Ruth Dreifuss Heroin

Being a college student, I, myself, have heard and seen a majority of the favored drugs that are used and passed around campus. A few of those drugs include alcohol, Adderall, cough syrup, and the most commonly abused drug, marijuana. This particular type of drug is the most popular around campus, so I am very familiar with it. Marijuana is the most debated about drug around the world. Many, including myself, have wondered if it is safe enough to be used recreationally or if it should stay illegal in the majority of the states.

The purpose of Needle Exchange programs are to reduce the increasing number of infections such as HIV and Hepatitis C among individuals by providing clean needles and syringes to drug users who inject themselves. These government funded programs supply free clean needles to drug addicts so that they are at a lower risk of sharing needles and spreading diseases. There are many supporters for Needle Exchange programs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016), state “syringe service programs are an effective component of a comprehensive, integrated approach to HIV prevention among people who inject drugs”. Additional support comes from Allen, Ruiz, Jones, & Turner (2016).

They describe how they did a number of small studies and found out that smoking marijuana can be helpful in treating nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy. They also found that cannabidiol found in the herb, can help treat seizures, can reduce anxiety and paranoia, and can counteract the “high” caused by THC. The ACS also supports the idea by saying, “The American Cancer Society supports the need for more scientific research on cannabinoids for cancer patients, and recognizes the need for better and more effective therapies that can overcome the often debilitating side effects of cancer and its

These drugs have been officially recognized by doctors and medical scientists for them being deemed safe and efficient enough to treat people. Recreational drugs are controlled substances that are used to alter one’s state of mind by modifying the person’s emotions and perceptions. They are usually used without the supervision of a medical practitioner and can increase the chances of a person in abusing the drugs. There have been many discussions and debates on the usage of pharmaceutical drugs compared to that of recreational drugs and the classification of both types of drugs. One issue that has sparked a conversation about this topic is the news article about a British woman named Laura Plummer who has been sentenced to three years in prison in Egypt for illegally bringing a recreational drug called tramadol, a synthetic opioid drug that can treat moderate to severe pain, but can also be highly abused by people.

The prohibition of marijuana does not stop Americans from obtaining the drug, but simply intensifies the unnecessary criminality and danger surrounding its use. Marijuana should be legal to obtain because statistics and scientific studies throughout the world prove that the legalization of the drug would not only make the United States safer, but also benefit the country financially. The criminalization of marijuana has dramatized a violent image of the drug which media outlets exacerbate by using scare tactics and myths. Legalizing marijuana would eliminate any unsafe or uncomfortable means that the over 100 million Americans who have admitted to using the drug currently have to go through to obtain it. This would separate violence, murder, and the sales of other deadly drugs such as cocaine or heroin from recreational marijuana use.

In the 1980’s the introduction of Crack Cocaine which was much more addictive to the users and more profitable for the drug dealers than Powder Cocaine. The prompted the administration to create Reagans War on Drugs which was supposed to make a major difference in the use of illegal drugs. By giving a much stiffer penalty to drug dealers for possession an even a moderate amount of illegal drugs. The fear of jail time was going be a deterrent to reduce the sale and illegal drug use. A minimum five year jail sentence would be handed out to someone caught with 500 grams of powder cocaine or with five grams of crack cocaine.

But, did you know that all of these issues can be fixed if marijuana was legalized in all 50 states? Although many people think that marijuana is a horrible drug, there any many benefits that we as American’s can receive from marijuana. Whether it be from taking the drug yourself, or just supporting it in general. First of all, marijuana has been proven in many, many different medical lab studies to help those who suffer from cancer, seizures, everyday pain, and even anxiety. There are different forms of marijuana and also many different ways that the drug can be used, from smoking to an oil.

In the 1970s, cocaine resurfaced in South America from its long history as a traditional medicine, and began to generate a large income for those who processed and sold the good. Cocaine was rendered harmless by the public, thought of as a “high class drug”, and by the 1980s, nearly six million Americans were hooked on the soft white powder; it was then found to be an extremely addictive and unsafe narcotic. Because drug use and trade into America started to become a pressing issue, the United States hoped that by stopping cocaine production in Colombia, the drug abuse problem in the US would proportionally decline. Attempting to carry out this plan of action, US military teams relentlessly raided the estates and “drug processing facilities”

For decades marijuana was considered to be a dangerous drug, leading to criminal behavior and personal disgrace. “It is time to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. It is time to end the arrests of so many people and the destruction of so many lives for possessing marijuana”- Bernie Sanders. However, by now most of these beliefs have been discredited – there is little to no proof that cannabis in and of itself has any conflicting effects. Some studies even show that it is far less dangerous than many completely legal prescription drugs, both for its users and those around them.There is proof of marijuana’s positive medical effects.Marijuana is beneficial for epilepsy patients, it eases nausea caused by chemotherapy and shows good results when used by people suffering from AIDS and a number of other conditions.

In fact, according to a chart done by Prospect.org, the majority (52%) of inmates in federal prison are there because of drug related victims. Also, 53% of the inmates in state prison are there because of violent crime. This leads me to believe that what really needs to be addressed is violence and drugs. Although violence is hard to control, there is something being done about the drug epidemic that is increasingly growing. The United States’ drug epidemic is much more intense compared to other countries, including developed and non-developed countries.

Heroin is such a highly addictive drug to a point where many people who come in contact with heroin develop a dependency to it. What an individual will experience during heroin addiction treatment depends on specific factors including how long they have been using, and how much of it they have been consuming. The recovery of an addict will also depend on their ability to understand and deal with other challenges, such as underlying psychological problems that may have caused their abuse, or been caused by the abuse. Treatment for heroin addiction includes both behavioral and pharmacological treatment. Both of these approaches help restore a degree of normalcy to the individual’s brain function, and behavior.