Candid View On Drinking Essay, Research Paper

Paul Kantner once said, “If you can remember anything about the sixties, you weren’t really there.” I feel this same way when talking to my peers about social gatherings, concerts and sometimes, even school. It is hard to have a conversation about last weekend without hearing, ?I was so drunk,? or ?I don?t know, I was really high.? People at my professional workplace seem to have no problem asking me if I could get them an ounce of weed- presumably, because I?m young. Drugs are not surrounding our culture, or society or our media as a whole; they are smothering our youth.

With these thoughts in mind I participated in my ordinary activities for a weekend, but kept an open eye to substance use-mine and others. It was a typical weekend. On Friday, I went ?downtown.? “Downtown” is a couple blocks of bars and clubs that are very popular with the college and 20-something crowds. On Friday I went downtown and then to an after-hours party that lasted until 7:00am. Saturday afternoon we got to the bar at about 3:00, to watch the game and then went to a friends? house to hang out. On Sunday, we went to a trendy lounge and then all stayed overnight at a friends? house. Over the course of this weekend I consumed 10 mixed drinks, 6 glasses of wine, and either consumed; was introduced to, or heard 1st hand experiences of drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, ?shrooms,? Ecstasy, and Xanax. Given my circumstances it would be extremely pretentious of me to sit back and think of ways to advance the war on drugs.

We as citizens, as a community, and most importantly as the most powerful country on earth we need to decide what we are trying to solve. We can no longer sit here and say, ?drugs are bad,? we need action, a resolution to find a common, but realistic goal. There are many different political, social and health issues surrounding drugs. We need to decide what we want to accomplish, and we need to do this as an educated, involved, and democratic people. If we want to prevent crack heads our actions are going to be quite different then they would be if our goal were to solve the overcrowding of prisons.

Our diversity is what makes the United States special, but could is also be harming our common goal? Our varied backgrounds cause, effect, and mutate our experiences, our tendencies and our values. With so many emotions driving our actions, it would be impossible to win the war on drugs. Instead we need to look into ways to prevent, treat and educate drug users on ways to use drugs the right way. Indeed, we need to have civil and legal order over these things, we need to punish by taking away, but the ?problem users? do not see that they have anything-other then the drugs- that they would miss.

The problem is that substance use and abuse is a lifestyle, and for some -me included- a production. The action of using a substance is an escape but it lets you be whoever you?d like to be. The lifestyle includes late nights, long drunken heart-to-heart conversation, meeting many new people, flirting with people you just met, and possibly going home with someone of the opposite sex that you may or may not know. The thing is, for many, the substance is not the addiction- the lifestyle is. In order to have that lifestyle you need to be a user.

So with all the issues I have discovered what can we do? After racking my brain I have to admit, there is not a single thing an outside force could do to change my habits. And through talking to my friends, they all say ?ditto.? There is one thing that our politicians, our government, our parents, and our teachers need to remember- without a common goal we will never solve the problems caused by drugs. Without a common goal people will still sneak through the cracks, people will still overdose, people will still sell to kids and I will still have my 15 drinks a weekend. Without a common goal our virtuous fight will fail.