Drugs have become a major problem in the world today. Drugs have many negative
effects, yet many still buy and use drugs. Why are drugs so common? There would be many answers for this question. Some would say they are not harmful, while others would say they are addictive and dangerous. Many variables come to mind when when people ask why drugs are damaging to the body. Because drugs are so popular, many get into drugs just because it seems like a popular thing to do in this day and age. This paper is going to explain why this is such a problem in our world, and how this epidemic can be overcome.
The History of drugs is a topic that is well hidden and almost never discussed. When people think about the History of drugs, people would think that drugs are relatively a new fad. Drugs have actually been popular since Bible times (Atepperm). Drugs back then could have been anything from types of plants, to one eating types of foods that have intoxicating features. Benjamin Rush, one of the founding fathers of America, believes addiction has always been something that is not because of the item, but because of the person doing the addictive substance (History of Drug Abuse and Addiction Rehabilitation).
Marijuana is actually a very old drug that has been recorded to have been used since 2737 B.C. (History of Marijuana). The earliest datings of marijuana use was found in the Chinese writings of Emperor Shen Nung (1). In 1545, the Spanish brought marijuana to the new world, and it was later grown and sold in Jamestown in 1611 (1). While maybe the medicinal values of marijuana are useful, there are alot of problems that were brought about because of the drugs intoxicating properties (1). The Chinese used marijuana to achieve euphoria (1). Euphoria is pretty much anything that brings pleasure to you, or makes you feel happy (1).
Drugs were not really thought of something that needed to be overcome until around the time of the prohibition (History of Drug Abuse and addiction Rehabilitation). Back in 1935, Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson founded Alcoholics Anonymous (1). Even though this did not deal with the drug problem, this was an addiction problem that started to get better because this program (1). This really opened many peoples eyes in the way that an addiction problem can be stopped or even prevented (1). Just because of this one addiction that showed their is a fix, there are many rehabilitation centers that have expanded to also help many others with addiction problems like drugs (1).
Today, Marijuana is still used and very popular, as well as being a very controversial topic. In 2013, a study was conducted by a science group that stated that 6,600 people become marijuana users daily (Sam). So why do people get addicted to these substances, and why do they become so hard to quit? Dr. Alex Stalcup, medical director of the New Leaf Treatment Center, said, “Genes are one strong predictor of addiction”(1). When it comes to addiction the biggest factor are those who tempt others to try or use the addictive substance (1). Dr. Carl Hart explains how people with jobs and families have a decreased chance of getting addicted to drugs, because they have more responsibility to take care of rather than just trying to plug into any kind of social network (1).
One of the major factors of an addictive substance is what it brings to society. This is very important in that it can overlay what marijuana really does to a group of people, and how it affects their lives on a day to day basis. Marijuana has impacted society in many ways, and has caused many arguments and discussions on how marijuana really affects society. The main social effect of marijuana is attention memory (How does marijuana use affect school, work, and social life?). Attention is a process that allows information to be remembered (Peg Rosen). One of the main uses of attention is alertness (1). Attention and its main feature of alertness, leads to what experts call encoding (1). The more common name for this is working memory (1). This is how people learn and take in information in their lives, just like young people who are in school (1). This is why something that seems not too important, is actually something that can shape the way we think and how we live our lives (1). Without attention memory, learning new things would be extremely difficult to receive and to interpret (1). Without attention memory, people are also at a very high risk to lose their long term memory that they have stored up over their whole career.
Marijuana, being the popular drug that it is, affects societies around the world tremendously. Because marijuana has a major effect on attention memory, it alters people’s learning capacity and their memory (How does marijuana use affect school, work, and social life?). There is evidence of students who smoke marijuana, not reaching the academic level set for them to accomplish (1). There were also 48 different studies that were conducted that showed marijuana use to be related to reduced educational achievement (1). Of the forty-eight studies that were conducted, two are very popular. One in New Zealand, as well as another in Australia (1). These two experiments did a study on adolescent students who regularly used marijuana, and the results came back to show that those who did use marijuana were much more likely to not graduate high school or get a degree, rather than the peers who did not use marijuana (1). People that regularly smoke marijuana are very likely to become dependent on another drug that they may come across in the future, which means they are likely to become addicted to other drugs (1). There are also many studies that have been done that show that people that use marijuana are more prone to be unemployed, lower income, welfare dependence, criminal behavior, and lower life satisfaction (1).
Another major effect that drugs can have on society is the work place (How does marijuana use affect school, work, and social life?). Because marijuana has all the effects just discussed in the last paragraph, drugs make your mind not work to its full ability, making yourself to become very injury prone (1). There was a study conducted on postal workers found that those who tested positive for marijuana use were said to have a 55 percent higher chance to become injured that those who did not use marijuana (1). This study also showed that those who smoked marijuana were 75 percent more likely to be absent from work than their co workers that did not use marijuana (1).
Marijuana use has affected many people around the world in many negative ways. A common example of someone who has been ruined by marijuana use is Josh Gordon (A Timeline of Josh Gordon’s History with Substance Abuse and Suspensions). Josh Gordon is a professional athlete who plays for the Patriots in the NFL (1). Josh Gordon’s marijuana addiction and drug use started when he was in middle school (1). Because of the negative effects of marijuana, Josh Gordon has been suspended from the NFL until he can become clean from his addiction of marijuana and other substances (1). All because of one substance that seemed minor at the time, led to Josh being suspended from something that has been a dream of his since a young child (1).
Because marijuana “frees” people’s minds, people do not understand the consequences associated with this substance. Marijuana’s social effects are something I believe we will see more of in the future, as marijuana is becoming legal in many states around in our country. The social effects of marijuana are hard to notice, because marijuana has slowly taken over the world by storm. Because it has taken over our world very slowly, it is not as easy to spot how the world has changed due to the social effects marijuana produces.
The problems with marijuana have become such a problem to societies all over the world, and steps must be taken to stop the overwhelming issues. Whatever plan or steps are to be taken, they must be well thought out, as well as being very influential to all ages and regions of the world. Rather than trying to cure the whole world of an epidemic, maybe just curing one well known place around the world would be enough to be an example of how to defeat the problem; this would inspire other places around the world to do the same thing. Solutions to this problem can seem intimidating, but hopefully these coming sections will provide a few ideas about how to try to solve the issue.
There are truly only two ways to stop smoking marijuana; each depends on the person who is trying to quit (How to Stop Smoking Weed: Tips, Treatments, and Benefits). These two ways are called cold turkey and Tapering (1). Cold Turkey is when the person instantly stops using marijuana, and tapering is when the person slowly reduce the amount of smoking done over a set period of time (1). Both of these styles of quitting marijuana are effective and useful, but each has benefits and problems. For some it is very easy to just automatically stop. This style of quitting is easier for someone who has not been addicted to marijuana long (1). An example of this would be someone who just started smoking in college and wants to stop after they graduating (1). The other method of quitting is by reducing the amount of marijuana use over a set period of time, and can be very useful for those who have been using marijuana for a long time (1). Because these people have been using marijuana for an extended amount of time, it will be much harder for someone to just automatically quit using marijuana; this is because there can be a lot of withdrawal symptoms, such as laziness and depression (1). When it comes down to someone like this who has been addicted to marijuana for quite some time, this method of tapering is the way to go. This helps insure the person will not have as many withdrawals as someone who just quits automatically. Yet, this in way of quitting, takes much longer to reach the goal to stop smoking than those who just automatically stop (1).
Stopping entirely without a plan is a bad move to make (How to Stop Smoking Weed: Tips, Treatment, and Benefits). This method can be very difficult with temptations to smoke marijuana again; yet the craving to relapse can be deterred by filling that void spot with something else that can keep the mind off of the previously addictive item (1). This can be done by doing something that is healthy and beneficial to the person mentally and physically (1). One of the best means of replicating this is to convert to start exercising or working out (1). This is something that can keep the mind and body off of the effects that are brought on by withdrawal (1). The only real issue with this method is that once marijuana use has stopped, dieting and what is eaten is very important (1). This is because smokers have been used to eating pretty much anything without having to be aware of the health effects; this is because of the so called “munchies” that many receive from smoking marijuana (1). Dieting and exercising is something that is great for the body to recover from the dietary and other effects of smoking marijuana (1). It is even said that those who do not have a healthy diet have a much higher of chance relapsing than those who have, or develop, good of eating habits (1).
Although these past two methods are very popular, there are also many other popular ways that are known to work, and work well (Available Treatments for Marijuana Use Disorders). One of these popular methods is cognitive-behavioral therapy (1). This method of therapy is a form of psychotherapy (1). This teaches the user to be able to identify and defend themselves from bad behaviors, to help self control, and to stop drug abuse (1). This therapy also helps whole view of other problems that co-occur with users (1). This is a very popular method and skill to have, because it can even help someone who has never used, or been addicted to drugs (1).
Another method of quitting marijuana is contingency management (Available Treatments for Marijuana Use Disorders). This is another very popular and original way to battle against the use of marijuana (1). When someone is addicted to marijuana, just quitting is something that almost never happens (1). This method of quitting is a way that makes it easy for someone who is goal motivated(1). Contingency management sets up a pathway with set goals and rewards (1). This is very good for those who need a schedule and a timeline to follow with a number of goals and rewards to reach (1). Given that this method gives out reward for each goal achieved down the path of recovery, once the person reaches the final goal, will they continue to not relapse without anymore rewards to chase (1)?
The last but fastest way of quitting by using a form of therapy is motivational enhancement therapy (1). This is a systematic intervention method that is made for pretty much one reason, which is to quit as fast as possible (1). Because the cold turkey method is very hard and open to a higher percentage of relapse, this is not really a change of just the person, but a change to motivate them enough to mobilize the users own internal resources for change and to try to engage in treatment (1).
Currently, there is no medication prescribed by the FDA that can help to stop using marijuana (Available Treatment for Marijuana Use Disorder). Although there are no medication prescribed just for quitting marijuana alone, there are a few different types of medications that have been tested in this same area that have been proven to help aid in the stopping process (1). Because Marijuana withdrawal makes people restless, it is a good idea to take a medication that makes the user tired before going to bed so that this problem can be countered (1). A very good example of this medication has actually been tested by many science groups and is proven to help those who can not fall asleep do just that (1). This medication is called zolpidem (1).
Another main problem with experiencing withdrawal is anxiety and stress (Available Treatments for Marijuana Use Disorder). This is something that is very common with someone who has been a long time marijuana user (1). Because of these symptoms, it is very popular for people to take over the counter drugs to help with these effects of withdrawal (1). This prescriptive drug is called buspirone (1). The only problem with this medication is that is can work too well (1). Buspirone can withhold anxiety and stress, yet it also makes many very sleepy, to the point of not being able to function (1).
Actually, there are many problems in other areas of the issue as well. When it comes to this whole problem, the marijuana epidemic is absurd (Fields); this is because many people today believe there is nothing wrong with smoking marijuana, other than that it alters the brain for a short period of time, while there is a high (1). In the past when tobacco was first introduced, the world thought that tobacco was actually beneficial to the body (1). Currently there have been 87,735 studies done on the health effects of tobacco, and all of them state the negative impacts of marijuana (1). Without these studies, the world would have kept on smoking tobacco, and they would never have known that it was very harmful to the body (1). Today, there have only been 34 studies done of marijuana, yet everyone automatically says that marijuana is a tested drug that is proven to be healthy for the mind (1). We have not even seen the effects of marijuana long term yet, although we know from studies that marijuana alters the mind (1). I think that it is absurd people smoke marijuana to alter the way their minds think. It is also very absurd to me that people use marijuana very regularly, and they do not even know the long term effects of the drug. Why would someone want to take such a leap of faith to smoke something that has hardly been tested, and inhale it into their lungs?
Even though drugs are a great problem in the world today, there are many things about marijuana that can be harmful to the body. Why are drugs so common? There are many answers for this question. Some would say marijuana is not a problem while others think marijuana is useless and harmful. Many variables come to mind when when people ask why drugs are damaging to the body. Because drugs are so popular, many get into drugs just because it seems like a popular thing to do in this day and age. The effects of marijuana, although they are strong, can be overcome with determination and strength.
Works Cited
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Fields, Douglas. “The Absurdity of ‘Medical Marijuana.’” BrainFacts.org,
www.brainfacts.org/thinking-sensing-and-behaving/diet-and-lifestyle/2014/the-absurdity-of-medical-marijuana.
“History of Marijuana.” History of Marijuana,
“How to Stop Smoking Weed: Tips & Benefits of Quitting.” American Addiction Centers,
americanaddictioncenters.org/marijuana-rehab/how-to-quit-smoking-weed.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Available Treatments for Marijuana Use Disorders.”
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Rosen, Peg. “Attention: How It's Different From Working Memory.” Understood.org,
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“The History of Drug Abuse and Addiction Rehabilitation.” DrugAbuse.com, 30 Nov. 2018,
drugabuse.com/addiction/history-drug-abuse/.
Yang, Nicole. “A Timeline of Josh Gordon's History with Substance Abuse and Suspensions.”
Boston.com, The Boston Globe, 20 Dec. 2018,
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