Drugs In America Essay, Research Paper

Drugs in America

Today in America a lot of young people experiment with illegal drugs. Some people try drugs for recreational purposes, others are addicted to drugs and can’t survive without them. Usually it all starts from recreational purposes, and people who can not control their recreation become a drug addicts. There are many different types of drugs, but all drugs are similar in that they change one’s understanding of the environment, feelings, senses and mood. Some drugs cause physical addiction, which means that after several tries of the particular drug, the body requires that chemical in order to function. Some drugs destroy lives; people use drugs so much that it changes their personality and acceptance of environment, people become happy and sad, active and weak under influence of drugs. It makes their mind and body sick. Heavy drug users do not live long, dying either from health complications or dying on the streets, or if they get lucky they go to jail. In the following paragraphs I am going to talk about the most popular drugs from my point of view and my experience with some of them.

I tried marijuana when I was in High School. Marijuana affects everyone differently, some people like it and some do not. After four years of occasional smoking I decided to quit last year. The good thing about marijuana is that you cannot get physically addicted to it. Many people including myself decided to stop smoking, and many have done it successfully. The effects that I experienced are: extreme stupidity, laughing for no reason, paranoia, and extreme laziness next morning. Paranoia is the worst effect of marijuana. When a person is paranoid, he/she starts thinking about the negative things which are hiding deep inside his or her mind. I’ve enjoyed marijuana in the beginning, but then I found myself getting depressed, and that’s when I decided to stop using it. Smoking marijuana everyday can cause serious health complications like, lost of memory, drop in sex hormones, changes in mood, and lost of energy and appetite. These changes are temporary in adults, but researchers suspect that young people can develop long-range development problems. Personally I would not recommend this drug to anyone.

I’ll never forget my first week of freshman year at Stony Brook. I went to a party, where I tried ecstasy. This was an experience of a lifetime. I’d never felt so happy and excited in my whole life. I was very friendly to the people around me, even though I didn’t know anyone there. By the end of the party I was everybody’s friend. Ecstasy is most commonly used in rave clubs, because one of the effects of ecstasy is increase of energy. It allows you to rave and dance without stopping for a long time without feeling any tiredness. You can get psychologically addicted to ecstasy very quickly since it brings so many new feelings of happiness, but it is very hard to get physically addicted. The problem with ecstasy is that it can cause liver damage and researchers suspect that it also may decrease amount of serotonin from the spine. Constant and often consumption of ecstasy may also result in a nerve and brain cell damage researchers say. I’ve really enjoyed this drug in the past but I do not do it anymore because it can cause serious health complications.

A lot of my floor mates in Stony Brook experiment with acid and mushrooms. These are hallucinogenic drugs. They make you see and hear things that are not there, and trigger your emotions. “Its like now you feel happy, the next minute you want to cry”- said one of my floor mates. These drugs do not cause any physical damage to the body, but they can cause very severe psychological problems. Also acid can cause “flashbacks”, which means you might hallucinate later on in life even if you stop using it. Some people get crazy under the influence of acid and they start thinking that they’re dying, it leads to panic and if no one is around to take care of them they even can hurt themselves. My friend who stopped using those drugs said “Do not use it if you want to be at peace with your mind”.

Cocaine and a heroin are types of drugs that ruin people’s lives. Hopefully I never had any experiences with those types of drugs, and I never will. People become physically dependent on cocaine and heroin, and it’s very difficult for people to quit using them. When I was back in High School I had a friend, who was an honor student. During his senior year he started to hang out with the wrong people, and started doing heroin. In a couple of months he become the complete opposite of what he was before. He lost all his friends, ran away from home and ended up on the streets. Whatever you do, never try these kinds of drugs, because once you try them, you might like the feeling, and then mentally will want more. After a couple more tries you become physically dependent, and there is a little chance that you will live a normal life ever again.

This is a general description of the effects of the most common drugs used in America. Why do people try and continue using drugs? There are a lot of answers to this question, but the most common is “sometimes we need to get away from the place we belong”. I used to smoke marijuana with my friends when I was bored and had nothing else to do. I stopped doing marijuana because I felt that it’s not right for me, and I’m better off without it. If you’re an occasional drug user, the very important thing is not to try drugs that can cause physical addiction. It is always a good idea to do some research about the drugs that you have tried or going to try, so you know what physical or mental complications it can lead to. I would not recommend trying any drugs, because if you do not know what it is like to be on drugs you will never want it again, on the other hand if you try it and you like it you might simply ruin your life.