Drugs, A Social Curse – OpEd
By Clemente Ferrer
Laura and Javier have both learned one of the most stabbing lessons of their lives. At the age of 18, Laura became addicted to amphetamines, such as “speed”. Soon enough, she fell into the temptation of cocaine. Now 24, she is undergoing a School And Family Prevention Program launched by the “Proyecto Hombre” Association. Instead, Javier began his addiction by smoking joints, and later, like Laura, turned to cocaine. These are only two real life stories of the 1,079 teenagers that desperately turn to the Association in search of a plan to combat drug addiction, according to the 11th Minor, Drugs and Society Conference.
Drugs are a social burden. Every day, more and more minors (63.5%) desperately search for a detoxification plan. According to the National Prescription Drug Abuse Action Plan by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, overdoses on prescription drugs now exceed the number of overdoses during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s. One of the aims of the National Plan is to decrease the use of illegal prescription drugs like cocaine among teenagers.
Moreover, A study conducted by the National Office of Drug Control in Washington D.C. affirms that alkaloids can produce damages such as anxiety, melancholy, psychotic outbreaks, as well as induce suicide tendencies.
Is this really what some look for, i.e. a constant search for the so called “death culture”? Action is urgently needed in order to combat drugs that deteriorate social health.
Drugs are one of the deadliest plagues that intoxicate society. Different drug-narcotic use indexes are showing an exponential increase. And as a result, these increases have national governments worried, for it is a grave social health problem. “Drugification” has become a natural social phenomenon among the youth worldwide. There is the urgent need to combat once and for all this social curse that leads to self destruction and death.
(Translated by Gianna A. Sanchez-Moretti)
Author and journalist Clemente Ferrer has led a distinguished career in Spain in the fields of publicity and press relations. He is currently President of the European Institute of Marketing. [email protected]
