Expository Essay Example

There is a saying “too much of everything is dangerous”; is it also true to say that “Just a little bit of everything is good”. Around the world, campaigns of all sorts have portrayed drug abuse as something bordering on mental illness, drug users are hardly ever regarded highly and most of the times are seen as truants and societal rejects. But, is it always the case? Is drug abuse inherently wrong and should be frowned upon. Drug abuse dates back to time immemorial, humans have always consumed drugs for leisure and for business. If drug abuse has been such an integral part of human history along, why haven’t we embraced it, nurtured it and handled its downsides creatively. For sure, drug abuse has had its fair share of destructive effects on human kind, but so has been so many things we continue to cling to that have had deadlier effects on human kind. In this paper, I discuss why drug abuse in moderation is probably as good as an apple a day.

The use of some drugs especially marijuana in United States starts early, as early as from age 12, usually as a result of curiosity and peer influence. Unnervingly for some, many youngsters believe, smoking pot, also known as marijuana is not a big deal – it is known to reduce stress and create a sense of enjoyment. It should not be lost on many of us who were raised in urban areas that marijuana is widely used even with some highly regarded members of the community. To give blanket judgment on drug abuse is wrong and hypocritical. According to Cohen (2006), some adults believe that some drugs like marijuana are relatively safe. In the United States, sixteen of the fifty states have legalized marijuana for medical use, in spite of the fact that the US congress places marijuana in schedule one of controlled substances act, after concluding that it had no medical use. This basically implies that most of the illegalized substances are probably so as a result of emotional conservative politics with very minimum basis in fact.

Volumes of accredited and industry reviewed studies show that medical marijuana use is more effective in comparison with mainstream painkillers. This can only mean that banning marijuana for medical use is tantamount to denying suffering patients an existing safe reprieve from pain. It also stinks of conspiracy by major pharmaceuticals to keep a safe, natural alternative painkiller from the shelves, and it is immoral to the core. These facts apply to a wide range of drugs considered illegal like tobacco, which in some instances is considered to reduce chances of heart attack.

It is true that many of us have not only experimented with, have happily consumed various intoxicants and we know, it is not always the solution to our emotional baggage. However, with indulges that for some have been for years now, we have suffered no harm; and we are not any less endowed to achieve and better our world. If anything, we found the additional push to keep us trying and to keep us sane during the moments when we thought we could not take it anymore. The one thing that is unfair is to always use the image of a few looser potheads to portray the image millions of healthy, successful happy consumers. According to Sullum, he claims that the drug users and peddlers who get dragged by police officers, who jiggle off in park benches or door entrance, who break into cars or plead and beg along the street. He further adds that the drug users and peddlers are not seen to hold down any kind of job, pay mortgage or even their rent or support their families. In the lack of proof to the contrary, individuals unsurprisingly imagine that most illegal drug peddlers and users often resemble the ones they are aware of, who are mainly antisocial and appropriate to be the least careful. This can be compared to assuming that the wino passed out in a trench is a potential drinker.

So be honest to yourself, how many drug users do you know? Chances are that, you interact with tens of them daily. But, you never detect the difference as they are as productive members of society as the next guy. What about the hard drugs, the most frowned upon, the ones that enjoy the same status as cancer and sometimes tend to be considered national menaces? Heroin, cocaine! Well, it is also in the emotion and historical prejudices. A survey on drug abuse shows that over 4 million citizens of America have used drugs such as cocaine and heroin in their existence. Out of the four million Americans, close to 20% had used the drug in the past year, and close to 5% used it in the past month. Such figures imply that a greater number of people using heroin either become addicted or not. If they become addicts, they manage to give up the drugs. Another survey of seniors from high school was found that 2% of the seniors had used heroin and cocaine in the previous year, whereas 0.3% had used the drug on more than 25 days in the earlier month. When we assume that the use of the drug on a daily basis is a sensible alternative for addiction of opiate, one in 15 of the senior students who had used the drug in the past year might have qualified as potential addicts. These statistics indicate that the alleged exceptionally hazardous drugs are only untruth of our thoughts.

In conclusion, the notion that drug abuse is immoral, dangerous and unbecoming of a patriotic citizen is total misinformation. Drug abuse in almost all cases, if conducted in moderation, like almost all activities is good. In any case, consumption of some drugs is actually good for our health, productivity and happiness.

References

Younts, K. (2005). Last Resorts and Fundamental Rights: The substantive process implications of prohibitions on medical marijuana. Harvard Law Review, 118(6), 1985-2006.

Cohen, P. J. (2006). Medical Marijuana, Compassionate use, and Public policy: expert opinion or Vox Populi? Hastings Center Report, 36(3), 19-22.

Psychoactive drugs of misuse: rationalizing the irrational. Wayne Hall – The Lancet – 24 March 2007 (Vol. 369, Issue 9566, Page 972)

January 30, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.examiner.com/article/is-getting-high-on-drugs- always-a-bad-thing