Ways to Fight the Drug War

Drug use has risen sharply in the United States in the past 40 years, with an estimated 23.6 million teenagers using illegal drugs within the past year. Preventing drug use has been a major issue in the area of politics, schools, or within families. Drug abuse occurs whenever the use of a drug causes physical or mental harm to the user. So far, society has been abusing drugs since the later nineteenth century, a time when the sale, purchase, possession, and use of drugs was not regulated. Dangerous drugs such as morphine, opium, and cocaine were used mainly for medical purposes including cures for depression, nervousness, alcoholism, and menstrual cramps. Because of the availability of these powerful drugs, people became addicts. In 1900, there were actually more narcotic addicts in the US than there are today; however, most of the users who became addicts were medical addicts. Very few users took drugs for recreational use only. In 1914 as an effort to curb drug abuse in the United States, the government passed the Harrison Act, which made illegal to obtain a narcotic drug without a doctor’s prescription. There were nearly half a million addicts at the beginning of 1920 and by 1945 there were only 30,000 to 40,000 addicts. The demand for drugs began to rise again in the 1960’s and continues to rise today. With this scary thought in mind, the United States needs find a solution to the rising drug problem, and fast.

Every year, more drugs are discovered either through drug combinations or homegrown experiments. With each year that passes, the stronger or more potent a drug can become. A person can now become addicted to a substance after trying it just once. Using drugs can cause memory loss, flashbacks, hallucinations, addiction, blurred vision, panic, irregular heartbeat, and even death. Drugs can kill your brain cells, something that is irreplaceable. There is not one single good reason to do drugs or experiment with drugs.

The government is aware that there is indeed a drug problem in the United States. Over the years, tougher laws against drugs have been enacted. There are longer jail sentences and punishments for drug offenders. However, the punishment method is not effective because our jails are overflowing with repeat drug offenders. Other forms of punishment include being sent to drug rehabilitation programs in which a person goes to the painful physical withdrawal of drugs. 50% of those who have gone through rehabilitation will begin using drugs again within their lifetime. Obviously, the scare tactic of punishment is not working in America. There are also education programs that supposedly inform young adults about the dangers of drug