Addiction is everywhere, from celebrity tabloids, to television, and possibly to a family member or close friend. There is alcoholism, drug abuse, and gambling addiction; the effects of such are devastating. For example, the following excerpt is from the harrowing Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir by James Salant: “I gave Doug the spoon and I tried to pull thirty units of water into the syringe. Doug hit me on the side of my head and said, ‘Your shaking too much, let me do that.’ I pulled away from the faucet and let the syringe fall into the sink. Then I rolled up the shirtsleeve on my right arm. I looked at my arm. I had tracks, needle marks, up and down my arm. My shirtsleeve had bloodstains on it from the day before. I held out my arm and demanded, ‘I get the first one and I want coke not watered down coke!’ Doug pulled my arm close to him and inserted the needle in my arm. As I was shaking, he told me ‘Make this last for a while.’ I felt the dope hit me and ran out of the restroom. I was shaking and could not get my breath...All my senses were focused on the feeling I was getting from the shot of cocaine…” [4] Salant presents a saddening stereotypical addiction story: the drug user. The excerpt from his book shows the depths to which the victims of addiction will stoop to get their “fix”, or the substance or device that the addicted desire. This excerpt can be considered “stereotypical” due to several reasons. The illegal and legal drug addiction is, unfortunately, the most popular and most well known of addictions because of its presence within modern day pop culture (movies, tabloids, etc), and due to its “popularity” within our culture, the use and abuse of drugs is one of the only kinds of addiction because no... ... middle of paper ... ...m?PageID=17&SubPage=63>. [2] Prentiss, Chris. The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure: A Holistic Approach to Total Recovery. New York, NY: Powerpress, 2005. Print. [3] Salant, James. Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir. New York, NY: Gallery, 2008. Print. [4] Science of Addiciton: Treatment and Recovery. National Institute of Drug Abuse. Web. . [5] Williams, Ian. "Chinese gamer dies after 15-day session." London Times [London] 1 Mar. 2007. Print. [6] How Addiction Affects You and Your Family. Family Intervention Center of Virginia. Web. . [7] 1 (2008): 1-3. Prevalence and Correlates of Excessive Internet Use among Youth in Singapore and China. Annals, Jan. 2008. Web. Feb. 2010. http://www.annals.edu.sg/PDF/37VolNo1Jan2008/V37N1p9.pdf [8]
Bob Probert was a 45 year old man with 4 kids and a wife when he passed away from CTE. He drank, did drugs, and was a womanizer but he didn’t want his kids to find out. He knew they eventually would though and he said that when they did find out, he wanted it to be “straight from the source” (1.). He used to snort cocaine. Once when he was caught while smuggling drugs over the Detroit-Windsor border, he dumped it in the toilet. The first time he tried cocaine was in 1983. It was post-game and before long he was buying an ounce a week which was $800 so it was about $42,000 a year. His work permit was revoked by the US government. He met his wife in Relax Plaza in Windsor and even after he was caught on the border she still stayed with him. To pass drug tests, he would microwave his urine so it would come up clean.
Addiction is one of the hardest problems to overcome, yet people often find some reward in abusing drugs. We all ask the question to what makes a person an addict, or why is it so hard for drug addicts to kick a drug problem. However, can we say that getting a hold of drugs is much easier in today’s society, or is it made available to easy. In this day and age, heroine seems to be a major epidemic; furthermore, opiates have been around for centuries. Therefore, people have been battling addiction for as long as opiates have been around. In Drugstore Cowboy, the film takes a look in to the life of four people who rob drugstores in order to support their habit; however, this lifestyle
Addiction is one of the hardest difficulties to overcome, yet people often find themselves caught in the world wind of addiction. We all ask the question to what makes a person an addict, or why is it so hard for drug addicts to overcome this problem. However, can we say that getting a hold of drugs is much easier in today’s society, or is it made available to easily. In this day and age, heroine seems to be a major epidemic; furthermore, opiates have been around for centuries. Therefore, people have been battling addiction for as long as opiates have been around. In Drugstore Cowboy, the film takes a look into the life of four people who rob drugstores in order to support
Schrof, Joannie M. "Pumped Up." U.S. News and World Report 1 June 1992: 54+. SIRS "Drugs", vol. 5, article 52.
Falcone, Timothy J. "Alcoholism and Drug Addiction FAQ's Saint Jude Retreat House. 19 April 2004. Online. Internet. 19 April 2004. Available: http://www.soberforever.net/FAQ1.cfm.
EASLEY, J. (2011, June 19). The day the drug war really started. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/: http://www.salon.com/2011/06/19/len_bias_cocaine_tragedy_still_affecting_us_drug_law/
Eugene Richards has had a long and celebrated career of documenting the perils of humanity. He is a photographer, writer, teacher, and storyteller for the common people. He has nine books to his name, which can attest to these titles. In his first monograph, Few Comforts of Surprises, he tackled the pains of poverty in the Arkansas Delta. He also miraculously found his way into an Emergency Room to make his award winning The Knife and Gun Club. In his latest book titled Cocaine True Cocaine Blue (1994), Richards goes into three of the most drug plagued, and crime ridden areas of America: East New York; North Philadelphia; and the Red Hook Housing Project in Brooklyn, New York.
According to President Barak Obama there are over 20 million Americans who struggle with substance abuse. (OBAMA, B. 2014). Although addiction is rampant in the United States there are intervention programs available for those who are seeking out recovery. Researchers explain that addiction is a
Day after day we read in the newspapers and about the political turmoil and the candidates and email and the struggle of American politics. I strive to read more than just those articles, since I want to learn about the real struggles of the American people. I want to learn about the bigger problems behind the scenes in the US and what can be done to help. This was the reasoning for the choice of my article for this week’s critique on addiction and the story of Amanda with a heat wrenching addition to Heroin and her journey through it all.
David Sheff’s memoir, Beautiful Boy, revolves around addiction, the people affected by addiction, and the results of addiction. When we think of the word addiction, we usually associate it with drugs or alcohol. By definition, addiction is an unusually great interest in something or a need to do or have something (“Addiction”). All throughout the memoir, we are forced to decide if David Sheff is a worried father who is fearful that his son, Nic Sheff’s, addiction will kill him or if he is addicted to his son’s addiction. Although many parents would be worried that their son is an addict, David Sheff goes above and beyond to become involved in his son’s life and relationship with methamphetamine, making him an addict to his son’s addiction.
Alcoholism and drug addiction have obvious and well documented effects on the substance abusers. Prolonged abuse of drugs and/or alcohol will damage a person’s physical health, impair his or her mental functioning and damage the spirit. But how will these adverse effects impact the addict’s immediate family, and how will the damage manifest itself?
First up were the abusers of the alkaloid cocaine, buried in mounds of it, some with their heads sticking out others only their feet. All lashed furiously with bloodshot eyes and hair matted to their sweaty faces, all caught in eternal withdrawal. Among them I spotted Scarface himself, Tony Montana.
China has become the first country to declare internet addiction a clinical disorder and labeled it “the number one public health threat” to its teenage population. Research showed addicts spend more than six hours a day online not for work or studying, but to play games. Some kids are so hooked they will not take time to go to the bathroom, so they wear a diaper
Illegal drug use is one of the most common problems that affect Americans every day. Joyce B. Shannon (2010) found that, “More than 35 million individuals used illicit drugs or abused prescription drugs in 2007” (p. 11). The impact can be seen in communities of all types, and people with low and high income levels. Drug use is at the root of many problems with our society. Joyce B. Shannon (2010) referenced a survey from 2004 that states, “32% of state prisoners and 26% of federal prisoners” admitted that they were currently serving jail time for offences committed while they were, “under the influence of drugs” (p. 102). The reasoning behind this issue will be explained from a psychological, sociological, and an anthropological perspective including the benefit of an interdisciplinary perspective to grasp the cause of drug use and it’s affect on society.
As a person gets older, their likely-hood to become and internet addict decreases. For example, China and South Korea are among the highest rates of internet addiction. In China and South Korea 30% of their citizens are addicted. However, in America o...