Drug Addiction

“Drug abuse and addiction are major burdens to society; however, staggering as these numbers are, they provide a limited perspective of the devastating consequences of this disease,”

Numerous incidents have been reported in television and social Medias about drug users and dealers who are caught in the acts, especially in those squatters area or what they call “drug dens”. Not only those person who live in this populated area are being reported to the authorities but believe it or not powerful persons like government officials also indulge their selves in using prohibited drugs. Most of the drug users in the Philippines are young people. Illegal drugs that are present include marijuana, LSD, opiates, and barbiturates. While there are no accurate statistics available, it is estimated that as many as 60,000 young people in the Philippines are dealing with drug addiction. So what is the reason why this young people are attracted to use this illegal drugs? Maybe you will agree with this points I’ve listed. I’ll focus my discussion on young people who use prohibited drugs.

First, Enjoyment. Despite all the concerns about illegal drug use and the attendant lifestyle by young people, it is probably still the case that the lives of most young people are centred on school, home and employment and that most drug use is restricted to the use of tobacco and alcohol. They may adopt the behaviour, fashion and dialect of a particular subculture including the occasional or experimental use of illegal drugs without necessarily adopting the lifestyle. Even so, the evidence of drug use within youth culture suggests that the experience of substances is often pleasurable rather than negative and damaging. So possibly the main reason why young people take drugs is that they enjoy them. Second, Environment. Many young people live in communities which suffer from poverty, with high unemployment, low quality housing and where the surrounding infra-structure of local services is fractured...