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Jesse Grubb

Professor Cassel

English 101E-14

1 December 2017

The Patch

There is an epidemic that is taking over America and it is not sparing any community or

any person in this nation, it is not a virus, a bacteria, or a parasite, it is addiction. Addiction can

be described as "compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (such as heroin,

nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms

upon withdrawal; broadly: persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be

harmful" (Merriam). The opioid problem is what many people call the worst problem that

America has ever seen. Almost every single person in America knows someone that has or is

currently struggling with addiction. The current systems in place do not support or fix the current

addiction problem in the nation, therefore a better approach to this problem would be to legalize

all drugs and not necessarily fix the problem but to make it better. This proposition will be

strongly based off of Portugal's drug laws.

Opioids are a very strong psychoactive substance many users turn to when they are in

chronic pain, which is why in hospitals it is the most common choice to help patients deal with

severe injuries. There are many opioids that are abused such as heroin, codeine, and oxycontin

are the most common drugs that are abused. The process that opioids take when they are

ingested, inhaled, or injected is "binding to opioid receptors in the brain, spinal cord, and other

areas of the body. They reduce the sending of pain messages to the brain and reduce feelings of
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pain." (WebMD). These drugs are the most addictive substances that are currently known in the

drug community.

The original solution for the drug problem in America was to have harsh prison sentences

to push citizens away from using and trafficking drugs. President Nixon "declared war on drugs

in 1971. He proclaimed, " America's public enemy number one in the United States is drug

abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out

offensive(Sharp, 1994, p.1)." (Stanford). Nixon fought drug abuse on both the supply and

demand fronts. Nixon's drug policies reflect both the temperance view and disease view of

addiction." This is where the problem originally started, from this moment on there was a multi-

million dollar war against drugs. This caused fast incarceration rates and the war on drugs is a

very expensive. Since 1971 the US government has spent an average of "One trillion" dollars on

the war on drugs which has given no benefits to the and economy of the US.

What the systems in place created is an epidemic that is racing through America leaving

no one untouched. On average "every day, more than 90 Americans die after overdosing on

opioids" (NIH). This is a problem that needs to be addressed soon and also it shows that the

current systems in place are not fixing the problem. The effect this has on families is catastrophic

just thinking that people are kicking relatives out of their homes and some are even kicking their

kids out. This is a lot like the prison system, it shuts people out from a loving arm and the proper

care that they need. This is what also makes the problem more severe because it shuts people out

which forces them into dark places where they would normally turn to drugs. In cases like this,

they would be using alone, which is a big "do not" in the drug world because if you do overdose

there would be no one there to call for help.

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This last graph indicates that the rise of opiates is nothing like anyone has seen before.

This is because in the 1990's the inventors of this drug would say this product would be non

addictive, and now people are getting addicted to it on a daily basis. The start of this was seen

when a study showed "an in-depth analysis of the promotion and marketing of OxyContin

(Purdue Pharma, Stamford, CT), a sustained-release oxycodone preparation, illustrates some of

the key issues. When Purdue Pharma introduced OxyContin in 1996, it was aggressively
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marketed and highly promoted." (PMC). There was misleading information that was given the

doctors and the prescribers, therefore, they started to heavily give it out thinking it was a miracle

drug. There were many repercussions of this small amount of information. It has shown in

today's society much more drug-related violence and crime. This has created the drug-fueled

world that is seen very prevalent in today's society fueling murders, robberies, and cartels.

There is a system that was adopted by the Portuguese government that would help

Americas society with overdoses and addiction rates. This policy will not "treat the symptoms

of the drug war" (Whitelaw). The new drug policy would legalize and regulate the sale of all

drugs. The war on drugs has been lost "both at home and abroad." The war we have created is

fueling the cartels of Mexico and causing deaths every day in the United States. The United

States have legalized medical and recreational marijuana in many states. The experiment in these

states have only shown less violence and more tax money to give back to the communities. The

United States should adapt to Portugal's decriminalization drug policies. In this policy, all drugs

were decriminalized. This process drug offenders we not penalized for what they did, rather they

were guided to the help that they needed. This resulted in "reduced risky user behaviors and

drug-related illnesses." (Whitelaw) This shows legalization can have positive effects on the

community and safety of users.

Addiction is a very complicated subject and is very hard to overcome. One of the most

popular routes of action for treatment is support groups and rehab. The current systems in place

push people away from groups like this for fear of getting in trouble. The mice park study shows

"The Rat Park Experiment aimed to prove that psychology a person's mental, emotional, and

psychosocial states was the greatest cause of addiction, not the drug itself. Prior to Alexander's

experiment, addiction studies using lab rats did not alter the rat's environment. Scientists placed
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rats in tiny, isolated cages and starved them for hours on end. The "Skinner Boxes" the rats lived

in 24/7 allowed no room for movement and no interaction with other rats." (Summit). In the first

study where there would only be one rat there would be water given and also another water laced

with cocaine. In the first study of the alone rat showed that the rat went straight to the water that

was laced and eventually killed itself because of it. In the second study where a rat park was

created with many rat they were given toys, plenty of space, and they had lots on sex. They were

also given the same two water options but in this study the rats barely touched the water that was

laced with cocaine. This shows it was more of the community that affected the rats rather than

the drug itself. It is obvious that the drug does have a factor but the majority of it is what the rats

would surround themselves with. This shows why a graceful community would help addicts in

their recovery process and this is why the system in Portugal hd very successful rates with

recovery. They also have the lowest overdoses rates in all of Europe.

There would be many long-term benefits to putting this new system into place. The drugs

that would be being used would be a cleaner substance that addicts would be using and it would

also help the overdose rates because when addicts use a cleaner drug it will not be laced with

anything. One of the biggest problems seen with the new opioid epidemic is the products that are

on the streets are laced with the new drug called fentanyl. This drug can cause someone to

overdose very easily and it is potent and cheap which makes it a very popular product to lace

other drugs with. The typical drugs that are laced with fentanyl are cocaine, heroin, and most

white powders.

There is an epidemic in the United States and there are many ways we can go about

fixing it. The best possible way the US could go about fixing the problem is adapting to Portugal

drug policy. The money from the taxation of the drugs would go to schools and give students
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further education about drug use and habits. The overdose rates would also drop because the

quality and the purity of the drugs would go up so addicts and users would also know what they

are getting instead of taking a gamble every single time they buy their product of choice. In the

long run, it would also take a good amount of crime off of the streets by drying up the money

from cartels and gangs that terrorize the United States. Overall the country would have a greater

quality of life and if drugs were regulated and controlled crime would drop substantially.

America would be a cleaner and healthier place if the US implemented the Portugal drug policy.

This policy is meant to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all american citizens and to create a

greater environment for all.

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Work Cited

Addiction. Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/addiction.

Against Drug Prohibition. American Civil Liberties Union, 2017, www.aclu.org/other/against-

drug-prohibition.

d14rmgtrwzf5a.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/fig1test51414.jpg.

Opioid (Narcotic) Pain Medications. WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/pain-

management/guide/narcotic-pain-medications#1.

What You Need to Know About The Rat Park Addiction Study. Summit Behavioral Health, 8

Sept. 2016, www.summitbehavioralhealth.com/blog/overview-rat-park-addiction-study/.

Wisotsky, Steven. Beyond the War on Drugs. The United States War on Drugs,

web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/paradox/htele.html.

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/figures/m6450a3f2.gif.

Zee, Art Van. The Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public

Health Tragedy. American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health

Association, Feb. 2009, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2622774/.