Problems
As expected there are a myriad of problems and issues that occur with drug abuse. Not all of these problems occur from the direct use of drugs but some come from trying to stop the use of drugs. It is estimated that the National Government will spend about $18.5 billion on drug control in just this year alone. This is a huge problem because our country is already in debt and the continued use of drugs in our country is putting us even further in debt. This problem gets worse as time goes on because more people continue to use drugs and prices keep increasing ("The war").
Another problem that occurs with extended drug abuse is the number of deaths from the regular use of drugs. Prescription painkiller abuse kills more people than cocaine and heroin use combined which is equivalent to 40 deaths every day ("Painful"). This is a huge problem for society because if that's just an average every year about 14,600 family members and friends die every year from just "prescription" painkiller abuse. You may be thinking "this isn't a huge number, there are millions of people in the US" or thoughts like it but these are just statistics for one class of drugs. How many people die everyday from methamphetamine abuse or cocaine or heroin? Any way you look at it drug abuse is a serial killer with almost no signs of getting caught. The teen age is the most common time when people first experience and come into contact with drugs. School usually is the place many teens first have access to illegal substances since it is away from overseeing parents. To our own demise society does not see alcohol and the use of tobacco products as an issue. This allows students to have the impression that they are not really drugs and they aren't actually dangerous. This in itself is a gigantic problem because substance abuse just continues from generation to generation and a lot of the victims of drug overdoses are in the younger generation. Drug abuse needs to be stopped before it continues to the next generation or the chain continues and continues and continues into the fast approaching future ("Schools"). |