Drug Problems

Drug problems

Facing everyday problems in these recent years many people turn to drugs as an escape from the existence they hold. Drug use has rapidly increased in the last twenty years and has become a national crises. More people are experimenting with different drugs at a younger age. Due to the rapid increase in drug abuse our government has looked to rehab as an alternative to jail.

When a person thinks of a drug abuser one usually pictures a person that looks like they had just jumped out of a garbage bin. What most people do not realize is that most drug offenders are the people one spends a lot of time with. Everyday humans are abusing drugs without anyone recognizing their illness (Phillips 22). Many symptoms of drug abuse are easily recognizable. Weight loss or malnutrition are the most common, resulting when the drug abuser uses their money to pay for drugs rather than food. Exhaustion is associated with the end of a recent drug binge. Fever is caused when a stimulant or a hallucinogen increases the drug users metabolic rate. A skin flush usually accompanies the fever. Gooseflesh and sweating are associated with withdrawal and rashes, dilated pupils, and a runny nose are usually correlate with any drug use (Cohen 308-309). Along with these symptoms come the various different repercussions affiliating themselves with each different drug taken. These results range from headaches to death. With all the possible side effects one may wonder why people think drugs are worth all the trouble they are.

Most people start out doing drugs to feel good or to fit in. Early users had easy access to medicine that made them physically dependent on that drug and others used drugs as an only escape from a hopeless existence (Compton's 275). Teenagers

experiment with drugs to find out about the world they live in for themselves, to prove their self worth, and to experience as much as possible. They want to try something daring to prove their own fearlessness, to have fun, act older, or to be accepted (Phillips 22). In the 1950's more people of all classes and occupations began to use mood changing drugs both legally and illegally (Compton's 275). These drugs were used to induce sleep and relaxation. Other drugs gave the user a feeling on exhilaration. Whether the drug was used to help the user sleep or to get the person high, they all effect the person's nervous system and cause an emotional change (275). People experimented with different drugs to gain the good, well-centered feeling that is associated with getting high. The problem presented with this effect is that when the drug wears off the person is left with the same problems concerning their life as when they took the drug. This causes many users to take more of the drug to further escape the harsh reality of their life. This taking and wearing off of the drug creates in the person a psychological dependency to the drug which causes that person to want to do anything in their ability to get the drug and make that drug a part of their life (275).

The most common drugs experimented with at the young ages of eight to fifteen are tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. These drugs are commonly called the gateway drugs and are considered the easiest to obtain. Most young people get started taking drugs with older friends who offered the drugs to them. With their desperate attempt to fit in these adolescent teenagers will take the drug without giving any thought to the effects on the body. Drug abuse has a great impact on the growth rate of an young human being.

Because the body and mind of a young person has not reached full maturity, taking drugs

will inhibit the natural growth of both. The younger the person the easier it is for them to become addicted. Drug use also stops all mental growth until the drugs are stopped (Phillips 9-11). The body of a young person also builds a tolerance to drugs faster and needs more of the drug to satisfy the cravings more often (Phillips 9). Many drugs are available on today's drug market that entice teens and young adults to use and escape from reality.

Some commonly abused drugs are: narcotics, barbiturates, stimulants, hallucinogens, and anabolic steroids (Compton's 276-277). Narcotics are usually used in pain killers but, as in most cases, can be turned into heroin. With the use of this drug pain free people will experience lightheadedness and nausea. Other people will have the impression that all their worries are far away. These fantasies are usually followed by a stupor and then by a sever depression. Heroin is especially dangerous because, unlike other narcotics that are used for medicinal purposes, it is not subject to quality controls. The treatment of a person addicted to narcotics is rehabilitation that includes the use of a synthetic narcotic drug methadone. Though this drug is highly addictive if taken under supervision it will prevent the withdrawal syndrome caused from trying to quit a drug (Compton's 276).

Barbiturates, commonly called "downers" are medicinally prescribed for insomnia and tension. These drugs loosen muscles and relax the mind. Though having a highly respectable medicinal use if these drugs are abused they will lead to sever depression. In

this depression is is easy for the user to forget how much he or she has already taken of

the drug therefore making the possibility of an overdose high. The withdrawal symptoms of these particular drugs are so sever that without medication the withdrawal causes convulsions, delirium, and even death (276). Stimulants, commonly called "uppers" or "speed" cause, in direct contrast to barbiturates, a highly sensitized sense of wakefulness and alertness. These drugs can be used medically to cope with sleeping disorders, to control a person's appetite, and to fight depression (276).

Hallucinogens, LSD and PCP, are under the classification of mind-altering drugs. These drugs when abused cause a distortion of perceptions. This includes hallucinations, unexplainable terror, paranoia, and the feeling that the person is invincible. People who take hallucinogens hope that the hallucinations they will see will be mystical and pleasurable but there is no way of knowing what the visions will be like. When these drugs are repeatedly abused the results can include broken bones from the person thinking of themselves an invincible to even death. These drugs cloud the users thought and make reality far away and not