Drugs and their influence - Research Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages... In 2004, the famous Whitney Houston disappointed many of her fans when she was arrested because of drug use. She ended losing her voice and reputation. In 2009, Michael Jackson shocked the world with his death that is associated with drugs. Such cases are only a few of the many unknown cases of drug users. Other effect is on the economy of the government. Billions of government money has been spent to treat victims of drug abuse and eliminating its supply but it seems victims of it and its illegal market grew even more. Tom Whitehead (2011) in his editorial report mentioned that the government has wasted 100 billion pounds tackling illicit drug markets. Because of this, aggressive attempts to prevent abuse of drugs by the government not only in the United States but internationally have been enforced. The supply and cost, risk factors of illegal drug use, and practice of physicians all influence the continuous habit of using drugs. Understanding these factors may lead to better strategies or techniques in dealing with the problem of drug use in the United States. Review of Related Literature Influence of Supply and Costs of Illegal Drugs in its use Most problems of drug use in the Unites States are rooted in the supply. The supply of illegal drugs is abundant in some States of the country especially in the southern part because of its proximity to Columbia and Mexico which are the largest producers and suppliers of heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine (Reuter, 2009). Drugs flourish in the Northern cities of Mexico and seem too crawl beyond its border and expand to United States through its border cities. This claim is further supported by the study by Bucardo and company (2005) where they explained that Mexican border crossings might be a contributory factor on the rampant heroin use in the border cities of the United States. History also reveals that Mexican and Columbian drugs reach the United States and Canada via the Caribbean. With the proliferation of drug production in these neighboring countries, eliminating drug use is almost would be difficult. Not only illegal drugs are abused because of abundant supply. Cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and over the counter (OTC) drugs are also commonly abused. More than 46 million individuals in the United States alone are smokers. The supply of cigarette and alcohol makes it an easy choice of drug abusers to shift from illegal drugs to cigarette and alcohol instead. Today that law enforcers are becoming stricter in the implementation of laws in clamping down drug traffickers, supply of cocaine was reduced forcing drug users to resort to over the counter drugs too. Most often, pain killers like codeine, morphine, and oxycodone are abused as a replacement of illegal drugs. Cost also influences the proliferation of drug users. Low price encourages users to continue the use of illicit drugs because it is affordable. Ironically, policies prohibiting its sale caused the price of the commodity to decrease and that drug users could easily avail of it. The increased capture of drug traffickers by coast guards and other government authorities had significantly resulted in the low price of the commodity favoring drugs users because of reasonable price. Report also stated that the price of heroine had further deteriorated to 30% more even with a 26% seizure rate of heroine throughout the world (ONDCP, 2004). On the other ...Download file to see next pagesRead More