Marco Brito

Ms. Eisner
11-22-2016
English
Have you ever heard of Whitney Houston, Cory Monteith, or Philip Seymour Hoffman?
All three of these people overdosed on drugs. For every famous person that dies, tens of
thousands of teenagers who were only known by their schoolmates, friends, and families die as
well. These deaths occur because many teens forget about the side effects that drugs have on
you. Side effects from taking a single drug might be overdosing, or having a permanent mental
break down. Not only can drugs affect your health but also you are even capable of going to
prison for having possession of drugs. Drugs can harm you psychologically and physically by
bringing out dormant mental disorders, causing you to harm yourself or others, and by increasing
your chances to becoming an addict.
Over twenty million Americans over the age of 12 have an addiction (excluding tobacco).
What else can you say about addiction? How do they often start? Addiction involves craving for
something intensely, loss of control over its use, and continuing involvement with it despite the
consequences. An addiction can start for a variety of reasons. A very common factor is that of
peer pressure; young people do not like to be different from their friends and want to be part of
the group. Many young people like to try new things and sometimes-risky activities and
smoking, alcohol, and drugs are part of that. It is often done out of a sense of curiosity but it is
easy to become addicted to drugs. Most drugs affect the brain's "reward circuit" by flooding it
with the chemical messenger dopamine. Dopamine controls the bodys ability to feel pleasure
and motivates a person to repeat behaviors needed to succeedThis overstimulation of reward
circuit causes the intensely pleasurable high that can lead people to take a drug again and
again (Wordsworth 263 as cited in National Institute on Drug Abuse). The reason that
dopamine-producing drugs are so addictive is that they have the ability to constantly fill a need

Marco Brito
Ms. Eisner
11-22-2016
English
for more dopamine. So a person may take a hit of cocaine, snort it, it increases dopamine, takes
a second, it increases dopamine, third, fourth, fifth, sixth. So there's never that decrease that
ultimately leads to the satiety," (Wordsworth 563 as cited in National Institute on Drug Abuse).
In addition, the use of drugs will leave you with a craving for it. Craving is an effect of drug
addiction where the addict is obsessed with obtaining and using the drug, to the exclusion of all
else.
The use of drugs will not only cause you to become an addict, but also they can harm you
psychologically and physically. One of the psychological effects of taking or abusing drugs is
the belief that the person cannot function or handle life without use of the drug; this will decrease
in pleasure in everyday life, can cause depression, and will lead you to commit suicide.
According to an article, People who tend to abuse or take drugs are more likely to die or to
commit suicide than those who dont use drugs (Elements Behavioral health). In addition, the
use of drugs can leave you with a psychological tolerance to the drugs effects which can create a
desire to do increasing amounts of the drug, and that can physically harm you by causing you to
have seizures. Most seizure end on their own, yet during some seizures, people can injure
themselves. Some common physical injuries are bruises, cuts, burns, falls, and brain damage.
Drug usage can also physically harm you by giving you respiratory problems such as lung
cancer, emphysema and breathing problems. Many drugs can cause liver damage, make your
body unable to fight off infection, make your heart beat too fast, cause your body temperature to
get so high you could damage your brain, cause a stroke, and even death. There is just no need to
risk the sometimes-permanent side effects that come from a few minutes of getting high.

Marco Brito
Ms. Eisner
11-22-2016
English
Taking drugs just to get a few minutes to get high are not worth harming yourself and
harming others. When abusing drugs you do not stop to reflect on your actions, choices or the
consequences of them, this can cause problems in your personal life that may not be reparable.
You can cause problems between your families by giving your kids emotional stress or by doing
things that can harm them. Drug abuse may cause you to become violent, emotionally abuse
your children or even sexually abuse them, causing damage that will stay with them for the rest
of their lives (Nichols). Many children of drug addicts will not only suffer from long-term
emotional stress, but will also have psychological damage that will cause them to have serious
effects on their education and mental health. Government studies show that an estimate of 5080% of child abuse and neglect incidents are a result of the parent (or parents) being involved
with drugs or alcohol (Nichols).
Children will not be the only ones suffering from stability on their mental health. Your
spouse or partner suffers too; many intimate relationships that suffer through drug addiction can
lead to cheating or looking for other forms of satisfaction outside the relationship by the addict.
Is a drug worth destroying your relationship with others or harming your kids? Is a few
minutes of getting high worth you becoming an addict for the rest of your life? On the other
hand, is the feeling worth it for you to harm yourself psychologically and physically? Before
taking drugs, you should always take into consideration that there is always a consequence to
something and that consequence might last you a lifetime. Make sure you think about the people
around you and the consequence that your actions can bring to you.

Marco Brito
Ms. Eisner
11-22-2016
English

Work cited
Drug-Facts Understanding Drug Use and Adiction. National Institute On Drug Abuse, Drug
Facts, August. 2016, https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/understanding-drug-use-addiction
Nichols, Khristin. The Impact of Drug Addiction On the Family. Addiction Solution of South
Florida, Educational, 27 December. 2016, https://www.solutionsrehab.com/blog/educational/impact-drugaddiction-family/
Substance Abuse and Suicide. Elements Behavioral Health, 02 March. 2013, Mental Health,
https://www.elementsbehavioralhealth.com/mental-health/substance-abuse-and-suicide/

Marco Brito
Ms. Eisner
11-22-2016
English