Believe it or not our nation is in an epidemic. The Black plague and Bird Flu, and other viruses are deadly enough, however, this epidemic is being fueled by the very same industries that we would seek help from to cure us from such diseases. The name of this epidemic is prescription drug addiction.
Teen Drug Use
As the name implies, it all starts with a prescription. Even if a well-meaning doctor follows all the correct procedures and rules, once that prescription leaves his office he has no idea where it may end up. Hopefully, it goes to the patient he treated. Unfortunately, surveys from the Partnership for a Drug Free America, show this not to be the case. In fact, one in five teenagers has already tried prescription drugs to get high and seven out of the eleven drugs abused by 12th graders are prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications, with the top 4 being only available by prescription.
Marijuana is the top drug teens use to get high. Daily marijuana use increased among teens last year and marijuana use among 12th graders increased to its highest point since the early 1980's. After marijuana, prescription drugs are next in line for abuse among teens.
The Truth About Drugs
Now with legalization being pushed under the guise of "medical marijuana", the chances of life-long addictions for many more teens than ever is a looming potential reality.
Legalizing marijuana now makes a drug which is classified as having no legitimate medical use, to suddenly be "ok" by legislators. Look at the message that sends to our youth.
It's difficult to convince someone one drug is bad while another is good. This is because the truth isn't being clearly expressed. The truth about drugs is that all drugs are poisons. This of course does not mean there are not situations that make drugs necessary. There are. But it does mean that any drug, as it is a poison, results in side effects and disruption to usual body processes. In fact, drugs are intended to do just that, for instance, in overriding the pain receptors of a body and deadening pain in a time of torment.
Abused or taken when one is not needed, other effects are experienced. The user associates this with pleasure and thus a habit, the desire to use the drug again, is formed. What the user seldom realizes is, due to the fact the drug is a poison, other damaging effects on the body and mind are occurring. These effects, at first, are usually recognized as a "hangover" or a "coming down". This is actually drug withdrawal. Physically, the body is being ravaged by the drug poison, of many vital nutrients necessary to keep the body functioning. This "let-down" or "hung over" feeling is the body communicating the broad scale destruction which has just taken place of its nutrient storages. The answer the user usually applies is more drugs, which further worsens the deficiencies.
The Problem with Legalization
Prescription drugs have already led us down the road to an epidemic. Pharmaceutical companies have already made drugs abundantly available resulting in the largest drug problem our nation now faces created by our own licensed industries. The White house Director of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, states prescription drugs are the "fastest-growing drug problem in the country". In addition, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration states in regards to legalizing marijuana, "Legalization has been tried before—and failed miserably. Alaska’s experiment with Legalization in the 1970s led to the state’s teens using marijuana at more than twice the rate of other youths nationally. This led Alaska’s residents to vote to re-criminalize marijuana in 1990."
Alaska's experiment seems to typify what is currently occurring with prescription drugs, let alone the potentials of marijuana legalization. The bottom line is a population on drugs is not an alert population. A teen population on drugs gives us a nation that cannot learn and thus improve its condition. Drugs and crime are notorious bedmates.
The answer to our nation's drug problem lies in preventive drug education and effective non-drug drug rehabilitation. For more information contact Narconon East U.S. at 877-237-3307.
References:
http://notinmyhouse.drugfree.org/
http://www.drugabuse.gov/infofacts/HSYouthtrends.html
http://www.justice.gov/dea/demand/speakout/index.html
http://narconon-news.org/
