Substance Abuse :: Drug Addiction Essays

substance AbuseSubstance abuse is just one of the paradoxs facing the fall in States today. Even though it seems like a big problem, it actually first started in the 1800s when the first drugs were smuggled. This moreover began the never ending path of immoral drugs flowing through the U.S. In the 1950s, a therapeutic drug was introduced called Phencyclidine (PCP), later nicknamed angle dust. Doctors soon found that the drug caused hallucinogenic side effects. It was thus pulled. The drug soon reappeared in the sixties and seventies. They were made by amateur chemists for an illegal drug trade. People began to smoke, inhale it, or inject it. Effects include confusion, lack of coordination, slurred speech, and blurred vision. Physical effects include increased heart rate and blood pressure, sweating, drooling, fever, and muscle rigidity. An overdose can result in a coma, brain hemorrhage, and heart failure. It has been steadily declining in the U.S.Another type of drug is crack, which is a form of smokeable cocaine. This has become a serious health problem. The problem is that its low cost makes it more accessible to people. I is also more damaging both physically and psychologically than cocaine.As the result, people were act to get as many drugs as they could. Many soon progressed to smuggling the drugs in. The number of drugs to be smuggled into the U.S has been increasing. The first known drug smugglers were the Chinese in 1870. They began smuggling opium in merchant ship cargo and baggage. By the 1970s drug smuggling became more of a problem for the coast guards and seizures were made temporary hookup engaged in other operations. The coast guards, between 1997 to the present, had seized 540,476 pounds of cocaine, 270,060 pound of marijuana. The major high intensity drug trafficking areas are Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, New York City, and the US/Mexico border. Not only did people smuggle drugs over sea, but they would smuggle it over borders. Many t hought of outrageous ways to hide the drugs. Women would sew them in their bras drugs would be stashed low hats, in shoes, in socks, etc. Anywhere you could possibly think, people thought of it. They were addicted.Cocaine, Heroin, Methamphetamine, and marijuana all cross into the U.C hidden among eighty-four million cars, two coke and thirty two million people, and 2.8 million trucks estimated cross the 38 ports of entry spanning 200 miles.