries have stiff penalties if caught in possession of or are selling heroin, because this drug is listed as a Class A drug (“Opium, Morphine, Heroin”, n.d.).
Illicit drug use and the debate surrounding the various legal options available to the government in an effort to curtail it is nothing new to America. Since the enactment of the Harrison Narcotic Act in 1914 (Erowid) the public has struggled with how to effectively deal with this phenomena, from catching individual users to deciding what to do with those who are convicted (DEA). Complicating the issue further is the ever-expanding list of substances available for abuse. Some are concocted in basements or bathtubs by drug addicts themselves, some in the labs of multinational pharmaceutical companies, and still others are just old compounds waiting for society to discover them.
In 1805, morphine and codeine were isolated from opium, and morphine served as a cure for opium addiction since its addictive characteristics were not known. Morphine’s use as a treatment for opium addiction was initially well received as morphine has about ten times more euphoric effects than the equivalent amount of opium. Over the years, however, morphine abuse increased.
Many factors contribute to the reasons why drug use still exists in America today. It provides needed job titles, it is an on going process for medical research, and acts as a contribution to help certain people in their own personal ways. Drugs have been around for nearly two decades and as the years progress, the war on drugs seems as if it has no intensions of slowing down. This problem will only continue to intensify in an inferior situation. In using both the functionalist and interactionist perspectives, several imperfections such as addiction and the fact that people use drugs in illegal ways are identified. Ultimately, it is only us as a society as a whole who can take the responsibility and can change this issue … for better or for worse.
In the United States of America, we, the people value several things, some of which
Drug in the American Society is a book written by Eric Goode. This book, as the title indicates, is about drugs in the American Society. It is especially about the misuse of most drugs, licit or illicit, such us alcohol, marijuana and more. The author wrote this book to give an explanation of the use of different drugs. He wrote a first edition and decided to write this second edition due to critic and also as he mentioned in the preface “there are several reason for these changes. First, the reality of the drug scene has changed substantially in the past dozen or so years. Second much more information has been accumulated about drug use. And third, I’m not the same person I was in 1972.”(vii). The main idea of this book is to inform readers about drugs and their reality. In the book, Goode argued that the effect of a drug is dependent on the societal context in which it is taken. Thus, in one society a particular drug may be a depressant, and in another it may be a stimulant.
America has a problem with drugs. In order to understand the problem, we first need to understand what is considered a drug. It is “any ingestible substance that has a noticeable effect on the mind or body”. (Schmalleger, 2011) Drugs are used for medicinal as well as recreational purposes. Unfortunately both types of drugs have played a role in American culture.
Drug abuse dates as far back as the Biblical era, so it is not a new phenomenon. “The emotional and social damage and the devastation linked to drugs and their use is immeasurable.” The ripple of subversive and detrimental consequences from alcoholism, drug addictions, and addictive behavior is appalling. Among the long list of effects is lost productivity, anxiety, depression, increased crime rate, probable incarceration, frequent illness, and premature death. The limitless consequences include the destruction to personal development, relationships, and families (Henderson 1-2). “Understandably, Americans consider drug abuse to be one of the most serious problems” in the fabric of society. And although “addiction is the result of voluntary drug use, addiction is no longer voluntary behavior, it’s uncontrollable behavior,” says Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Torr 12-13).
Drug abuse has been a hot topic for our society due to how stimulants interfere with health, prosperity, and the lives of others in all nations. All drugs have the potential to be misapplied, whether obtained by prescription, over the counter, or illegally. Drug abuse is a despicable disease that affects many helpless people. Majority of those who are beset with this disease go untreated due to health insurance companies who neglect and discriminate this issue. As an outcome of missed opportunities of treatments, abusers become homeless, very ill, or even worst, death.
The use of illegal drugs in the United States is considered by some to be the biggest problem in our society. Over 40% of high school seniors use some kind of illegal drug, and in a recent 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse showed that the three most common drugs are Marijuana used by 11,100,000 people, Cocaine used by 1,500,000 people, and inhalants that is used by 991,000 people nationwide.