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The impact of drugs on our society
Significant issues surrounding prescription drug use and drug abuse
The impact of drugs on our society
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Why are prescription drugs one of the largest overlooked abused drug in society? If society were to catch a glimpse into the problem they may detect that money, availability, and acceptance among people the problems that create a war on this drug hard to fight. Therefore, the problem is larger than anyone would care to admit and the expectations of society on individuals push them to the growing problem of prescription drug addiction. If a person were to Google drugs to help, they would view that there is a drug for every problem one may encounter. In the end society is the problem at shows no compassion for the addict that could not handle the pills of life. To start, the green, oh so wonderful green money that has been called the …show more content…
People do not hesitate to despise pot heads and heroin addicts, but when it comes to prescription pills people tend to think those people have pains or just a minutiae weakness that they can handle. President Barack Obama stated "As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don 't think it is dangerous than alcohol." So if the President views pot along with other things as just a bad vise, why were prescription pills not add to his list? The widespread availability meets of society is on some kind of pill and therefore how can anyone condemn at person 's addiction. According to the Mayo Clinic "Researchers find that nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and than half receive at least two prescriptions, reports that antibiotics, antidepressants and painkiller opioids are the colossal common prescriptions given to Americans. Twenty percent of U.S. patients were also found to be on five or prescription medications." So if society were to stop prescription pills from being over prescribed it would be comparable shooting themselves in the foot. Once again is society to blame for the problem they have created.( Mayo Clinic News Network, June 19, 2013) (David, Remnick, January 27,
Prescription and pharmaceutical drug abuse is beginning to expand as a social issue within the United States because of the variety of drugs, their growing availability, and the social acceptance and peer pressure to uses them. Many in the workforce are suffering and failing at getting better due to the desperation driving their addiction.
Doctors work under intense pressure, and if a pill could fix a patient’s problems than many saw nothing wrong with that. What exacerbated the problem was that many hospitals also changed their modus operandi with regards to treatment. In some hospitals, “doctors were told they could be sued if they did not treat pain aggressively, which meant with opiates (95). However once the patient became addicted and could no longer get their prescription legally refilled, the drug dealers saw their chance. What is surprising is the fact that pharmaceutical companies acted in the same manner as drug dealers. Both sides did not care about the end user, and the problems they would have to deal with after using what was given to them. Their motive was purely to profit as much as possible, and they did not care about who would get hurt as a result of their
More than often, American’s argue that if we have the technology to gain access to these “miracle meds”, then we should take advantage of it. To receive an opposing view, the National Institute of Drug Abuse asked teens around America why they think prescription drugs are overused, and the results were shocking; 62%: “Easy to get from parent's medicine cabinets”, 51%: “They are not illegal drugs”, 49%: “Can claim to have prescription if caught”, 43%: “They are cheap”, 35%: “Safer to use than illegal drugs”, 33%: “Less shame attached to using”, 32%: “Fewer side effects than street drugs”, 25%: “Can be used as study aids”, and 21%: “Parents don't care as much if caught”. I believe the major problem here isn’t the medication, but instead the fact that our nation is extremely uninformed on the “do’s and dont’s” of prescription medication. When “the United States is 5 percent of the world’s population and consumes 75 percent of the the world's prescription drugs” (CDC), there is a problem present, no matter the reason. Clearly, many critics believe the breathtaking amount of pills we consume in America is simply for the better good, but tend to forget the effects that are soon to follow.
It has been said that addiction is the plague of the 21st century. In an age of unprecedented life expectancy and medical breakthroughs, people are dying from both disease and overdose that are self inflicted and the cure is currently out of reach. Implementing progressive ideas such as safe injection sites have been a battle, both for caring social workers and front line emergency workers looking to minimize the health risks associated with risk taking behaviors that inevitably occur with intravenous drug use. While the addicted population currently uses considerable government funding by way of shelter services as well as prison and jail time, safe injection sites are a necessary step in the battle against drug abuse as is a major prevention
Almost everybody on Long Island, and probably all around the world, has been prescribed a drug by a doctor before— whether it was to knock out a nasty virus, or relieve pain post injury or surgery. However, what many people don’t realize is that these drugs can have highly addictive qualities, and more and more people are becoming hooked, specifically teenagers. But when does harmlessly taking a prescription drug to alleviate pain take the turn into the downward spiral of abuse? The answer to that question would be when the user begins taking the drug for the “high” or good feelings brought along with it—certainly not what it was prescribed for (1). The amount of teens that abuse prescription medications has been rapidly increasing in recent
Now is not the time for the United States federal government to decriminalize or legalize illegal drugs, including marijuana. However, nor can the government continue to do nothing about the financially, economically, and socially expensive domestic drug policy it currently follows. The United States Congress should pass legislation to remove mandatory minimum penalties from drug offenses, and the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons should add in-house rehabilitation programs for its incarcerated drug offenders. These policies would increase the cost-effectiveness of current drug policy and reduce crime and drug use, and do not face the political obstacles or have the uncertain consequences of decriminalizing or legalizing drugs.
In many countries, drugs are becoming more common. In the history of the US, drug abuse and drugs have a long history. Nowadays, people are so much into drugs. Most drugs affect the brain and drug use is harmful. Every society and every family has been touched by the devastating effects of drug addiction.
Typically, almost everyone in the world has taken drugs at some point in their life. Whether it be over the counter medication or prescription drugs. People get sick, they have illness, allegories, sexually transmitted diseases or other aches and pains. As you may already know, there is medication for each aforementioned problem. This is called drug use, which is using drugs for its intended purpose. However, the real dilemma happens when people began to misuse and abuse drugs.
It is also easy to see the American people’s infatuation with drugs by simply looking at our current number of prescriptions filled at pharmacies annually. An active data table hosted by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation states that about four billion prescriptions are filled annually (Kaiser). This is enough prescriptions for every person in the country, children and adults, to have twelve each. Once a person is on a drug, it is often hailed as an immediate fix to the problem, but many don’t think or just don’t care about the long-term side effects it could hold.
In America, marijuana is the most used drug after alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana is used by millions of Americans, despite the harsh laws illegalizing the drug. Some states, such as Washington and Colorado have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Efforts to legalize the drug in other states have been unsuccessful such as Proposition 19 in California, which failed in 2010 despite uptight campaigns. Billions of dollars are spent at the state, local, and federal level to fight the use of marijuana. Millions are arrested for marijuana offenses and sentenced for extended periods. Marijuana has negative effects on the human health and high potential for addiction. Legalizing marijuana will eliminate the black market, which is responsible for the increase in violence, crime, and corruption. Resources used for mass incarceration in the war on drug can be redirected to rehabilitation to decrease drug abuse and addiction.
Illicit drug use poses a grave and dour problem in America, and with its ever-increasing population there is a growing number of young teens using narcotics. There is no group of people more affected by this problem than young teens in high school. Illegal drug usage can inflict serious damage upon America and its citizens every year. Such drugs include: heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine. These said drugs can have negative effects on every aspect of your life along with many consequences and can lead to many health problems from organ dysfunction to nervous system malfunction. Fortunately, there are treatment programs and prevention methods to tackle drug problems.
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.
“My son is 25. He 's a good kid, polite, smart, friendly, helpful. I thought I knew him, but 18 months ago, he suddenly withdrew from me, from our entire family.
For many years, people have suffered many devastations about addiction. It has become a common killer in the United States just like murder. Addiction has affected over 23 million people from the age 12 and older. These addictions are wide ranging, they can include alcohol, drugs, sex, video games, food, pornography, and gambling. People like to keep quite because they view this disease as morally wrong. Addicts sometimes shut out their family member because they are afraid of the reaction if anyone knew their problem. The Nation Institute of Drug Abuse states Addiction is as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences.Today in 2016 addiction is spreading across
Throughout history, drugs have been nothing but a social problem, a burden per say. From Edgar Allen Poe smoking opium in an attempt to make his poetry more creative, to Vietnam soldiers coming back from the war addicted to heroin. Narcotics was not a serious issue at the time, only a small handful of people were actually doing the drugs, and they were just simply looked down upon. It was not until the late nineteen sixties when recreational drug use became fashionable among young, white, middle class American citizens, that the United States Government “put it’s foot down”. (pbs.com)