11th form Drug addiction

There are many reasons for trying drugs or starting to use them regularly. People take drugs just for the pleasure they believe they can bring. Often it's because someone tried to convince them that drugs would make them feel good or that they'd have a better time if they took them.

Some teens believe drugs will help them think better, be more popular, stay more active, or become better athletes. Others are simply curious and figure one try won't hurt. Others want to fit in and take drugs due to peer pressure. A few use drugs to gain attention from their parents.

Many teens use drugs because they're depressed or think drugs will help them escape their problems. The truth is, drugs don't solve problems — they simply hide feelings and problems. When a drug wears off, the feelings and problems remain, or become worse. Drugs can ruin every aspect of a person's life. They destroy individual character and responsibility, drain humans of their humanity and rob children of their childhoods, and drug use numbs our capacity for loyalty and love.

We must take many concrete steps to protect our children and their future. What should we do?

The first step is to increase spending on addiction and education programs. We must help the people who are using drugs, and we need to make sure our children know that drugs kill. We should bring prevention to our schools by teaching our children that drugs are wrong, illegal, and dangerous. Parents must be more educated and involved. In movies and music drug dealers must be condemned as villains and drug users as losers. 

 The next step is to punish those who try to sell drugs. Strict sentences without parole should be mandatory for drug dealers. Particularly, anyone caught selling drugs to a child should serve a long, mandatory jail term.

Thirdly, it’s necessary to get hard-core drug users off  the street, to make sure they can’t commit crimes, and to get them into treatment. Also, governments must put more police on the streets, as that is a major cause of the decline in the crime rate.