Water By The Spoonful Analysis

This is a summary taken from “Saying Yes” by Jacob Sullum; Chapter 8; “Body and Soul”. An ever-present theme in Sullum’s book is what he calls “voodoo pharmacology”—the idea, promoted in large part by the government, that certain drugs have the power to hijack people and enslave them in an inescapable prison of craving and compulsion. Sullum seeks to show that this idea is a myth, that only a tiny percentage of illegal-drug users become addicts, whereas the vast majority of people who use illegal drugs live normal, productive, loving lives. The book is filled with valuable insights derived from deconstructing government statistics about drugs and drug use. Sullum shows how even the most vilified drugs, such as heroin and crack cocaine, are

AIDS is the world’s leading infectious killer. To date, the illness has killed approximately 25 million people around the world. In the memoir Breaking Night, Liz Murray wrote about her mother’s slavery to cocaine and how it lead to her contraction of the HIV/AIDS virus and eventually to her death. Her mother’s death was only one of the difficulties that plagued Liz’s life from birth to age 18, which was the amount of time spanned by the memoir. Homelessness, hunger, and [something else] were enemies of Liz in her youth, however, she managed to heroically turn her life around and conquer the obstacles standing between her and a better life. Breaking Night should be kept on the summer reading list because of it’s strong female protagonist who

mind, even those people who have a lot of it. Gioia’s approach is clever and humorous. His

In the Elegiac Addict Angela Garcia argues that far from inducing recovery, medical and juridical understandings and approaches to addiction trap addicts into the painful past and moral dilemma, perpetuating the addiction and making relapse inevitable. Present medical definition treats addiction as a “Chronic health problem, not a moral failing or a social problem”, liberating the addicts from self-guilt and the social judgments based on morality. On the other hand, by emphasizing the chronicity, it produces the sense of hopelessness among the addicts and the belief that addiction is inevitably repetitive and endless. According to Alma, the woman author followed for part of her life, illustrates this point by pointing out that “the clinic didn’t

Losing a battle to illness is devastating and utterly heartbreaking. With addiction, it is quite often that people fail and fall into their old habits. Others simply don’t want to be sober. In How to Help Someone with an Opioid Addiction, published by the Chicago Sun Times, the author lists ways for friends and family members to assist in the process of sobriety. But, what if it doesn’t work? This question is addressed in the third section of the article. For that reason, the author writes with a rhetoric of pathos to encourage the reader to persevere and also purchase Naloxone, a drug which can alter the effects of opioids in case of emergency.

He does a commendable job of avoiding prejudicial tropes of the era and does not demonize the drugs themselves, noting that the drug “was neither diabolical nor divine” (63). By outlining the physical, psychological, and social effects of addiction, Stevenson presents a realistic portrayal of this problem without demonizing the person suffering from addiction, and in couching as a metaphor he successfully avoids exploiting addicts as well. The narrative, especially at the time of its publication, was suspenseful, terrifying, and enthralling, and though these elements may not have aged well as the work seems rather tame by today’s standards, the story of addiction has only increased in

He paints the addict as being a mean and uncaring person. He describes him in this way because the narrator always saw him as the man who would mow over our baseballs in his yard and not care. This is how addicts behave, they consume themselves in their addiction and anyone close or nearby become sucked in and feel a negative affect from them. The narrator describes the man’s emotion as he mows over sticks and stones as being happy “no matter what the manual said.” What the narrator is doing is making a comparison in how addicts feel nothing but pleasure while they are on their substance, but externally their body is succumbing to the abuse of these substances. Just like how the man feels joy while riding over the foreign objects, his mower is enduring nicks and bumps of its rider’s careless

Nathalie Diaz’s poems “How to Go to Dinner with a Brother on Drug” and “ My Brother at 3 A.M” point out how drug and alcohol abuse cause stress and problems over a family. Diaz explains the struggle that her family has to be through because of her brother addiction. Diaz’s poems show her life and the struggle she needs to experience such as drug addiction, violence, and poverty.

Contemporary society is a variety of all things good and bad that one might misinterpret as perfect

“A bookworm with strong homoerotic urges, a fascination with guns and crime and a natural inclination to break every rule he could find, there seemed to be no way [William] Burroughs could ever fit into normal society” (Asher). The Midwestern (St. Louis) and upper class lifestyle did not fit who Burroughs really was. After graduating from Harvard, Burroughs’ parents accepted their son’s need to find his place in society, so they “continued to support him financially as he experimented with various lifestyles” (Asher). Burroughs was a rebel figure who had trouble finding his way. He traveled around a lot and fell into drugs and substance abuse to free himself from the built-up conventions of society. Burroughs began writing after he met Jack

Linda Sue Park’s book entitled A Long Walk To Water is about two people on different paths that eventually meet. One character named Nya is a girl who walks 12 hours a day to get water for her family. While the other character Salva is a boy who is left in a country surrounded by war. In Salva’s story, his survival became possible through three main factors:his uncle, food and water; the memory of his family.

This essay will tackle the topic of substance use disorder as a psychology topic. The film that will be reviewed for the topic is 28 Days. This is a film written by Susannah Grant and written by Betty Thomas. The film stars Sandra Bullock as a columnist for a New York newspaper (Thomas). In the film, Bullock acts as Gwen Cummings, an alcoholic forced to attend rehab for 28 days. This is because of her escapades of the day that ended up with her crushing a stolen wedding limo into a house (Thomas). The film explores substance use disorder through the eyes and life of Cummings and the people she meets in the rehab. It also explores the challenges they go through in trying to get clean. This essay will show how substance abuse and its related disorder is being portrayed in the film.

Turning twenty-one years old puts a person in a position to be universally regarded as an adult. Both Samuel Johnson in his poem, To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age, and A.E Housman’s, When I was One and Twenty, recollect memories when they once dealt with this adamant yet subtle time in their lives briskly unaware of the troublesome times that lied ahead. The writers’ use of provoking details, vivid imagery and a hint of irony, create a visually appealing description regarding the stubborn new adults, while both speakers recall and account their own experiences.

Look at the world and think about what has changed over the past centuries and see if we can determine why it has now become what it is today. Our history has plenty of technologies and other products that have risen in the past five or six centuries, but now have changed a bit that might not be good. Almost everyone has some type of habit in their lives that they deal with and some are worst than others, but a habit can lead many down the wrong path if the habit is used extensively. The book that I read was Forces of Habit and it deals with the history of alcohol to drugs that we know of today. It leads through the whole process of the products and how it has changed throughout the years. This book was written by David Courtwright and

After reading the novel, Righteous Dopefiend, I have a different lens in which I can view substance abuse and individuals who suffer from substance abuse disorders. All of the characters in the novel offered a unique perspective to different aspects of substance abuse disorders and the challenges associated with substance abuse and homelessness. However, despite all of the interesting aspects of each individual in the novel, the character Tina stuck out most to me and had the greatest impact on how I will view and engage with individuals who may suffer from substance abuse disorders.