RESPONSE ESSAY: DRUG ABUSE

According to the text about “Drug Abuse”, written by Megan Liverman, drug abuse is
a serious public health problem that affects almost every community and family in some way.
It is very dangerous nowadays because it can affect human’s way of thinking and body of those
who involved. Those person who consume drugs can feel various types of pain and end up in
rehabilitation centers or hospitals for the mentally ill. On November 30, 2017, Eka Yuda Purba
was arrested by the police after being caught stealing motorcycles three times in Medan. He
claimed that the stolen money was used to buy methamphetamine because he was addicted.
“Sometimes, I set aside Rp100.000,00 to buy drugs. If I get Banua’s results, I bought a quarter
of a gram. But that’s just once,” he said ([Link]). As we can see, drug abuse can
causes criminal because people want to get money in any possible way to buy some drugs.
Drug abuse does not only harm users but it also harms many people affected. Thus, people
should reject all about drug abuse because it has a negative effect and must be avoid in order
to save people’s life.
From the argument text about drug abuse, writer found a meaningful quotations that
said “Research shows that the most affected population is the youth and this leads into wastage
of their most important age in their live which could have been used in career development”
(paragraph 2, line 4). The writer feel sad when she read this line because young people today
do not respect their life by consuming drugs. The writer agree that most drug abuse is done by
youth people because their minds are easily influenced by bad things around them. According
to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), approximately 27 million
Americans, or 10.2% of the American population over the age of 12 reported using illicit drugs
in 2014. However, there are some people who oppose that taking drugs can improve children’s
thinking skills so that they can concentrate more easily in school. The writer strongly reject
that opinion because children who take drugs once might be caught in overdose, which is a
sense of wanting to consume drugs continuously that cause an increase in body tolerance so
that the user cannot control their use and tends to continue to increase the usage dose until
finally the body cannot receive it anymore. In fact, “taking drugs continuously can cause brain
damage by 40% or even more” (Dowel, 2016). In writers opinion, children at a young age, are
supposed to be the future successors by doing career development to improve their life and as
much as possible to not try to use drugs for any reason.
Another important thing that the writer discussed is this quotation that said “Most
people go to jail after being convicted for the possession of illegal drugs. This means that their
lives end up being wasted in jail instead of doing constructive things that will lead to the
creation of a bright future” (paragraph 5, line 5). Honestly, the writer feel shocked when she
read this line because many people decided to stay in jail instead of doing something that they
like just because drug abuse. For example, actor Jung Suk Won, who was arrested by the police
on charges of drug abuse on 8th February 2018. Jung allegedly consumed philopon, a kind of
methamphetamine while in one of the bars in Australia. The police immediately arrested him
shortly after arriving in Korea ([Link]). For the writer, it is very sad because people
cannot do what he or she want freely in jail. In the other hand, people said that for those who
abuse drugs, they should be given therapy for their mental and body healing, not imprisonment.
The author of the website [Link] found that “From BNN data, around 46.537
cases of arrest due to drug abuse and 387.134 cases of arrest for committing crimes to buy
drugs”. So, they do not only commit drug abuse but also do crimes both before and after taking
some drugs. If they don’t consume drugs, they can do whatever they want to make their lives
useful. But instead, they just stay silence in jail and waiting for their age to grow older and not
be able to do anything.
There is one argument that author said in this text about the effect when people consume
drugs continuously. “Drug abuse can make users experience serious illnesses” (Megan
Liverman, 2017). The author of [Link] found that “In fact, more deaths,
illnesses and disabilities are associated with drug abuse than any other preventable health
condition”. Drug abuse can causes the destruction of brain cells of the users. From the article
titled “Effects of Drug Abuse and Addiction” found that “Eventually, drugs can change how
the brain works and interfere with a person’s ability to make choices, leading to intense
cravings and compulsive drug use”. Drug abuse that is injected directly into a person’s body
can also cause the disease spread to other users. Disease that usually contracted is HIV/AID
that change someone life’s permanently. Drug abuse can also make the users do crimes when
they need money to buy some drugs. The writer totally agree with this statement because as
the author knows, consuming drugs in the wrong way can affect the system in our body. Our
immune cells cannot maintain our body to reject the entry of harmful substances so drug abuse
can causes many disease. In fact, drug abuse and addiction could change your brain chemistry.
According to Leah Miller (2015), “Scaling back on drug use behavior is, for many addicted
individuals, extremely difficult”. The longer you use your drug of choice, the more damage is
done and the harder it is to go back to “normal” during drug rehab. For those who said that
consuming drugs does not create disease but only give a calm and comfortable sense, they are
not proved to be true. “Perceived comfort only lasts when they consumes the drug. After they
do not consume it, their minds will be influenced by the desire for comfort feel so they continue
to add the dosage of drug use in wrong way” (Haegerich, 2016). At the end of 2013, an
estimated 103.100 men and 68.200 women in US who injected drugs were living with HIV
attributed to IDU. It was proven that consuming drugs can harm your body and your immune
system so your body could not resist diseases.
Other argument that the author said about “drug abuse is that drug abuse is not totally
harmful because that can bring a sense of calm and comfort”. Some people suggest to legalizing
certain types of drugs such as weed calming which can reduce criminal activities. Actually, the
writer do not agree with some people who think that drug abuse is not harmful. Unauthorized
drug use can damage the body’s tissue system and their mind becomes disturbed. Other people
argue that drugs are used in the medical world to cure various disease so consume drugs does
not give dangerous effect to our body. But, people nowadays are not using drugs by its proper
function. People consume illegal drugs to get a sense of comfort and lead to hallucinations.
Leah Miller (2015) found “Some individuals may assume that the drugs are no longer working,
so they increase their dosage so they can feel the effects”. In fact, “more than 75% of domestic
violence victims report that their assailant had been drinking or using illicit drugs at the time
of the incident because they are under the control of hallucinations” (Dowel, 2016).
Although many people know that drugs are dangerous, there are still some people who
said that consuming drugs can give a positive impact to the drug users. In some cases, people
may feel like drugs or alcohol gives them the energy they need to get through the day, complete
a task, or just feel normal. Often times the extreme lack of energy they feel is actually due to a
mood disorder such as depression, withdrawal, a nutritional deficiency, or a general lack of
self-care, but self-defeating habits and beliefs keep them from acknowledging and
appropriately reacting to these issues. (Unknown author, 2014,
[Link]). In contrast, Leah Miller (2015) found that “Drug abuse can
lead to anxiety and depression, and in some cases, can worsen pre-existing psychotic
symptoms.” The writer felt agree with the fact that taking drugs can make the consumers
addicted and cannot feel comfortable if she or he do not consume drugs for a long time. Feeling
less tired after consuming drugs only last a moment until the consumers feel depression because
he or she can feel exhausted excessively eventually.
Overall, the writer support the author’s argument about drug abuse that must be
reduced. For people who have not used drugs, try to keep them away from drugs and provide
information about the dangers of drug use. For people who have used drugs wrongly, try to
embrace them by giving them mental treatment. Drugs abuse must be avoided in any way
because it has a negative impact from all aspects and must be avoid to save people’s life.

References:
Leah Miller. ”Drug Abuse Symptoms, Facts, and Statistics”. 2015. Retrieved from
[Link]

Unknown author. “Effects of drug abuse and addiction”. 2018. Retrieved from
[Link]
abuse/

Unknown author. “Positive Consequences of Drug and Alcohol Use”. 2018. Retrieved from
[Link]
use/

Megan Liverman. “Drug Abuse”. 2017. Retrieved from [Link]

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental

Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. 2015. Behavioral health trends in the
United States: Results from the 2014 national survey on drug use and health. HHS Publication
No. SMA 15-4927, NSDUH Series H-50.

Dowell, D., Haegerich, T.M., & Chou, R. 2016. CDC guidelines for prescribing opioids for
chronic pain – United States, 2016. Journal of the American Medical Association.

Wilson, Richard and Cheryl Kolander. 2003. Drug Abuse Prevention A school and Community
Partnership. Massachusetss: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.