Drugs are Continuing Problem in US

The main purpose about this research paper is how drugs lead to death. What do you know about drugs. Drugs are chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being. Drugs are a huge problem in the United States of America. Once people start taking drugs such as heroin, marijuana, cocaine, oxycontin, and others. They get addicted to them. Drugs addiction can lead to crimes, diseases, and death. The People that take drugs are not a huge problem, the main problem is the people that supply the drugs to the people.

They need to take those drugs every single day in order for to function properly. Now a day’s drugs are like water. People can get them anywhere. Drug overdose is one of the reasons people die each year. Drugs are an ongoing problem in the United States of America, therefore the government should enforce stricter laws and fines.

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One of the main reasons people take drugs is because they are either suffering from a lot of stress in their life or they see their friends and family member do it. In 2008, there were about “190 million people that have used marijuana, 21 million people have used drugs such as heroin and, 20 million people have used cocaine in their life in 2008” (Flint 9). Another reason people Consume drugs is because of the legalization of the drug. There are 23 states in united states of America that have marijuana legalized (Renese). District of Columbia that have laws that make marijuana legal” ( Weber).

In a survey conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services it showed that in 2013, 9.4% Americans age 12 and older have used drugs in the past month”. ( Weber). Employers are required by the government to have their employees take a drug test. Due to drugs free work place act in 1988. When drugs are legalized it is easier for more people to get them very easily. “In 2014, marijuana, Methamphetamine, and prescription drugs have been found in 3.9% out of 9.1 million conducted by the Quest Diagnostics Inc” ( Weber ).

Many of drugs can lead to overdose and there is only fifty- fifty chance of you living from overdose. When more people have access to the drug more people will do it and follow the same path. In 2016, combine of Methamphetamine, prescription, cocaine, heroin and meth there were total of 18,221 people were overdose and 45,198 overdose death (desert). If a person is overdose on a drug and don’t get to the hospital in time or any urgent care that person will die, but if you do you can live. “There have been 20,000 deaths that have been caused by drugs” ( Flint 10). Other than death’s there are many effects of drugs including cancer, AIDS, and HIV. These effects will all lead to death at some point but slowly in their lives. According to Web MD side effect of cocaine are Headaches, Mood Problems, HIV, Loss of smell, nosebleed and Sexual trouble (WEBMD). “Drug misuse carries several risks to personal health, including heart attacks, organ damage, depression and other mental issues” (Flint 16). Other side effects are craving for the drugs, people who takes drugs might think that they cannot live without the drugs. If they don’t take the drugs, they will feel like they won’t be able to live and will go to any measure to acquire the drugs.

More, Drugs can also impact the way you act. People who taken drugs are more likely to commit a crime than the people who don’t take drugs. Drugs can also make a person violent and they can damage the people around them if they don’t get what they want. Drugs can also make a person commit a crime to pay off money for the drugs or to buy new drugs. They usually commit crimes that include robbing a person on a street or robbing a bank so they can pay off the drugs or buy new ones. Drugs can affect the community around the people that take drugs. “When there are addicts and drug dealers in a community, it affects everyone else.”( Flint 16). Communities can turn into gang lands. Gangs in the communities can affect everyone around it even children so no one would want to live there because they want a safe place to live not where people take drugs. When teenagers take drugs, they don’t realize that it’s not only affecting your body it starts to affect your brain as well. This might cause them drop out of school at a very young age because they can't concentrate correctly. There are currently “27.3% of teenagers who are dropped out of school because of drugs” ( Join Together staff). Parents who take drugs are more likely to have kids that are addicted to drugs. Drugs are not only ruining your life, but you're also ruining your child's life by taking drugs.

The government has tried to stop drugs for a long time, but they can’t. The government has legalized marijuana for medicinal reasons and some states have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Some people abuse their prescription and go back for more marijuana. They tell the doctor to give them more because the first time it did not affect them at all. “The first states that legalized marijuana for medicinal reasons were Washington and Colorado” ( Weber). When Employers give their employees drug test and they came out positive, the employees say that a doctor prescribed it. “Independent studies show 65% to 80% of positive drug tests for legal drugs are ultimately disregarded for that reason” (Weber). When doctors prescribe the drug for medicinal use the patient misuses it and uses it for fun, and when they get drug tested at their job, the result comes out positive.

Also, Legalizing marijuana would mean that it is easier for people to get marijuana. Legalization of marijuana would mean that more people have access to it and more people would starting using. To get overdose deaths under control the U.S. has built clinics to give the people who are addicted to heroin. In these clinics, they give out the correct amount dosage of heroin to people who are addicted to them. Along with the right amount of dosage, these clinics provide them with clean syringes. According to the government, these clinics saw an 82% drop in patients selling heroin on the streets ( Dreifuss). When people don’t have money to buy a brand-new syringe to inject heroin in their bodies, they use their friends’ syringe, or they use a syringe found on the streets. When they do that, they're not only injecting heroin, they are injecting diseases like HIV and AIDS. “In Baltimore, they spend $160,000 to keep these clinics running. The Cost of the State Maryland of taking care of just one adult AIDS patient infected through the sharing a syringe is $102,000 to $120,000. In other words, if just two addicts are protected from HIV through the city’s needle exchange, the program will have paid for itself ( Buckley Jr and others.).

There are many ways to make people stop taking drugs, but only few are effective. If we want to stop drugs we should focus on the people that take drugs and that supply drugs. The government should enforce stricter laws and fines. They should also find the drug cartel that sells drugs to people. The people that take drugs should stay in jail for a long time and they should pay a hefty penalty. The current law for getting caught with drugs such as cocaine and heroin is a five to ten year prison sentence and a fine up to five million dollars. The government should increase the prison term and increase the fine. They should increase the prison term up to 15 to 25 years in jail and a fine up to 7 million dollars. There should also be law that after a prisoner gets out of jail he should go to a rehabilitation center and get treatment. There should also be a law that requires prisoners who was in prison for drugs to report to court and give a drug test. If the test comes out positive, throw him in prison for another 5 years and interrogate him about who supplied the drugs to him. That way the government can catch the person who supplies drugs. If a prisoner fails to report to court on time, find the prisoner and arrest him for about 1 to 5 months. If we want to stop drugs, we should focus on the people that supply them. We should focus on the drug cartel and the ring leaders of the drug cartels. One of the reasons drugs get into the US is through trafficking. The cartels use many ways to smuggle drugs into the US, they use ways like, the sea. Cartels send drugs on boats, so they don't get caught, but they still get caught. They also smuggle drugs by air or by land. “In 2003, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a freighter carrying 18.7 tons of cocaine, with a total street value of 500 million dollars, off the coast of Central America” (Flint 23). Some of the cartels even use humans to smuggle drugs into the country. To catch people that smuggle drugs in their body airports “Use X-ray machines and chemical sensors to detect packages hidden in bags or under clothing” (Flint 23). They smuggle drugs in their body like putting a package in their body that is filled with drugs. The government should interrogate the people who are currently in for drugs. The government should ask them how they got their hands on the drugs, who supplied the drugs, and who is the person that is smuggling drugs in the U.S. Everyone should help the government in making U.S. a drug free country.

When the government keeps prisoners in prison, they get funding from the taxes that people pay every year. “ Taxpayers spend more than $80 billion a year to keep all these people locked up” (“ Fixing America’s broken Prisons” ). When we arrest more people that are caught with drugs, we would have to pay to keep the prisons working and maintaining the prisons. Some people may feel like they are getting robbed of their money because they have to pay for something they don't want to. While on the other hand helping the government by paying to maintain the prison is a good idea. If people help put in money to maintain the prison it would keep more criminals off the streets. It would help the society and everyone around us. The world would become a better and a safer place to live, if all the criminals are where they're supposed to belong, which is the prison. No one would be scared to go outside, or no one would be scared to let their kid go outside.

Addition too, It would also wipe out the drug addicts in the country because all of them are locked up. The world would become a drug free place. There would be no drugs in the country and no one would have worry about their kid taking drugs. To catch people that smuggle drugs in their body airports started to use full body x-ray machine. These machines would see if anybody had anything suspicious in their body. This technology is good to catch criminals, but there are some people who believe that this is invasion of privacy. “However, some people believe these detailed images invade personal privacy” (Flint 24). If everyone started to say this the government would not be able to catch all the criminals that are smuggling drugs into the U.S. No one should have a problem with the x-ray machine if they are not smuggling drugs. Also, the x-ray machine can be seen as security, if there is some that is carrying an explosive the police can catch them, with the help of the machine. Everyone should cooperate with the airport security and the government to catch all the people that smuggling drugs, and they should also help to make the world a drug free world.

Drugs are a ongoing problem in the U.S, therefore the government should enforce stricter laws and stricter fines. The government has tried many ways to fight drugs, but they fail every time. If we want to make the world a better place there should be stricter laws and fines imposed on the people that take drugs. The government should lock up the people that take drugs and that supply drugs in for a longer amount of time. That way the streets would be drug free and no one would have to worry about drugs. U.S should also catch the people that smuggle drugs and bring drugs into the U.S. Airports have full body x-ray machines and chemical sensors to detect packages hidden in bags or under clothing (Flint 24). Everyone cooperates with the airport security and help them to catch the drug smugglers, so the world becomes a drug free world. There are people that have tried to smuggle drugs by land, by sea, and by air, but every time they fail. Every one that lives in the U.S should report anyone that takes drugs to the police, so the world will be drug free.