Long And Short Term Effects Of Illegal Drugs

Christopher Shands

Mr. Richard Chandler

General Psychological I

26 April 2017

Illegal Drugs

More than 570,000 people die yearly due to the use to illegal drugs/substances. A recent study showed that over 27 million Americans actively abusing some form of illegal drug(s). This does not even include the many Americans that only take part in the recreational use of the drug every-so often. Underaged kids are exposed more than ever to illegal drugs. Illegal drugs have been around and booming since the early nineteen sixties. The top five most used drugs in the United States are heroin, cocaine, marijuana, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine. The main reasons people claim to do drugs today are for recreational purposes, to fit-in, to escape reality,

Marijuana is considered a gateway drug. Over half of the drug users start with marijuana and progress to the other top four illegally used drugs in America. There are many long and short term effects that come along with abusing drugs. Some effects of drugs are moderate while others have a lasting, lifetime impact. The effects are according to the drug users pattern of abuse. If the abuser uses the drug on a regular basis, the effects will be much more life altering than compared to a person who uses it only occasionally. The effects of drugs can ruin many areas of a person's life. The short-term effects of drugs are the effects that are not permanent but after numerous occasions can have consequences. Some short-term effects include: sudden mood changes, impairment of thinking over a short period, decline in motor functions, hallucinations, slurred speech. Long-term effects have two types of consequences; physical and mental. The body gets use to being abused over a long period of time and starts to have permanent consequences. Long-term consequences include: damage to the brain, liver and kidney failure, and severe heart problems. The process where the body becomes immune to the drug intake is called tolerance. Tolerance is the first sign that a drug

If we keep feeding addicts by aiding their next hit then the percentages of deaths, due to illegal substance abuse, will double. I believe that the 1.6 million people getting arrested for drug offenses will soon turn into 1.6 million people dying/overdosing on drugs a year, if drugs are legalized. If drugs were legalized we would see the number of overdoses, crime rates, and even suicides dramatically increase. Legalization would also lead to the growing number of addictions. As of 2017, over 2.6 million people are reported to be addicted to some form of illegal drug. Drugs are illegal for a reason and because they have the ability to cause danger to