The way of drug taking starts with a voluntary deed, a decision to try a drug, experience its effect, undergo its influence. Eventually this occupation may become dangerous, it may result in many dangerous consequences and unpleasant events, it threatens the consumer’s social, professional, family life, it leads to social withdrawal and severe health and mental issues of all kinds, some of this damage may turn out to be irreparable.
The substance under a well known nickname “heroin” is prohibited in the majority of the world’s countries. Even though heroin is an illegal drug, it is included in several types of medications and it is also used for the replacement therapy for the drug addicts. Heroin is widely abused all over the world. The number of heroin users counts nine and a half million people. This number is, of course, not precise because not many people all over the world would openly and honestly confess that they are drug users.
Heroin is a severely addictive drug, it makes a very fast effect on people’s health, a user turns into an addict very quickly. The addict’s body starts to undergo a whole raw of harmful and extremely destructive influences that are irreversible. The recognized “short-term” effects of heroin abusing are nausea, rush, vomiting, depressed respiration. The typical “long-term” effects of such addiction are collapsed veins, abscesses, many infectious and very dangerous diseases such as AIDS/HIV and hepatitis C.
(National Institute of Drug Abuse, par. 5). According to Frank Blanche, the image of a typical abuser of heroin changes with time (par. 7). Due to younger generations’ avoidance of drugs, the heroin users groups are getting older every decade. Besides, earlier there was a clear pattern of heroin abuse, showing that some years ago the main areas where the drug was distributed to were city centers.
These days the drug dealers have a tendency to move to more suburban areas, this is why they young people living there are now under a risk of becoming potential heroin addicts. The author’s advice is that some effective measures should be developed and created in the areas that are included into the risk group because these areas are very likely to become major hubs for drug criminals in the future.
Marijuana is another widely popular drug. This drug is being legally traded in at least twenty of the United States. Most of the typical abusers of marijuana are high school students, most of which are adolescent. O’Connor’s research shows that at least thirty six percent of senior school students from all over the Unites States have been involved into the drug consume (par. 6).
The health of marijuana abusers undergoes many harmful influences. The short-term consequences of abusing marijuana are nausea, dizziness, vomiting, headache, loss of motor coordination, trouble with problem solving, increased heart rate (Marijuana Addiction Treatment, par. 5). Long-term consequences are more serious. For example, marijuana has been proved to influence a human brain development seriously, to be more precise, this drug produces a destructive effect on its user’s brain’s cognitive function and memory.
This leads to a variety of learning disabilities the students of high schools across the United States tend to experience and struggle with. Besides, the people who often abuse marijuana become hyperactive and anxious; due to this the level of social violence increases in educational facilities. Some individuals regularly consuming marijuana tend to become locked up and live in social withdrawal.
In general, the students, who often abuse marijuana, are not known for their achievement in studies, their learning performance can be characterized as negative. This drug is also medically used. Initially, marijuana was traded from the pharmacies. The trade of marijuana in recreational purposes was legalized not so long ago. As a medication cannabis can be helpful in treating various health and mental complications, among them are cardiopulmonary complications (Gupta, par. 34).
Both of these drugs – heroin and marijuana – are in the same place in FDA drug schedule – they occupy the schedule one with high abuse liability and investigational use only (Drug Classification, par. 7).
Treatment of any drug addiction is a complicated process because it is caused by a very complex illness (Drug facts, par. 2). When drug consuming becomes uncontrollable, turns into a habit, ruins a person’s health and social life, a series of measures have to be taken. The success in the process of drug addiction treatment is only possible when the patient is willing to co-operate and has a desire to recover and defeat the habit.
Addiction to the drugs that belong to the category of opioids has been a global and very serious issue for the whole world for the last several decades. Drug abuse influences the way the human brain works and creates the compulsive craving for a certain chemical substance, the addict becomes obsessed with seeking for a dose. There is a series of medications especially developed to treat the opioid addiction.
They are designed to work the same way as the drug does, the only difference is that these medications are safer than the addictive drug and do not tend to create an addiction in the user’s brain. The second approach to the treatment of the opioid addiction is behavioral treatment. These treatments work though the cognitive-behavioral therapy. The patient basically gets stimulated for avoiding the drug. In case of heroin abuse, the patient has to go through a detoxification program before starting the treatment.
During the detoxification period, the patient is not allowed to use the drug, except for the small doses that can be given to the patient to minimize the withdrawal symptoms (What Are the Treatments for heroin Addiction? par. 4).
The treatment of marijuana addiction is mostly done on the outpatient basis where the patients, are given medications to reduce the negative experience of the drug withdrawal. After the detoxification and the treatment programs are completed by the patient, a course of therapy is also offered. The therapy works to help the patient start a new life and stay clean forever.
In conclusion, to my mind, even though marijuana is considered a lighter drug that is not as addictive, both of these drugs are equally bad. Both long and short-term effects of these drugs are negative and, in best case, will take a long time to cure. Abusing drugs to me feel like becoming a slave of a chemical substance that starts re-writing your brain and damages it severely.
In the modern society there are people that are taking these drugs, as well as people, who are avoiding the drugs. Fortunately, anti-drug propaganda works well and drives many young people from the path of an addict. In general, due to multiple bad and lethal cases of addictions and overdoses, the society is aware of all the horrifying consequences drug abuse may cause.
Works Cited
Blanche, Frank. “An overview of heroin trends in New York City: Past, present and future”. The Mount Sinai Journal of medicine 67.5 (2000): 341-348. Print.
Drug Classification. AddictionScience. 2009. Web.
Drug Facts, National Institute on Drug Abuse. 2009. Web.
Gupta, Sanjay. Gupta: ‘I am doubling down’ on medical marijuana. 2014. Web.
Marijuana Addiction Treatment. Treatment Solutions. 2013. Web.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. Heroin: Abuse and Addiction. Web.
O’Connor, Anahad. “Increasing marijuana use in high school is reported”. The New York Times. 2013. Web.
What Are the Treatments for heroin Addiction? About. 2013. Web.