Drugs and Society free essay sample

This type of response from the government is ethically wrong and is allowing people to abuse marijuana and pills on a regular basis. The effects of marijuana are much less severe than those of cocaine and heroine. When abusing marijuana the user will have an increase in blood pressure, experience drowsiness, memory loss will occur, and they will slow down drastically. Most people will fall asleep or use it to relax themselves. In addition, prescription pills have mild side effects that occur in the user’s body too. This form of drug abuse is meant to make the person feel better emotionally or mentally. The side effects of abusing prescription drugs can be a mild case of depression, anxiety, and exhaustion, â€Å"The paradox remains that drugs may be taken to cure, relax, or stimulate, yet may lead to addiction, lack of motivation, or aggression† (Teff 196). These pills can become addictive but they are also easy to stop using them if you receive the right help. On the other hand, cocaine and heroine have more severe consequences attached to the abuse and use of it. According to Charles R. Carroll cocaine can cause extremely severe side effects after prolonged use. People will start to feel restless, anxiety, and become sleepless. They will experience hallucinations and begin to lose their five senses. Their nose will bleed and form ulcer like sores from the continuous use of cocaine. In time, the users will lose weight and experience malnutrition. Eventually, the brain will become more sensitive to the drug and cause seizures that will lead to death (251). Along with cocaine, heroine is possibly the most addictive and dangerous drug to take. It can be injected through the veins or just under the skin, snorted, and taken by mouth. The user receives a rush shortly after injecting the drug and sudden changes in blood pressure will occur. Some common effects that will occur are reddening of the face, constriction of the pupils of the eyes, and emotions will change drastically. The user believes that everything is fine and all their worries had subsided. People claim there is a reduction of aggressive tendencies, depressed appetite and sex drive, and start to slow down. Day dreams will occur and this â€Å"high will last from three to six hours. If the user does not receive their fix they will experience perspiration, tearing, tremors, chills, diarrhea, nausea, and sharp pains. More severely, the user can receive diseases, injuries, and ultimately death (161). As citizens, because of the dangerous and life threatening effects of cocaine and heroine we view the drugs as negative and socially unacceptable. In contrast, we will allow marijuana and pills to become apart of our society without disrupting the use and distribution of it. Marijuana is one of the most commonly used drugs among all U. S. citizens. â€Å"In California, for example, 7,560 marijuana arrests were reported statewide in 1964; by 1968, California police reported arresting 50,327 people on marijuana charges. By 1969, the federal government estimated that between 8 million and 12 million Americans had tried marijuana at least once; that about 25% of them, or some 2 million to 3 million people, were using it whenever it happened to be available; and that about 10%, or 800 thousand to 1. 2 million, were using it every day† (Grauer 60). As the years progressed the rate of people using this drug got worse. In today’s society marijuana is socially acceptable and considered one of the safer drugs to use rather than cocaine or heroine. The drug is often portrayed on television or written in artist’s songs. For example, Lil Wayne writes, â€Å"I got that fire come and try me and you can spark it up and I’ma put you out†. People usually look up to a rap artist and can follow in the bad footsteps of these lyrics. People find marijuana to be a â€Å"cool† drug or something that makes them feel better. Another reason why people think marijuana is socially acceptable is because of the recent claims that marijuana can cure certain diseases. â€Å"Still classified as an illegal drug, marijuana has been studied recently for its medical value under tight federal government controls over funding and availability to scientists† (Carroll 309). Most people use this as an excuse of why they abuse the drug and tend to try to make themselves seem less addicted. Celebrities have been caught with marijuana on several occasions but they are released quickly because the case seems to be unimportant due to the type of drugs involved. Haroon Siddique wrote an article titled UN Attacks Celebrity Drug Use where he states, â€Å"Doherty has spent time in jail but was handed a suspended sentence on the last occasion. Neither Moss nor Winehouse, who was also caught on camera allegedly taking drugs, have ever been charged with an offence. † The celebrities are getting away with using marijuana or pills because to citizens and the government it is not a huge offense to abuse these substances. In addition, prescription pills that are abused are viewed as socially acceptable as well. In a lot of movies you will see people become addicted to prescription drugs and take them regularly. People in our society assume that since this drug is not causing themselves to become disruptive that it is acceptable to take it. The consequences are definitely less severe than other drugs. An article from the National Drug Strategy Network (NDSN) Website states â€Å"Even if convicted, sentences for doctors are small, compared to those implicated in the sale of cocaine, opiates, marijuana, etc. One case is that of Dr. Eric C. Tucker, who issued more than 7,000 questionable prescriptions for the stimulant Preludin ® and another 7,600 for Dilaudid ®. More Dilaudid ®, sometimes called drugstore heroin, was distributed from Tuckers office every year than from the County-USC Medical Center, the West Coasts largest public hospital. Tucker, then 59, pleaded guilty to two felony counts and lost his medical license, but was only sentenced to eight days in jailâ€Å". Therefore, this portrays the idea that people who use or sell prescription drugs are getting away with it and do not suffer severe consequences for committing these crimes. Furthermore, while marijuana and pills are seen as socially acceptable, cocaine and heroine are receiving negative reviews from citizens. The effects of these drugs are so drastic that when people know family members or friends who use them they are appalled or highly concerned. In the movie â€Å"Blow† Johnny Depp is seen doing cocaine and eventually he winds up in jail for a long time. He ruins his entire life by choosing to take a drug that is harmful. This movie shares the same opinion on cocaine and portrays that it is completely unhealthy, dangerous, and unacceptable. Heroine has always been viewed as a dangerous drug to take. Several public service announcements take pride in warning teens about the dangers of heroine. They solely concentrate on showing the viewer how your body will deteriorate and how you will become non existent to the world. In our society, if you use cocaine or heroine people will tend to avoid you because they are disgusted of you. They start to see the way you’re behaving, how much weight you have lost, and how endangered your life has become. Due to the fact that these drugs are unhealthy, the society does not accept the fact that people use them in any way. The government notices how the society views these drugs differently and they take that into consideration when deciding which consequences and laws should be in place. The fact that they decide what their laws are based on how they view different drugs is completely unethical and this should not be the case. According to Florida Statute on LegalReefer. com the consequences for possession of marijuana are as follows: Any person who possesses twenty grams or less of marijuana is charged with a first degree misdemeanor and the fine is up to one thousand dollars along with up to one year in prison. The former misdemeanor offense has been downgraded either to a minor misdemeanor-with no permanent criminal record-or to a mere civil offense requiring a civil fine and sometimes also mandating enrollment in a drug education program or involvement in public service instead of a prison sentence† (Carroll 296). On the other hand, according to FindLaws. com the consequence for possession o f cocaine or heroine is automatically a third degree felony. The consequence of having the same amount of drugs but different substances is different in a large amount. A misdemeanor for possession of marijuana is far less threatening than a third degree felony for heroine and cocaine. This proves that having the same amount of drugs, but different substances can allow the government to charge you with a different offense. Several times police officers will find marijuana on people and only confiscate it instead of arresting the offender. If they were to find cocaine or heroine on the person, the police officer would definitely arrest them and make sure they showed up to court to have them placed in jail. Why should the consequences for cocaine and heroine be any different than those of marijuana? Any person who is caught with a drug should be penalized equally. This is ethically wrong and a change needs to be made immediately. This is one of the major reasons that marijuana is one of the most common drugs used. People are no longer afraid of the consequences of using marijuana and carrying it on them. They assume that they will be able to leave jail shortly or pay a small fine to have themselves released quickly. If the law was made equal for all drugs this would not be an issue or concern. The effects of heroine and cocaine are definitely more dangerous and harmful but eventually all drugs lead to the ultimate effect of death. Therefore, marijuana and pills have the same dangers as other drugs except that death will take longer to reach. There is a distinct difference between the effects of marijuana and cocaine but that still does not give the government the right to charge these offences any differently. There have been several cases of people who use marijuana and steer their lives down the wrong path. Thus, all drugs can lead to misbehavior and consequences that cannot be reversed. All drug abusers should be penalized equally and possibly our drug crime rate will decrease severely. The effects that heroine and cocaine have on the body are much more severe than other drugs. Albeit, should that be a deciding factor of the consequences of possessing drugs for everyday citizens that do not use drugs? Any drugs that are used or sold can cause harm to citizens, whether it be marijuana, pills, or crack. Why should citizens have to suffer because of the poor choices that drug abusers choose to take part in. The society needs to start looking at these drugs equally and realize that all of them are extremely harmful. The government should come up with laws that are for every type of drug. By doing this, people will be a lot safer and not have the concern of being conflicted with a drug user. It will also make drug users think twice about using the less harmful drugs regularly. Overall, drugs will always be an issue in our government that cannot be solved easily. However, there are steps that could be taken to make the process a lot smoother. For example, regulating the system of arrest and fines for being caught with the possession of drugs. In addition, warning people by advertisements, public service announcements, and drug educational classes that all drugs are illegal and there are severe punishments for doing them. Specifically, the government should concentrate on marijuana and abusing prescription drugs. By regulating the system, hopefully people will start to view all drugs as equally dangerous and harmful to our society.