Ocana 1

Joe Ocana
Jillian Bennion
English 2010
November 23, 2015
Necessity to Increase Funding to Lower Substance Abuse
Substances that cause physiological effects body can be used for medicinal purposes but
can become recreational; this makes most substances extremely dangerous or fatal without
proper regulations. Over the counter pain medications, prescribed pain medications, illegal
substances, herbs, electronic cigarettes, and even alcohol are all different types of substances.
The purpose for these types of substances may be different but the common reason most people
take or use them is to make the individual feel good. Feeling good comes from removing pain
from the body and giving the person the feeling of euphoria. Most people enjoy feeling bliss and
therefore addiction is inevitable if the person is routinely using the substance. Those that enjoy
pain, usually do not become addicted.
Over the counter pain medications are very accessible to almost everyone. These easy
to buy substances can be considered as not dangerous because of its frequency that people use
and buy them at (webmd.com). One of the main popular ingredient in over the counter pain
medications is acetaminophen. Acetaminophen is used to alleviate body aches and reduce
fevers. But as in any substance, if it is over used it may damage your liver and/or kill you.
Recently, in 2015 alarming findings were found; findings suggest that acetaminophen has a
general blunting effect on individuals evaluative and emotional processing, irrespective of
negative or positive valence (sagepub.com). In other words, acetaminophen has the ability to
dull emotions from negative or positive stimulations. Having the ability to not only dull physical

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pain but now dulling emotional pain can also be addictive. This is ability to control your pain
with medication is too dangerous and needs to be regulated. Unfortunately people are not too
worried about over the counter pain medications because they are not prescribed and therefore
they think it is not too dangerous (webmd.com).
Prescription medications also help the individual from feeling too much pain. After
surgeries a lot of doctors prescribe opioids such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, and morphine.
Morphine sounds too audacious for the typical civilian to be taking because we typically
associate morphine as the pain medication of the battlefield in a war. Although doctors
prescribe opioids for good reason, some people take advantage of these and negative
consequences occur from prescription drug abuse. For example, a mother named Jennifer Lynn
Goresbeck, from Spanish Fork, Utah, was driving home with her infant daughter when she rolled
her vehicle from a bridge and died. Fortunately, the infant was found alive. This sad accident
happened in March of 2015 and the toxicology report finally came out on November 18, 2015.
The importance of that report describes that this mother was heavily intoxicated and should have
not been operating any vehicle (fox13now.com). The report states the medical examiner found
a mixture of intoxicating substances in 25-year-old Jennifer Lynn Goresbecks system, including
Clonazepam, THC, morphine, codeine and hydromorphone (fox13now.com). While some of
those substances can be found in prescription drugs, the report also indicated the presence of 6monoacetylmorphine-freea finding which is indicative of heroin use (fox13now.com). The
article continues to state that the medical examiners opinion was that Groesbeck died as a
result of blunt force injury of the head. Other significant conditions include mixed drug
intoxication (fox13now.com). This event should have never happened if we had more
regulations in place. This is extremely horrible in so many ways but the bottom line is that this

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mother killed herself and almost her child due to the fact that she was intoxicated with so many
prescribed opioids and illegal ones too.
Everybody thinks they know something about illegal drugs. Hollywood loves to
capitalize on movies of illegal drugs; some of these movies include Scareface (1983), to now
television shows such as Breaking Bad (2008-2013), and the most current Netflix Original
Series: Narcos (2015-present). It is sad to see how glamourous shows make illegal drugs seem
but many are not aware of the terrible reality. Illegal drugs fuels human trafficking, prostitution,
sex slaves, disease, and even terrorism. Even Pope Francis knows enough of the harsh reality
from the illegal drug business that he recently said: Drug trafficking is by its very nature
accompanied by trafficking in persons, money laundering, the arms trade, child exploitation and
other forms of corruption (Pope Francis). He is concerned enough that he addressed the drug
problem at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 25, 2015
(latintimes.com). So how exactly does illegal drug fuel all these issues? Well lets start with
human trafficking.
A Central American immigrant trying to get into the United States will need to go
through Mexico besides the other slew of countries he or she needs to go through first to get to
Mexico. If he or she does not get caught by any customs border patrol officials, the possibilities
of a drug cartel to pick them up is almost guaranteed. Once the drug cartel picks up the
immigrant, they become the modern definition of slavery. They are forced to work the fields and
if they are females, they become the cartels prostitutes. Some of the cartels will use the
immigrants as their smugglers too. But overall, the immigrants are now stuck into the drug
cartels organization (Huffingtonpost.com). Disease becomes prevalent because of rape, and

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because these rape victims eventually become prostitutes. But unfortunately, the nightmare does
not stop there for the immigrant. Even if some of the immigrants make it into the United States,
they are still in the reach of the drug cartels in the United States. Authorities from the Utah
Attorney Generals office believe that the victims are now forced into working to pay off debts
after being brought into the United States (fox13now.com). The worst part of the whole illegal
drug cycle, is that even children are not safe from the cartels. Children not only become sex
slaves but they are forced into becoming children soldiers for the cartels (Huffingtonpost.com).
One may think that the national drug problem is just that, national and not local. But
unfortunately, Utah has been recognized by the cartels as an excellent location for their hub. It
may be a blessing for some that Utah only has two major freeways, I-15 and I-80. But it is a
nightmare for local law enforcement because the cartels have capitalized on that opportunity.
Sergeant Lex Bell from the Unified Police Department Metro Gang Unit said, Were a hub,
where I-15 comes right through, I-80 comes right through Utah. From here, you can branch out
all over the Midwest, to Colorado, up to Montana, Idaho, Wyoming (KSL.com). So not only
are the cartels trafficking people into Utah, they are now exploiting our transportation system for
their own benefits. Why is the illegal drug trade so prominent in Utah? Money of course, $10
for a heroin balloon compared to as much as $85 for an oxycontin pill Bell said (KSL.com).
So what is heroin and where does it come from? Heroin is a cheap copy of morphine but
they both are from the Papaver Somniferum or in common terms, the opium poppy plant
(druglibrary.org). This plant is actually the main economy for some countries and even helps
fuel terrorism. Opium is an example of a drug that financing terrorism (unodc.org). A prime
example is the Taliban in Afghanistan. They sale opium to drug cartels in Mexico, then the
cartels create heroin and illegally import it into the United States. The proceeds not only go to

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the drug cartels but it also goes back to the Taliban. The Taliban use the income from the opium
to wage war against the United States and any other entity that opposes them. Mr. Costa from
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says: However, opium finances the Taliban war
economy and is a major source of revenue for criminal groups and terrorists (unodc.org).
Maybe if the United States joined these countries and legalized the opium poppy plant, we could
curb the upslope into a controlled downslope. Colorado currently legalized marijuana, why not
for opium?
Unfortunately, the logic of legalizing drug is very counterproductive as Colorado has
proven. Marijuana use has increased since 2007 (drugabuse.gov). It is also addictive as any
other drugs, research suggests that about 1 in 11 users becomes addicted to marijuana
(drugabuse.gov). The most alarming research is a study showed that people who started
smoking marijuana heavily in their teens and had an ongoing cannabis use disorder lost an
average of eight IQ points between ages 13 and 38 (drugabuse.gov). According to all the
research, it is tentatively obvious, that legalizing any drug is the worst thing we ever do to our
future. Can we really reverse this epidemic growth of drug use? Cigarette smoking has actually
been on the decrease so we might have a slim hope of reversing drug use.

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Although the actual cigarette smoking maybe on a downward trend, it is deceptive because
electronic cigarettes have replaced cigarette smoking.
Electronic cigarettes are vaporizers that does not create smoke as a typical cigarette.
Although it may sound safe because of the lack of smoke, it is actually more dangerous. Normal
cigarettes have filters, although they are not very effective, they do attempt to filter some of the
many dangerous chemicals created by smoking. Electronic cigarettes do not have a filter and the
person inhaling gets a pure fix of nicotine. This accelerates the users addictiveness more
quickly than the normal cigarette. It is also more harmful because now, the user is inhaling far
more nicotine in less use than in a normal cigarette. Inhaling straight nicotine is actually more
severely toxic and can kill faster than your normal cigarette. Vendors have also been disguising
the nicotine into different flavors (drugabuse.gov).
These flavors are mostly candy flavors which attracts children more than adults. This is
actually making the cigarette epidemic much more difficult to eradicate in the future. Unlike
regular cigarettes sold in brick-and-mortar stores, e-cigarettes are also available in vending
machines. Their easy availability (online or via mall kiosks), in addition to their wide array of

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cartridge flavors (such as coffee, mint, candy, and fruit flavors), may make them particularly
appealing to this age group (drugabuse.gov). The choices for controlling substances are
becoming quite difficult. Maybe we should just outlaw every substance known to man, like the
attempted prohibition of alcohol.
Prohibition was a complete disaster. At 12:01 A.M. on January 17, 1920, the amendment
went into effect and Prohibitionists rejoiced that at long last, America had become officially, and
(they hoped) irrevocably, dry (pbs.org). That was the official date when alcohol was outlawed
in the United States. And now at present time, we can still purchase alcohol. All that effort to
outlaw alcohol was only reversed later when states decided to take the sale of alcohol into their
own control. A few states continued statewide prohibition, but by 1966 all states had repealed
these provisions (encyclopedia.com). Controlling substances is more difficult and expensive
than most people realize.
The most effective way to control substances is through education. Education is key to
prevent future drug use. Education needs to start from the earliest ages; once a child understands
enough to know right from wrong, they must be taught that drugs are horrible. Gradually, high
schools, colleges, and universities need to have education of drugs as part of their required
curriculum. Education can be our first line of defense, but in the meantime, doctors need to be
held more accountable for prescribing any medication, especially any type of pain medications.
Doctors need to have their electronic systems updated, so that patients cannot go to
multiple doctors to get multiple prescriptions of the same drugs. This network of prescriptions
needs to be available to all doctor offices and anybody that can prescribe medication. At a
minimum, doctor offices should have a phone number available to see if their patient isnt trying
to cheat the system. This telephone system can be similar to when a person is trying to purchase

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a gun, the gun dealer can have the buyers background investigated by a simple phone call. Not
only doctors and their offices need to play their part, but also pharmacies need to be held
accountable. Pharmacies should also have a similar electronic system like the gun background
investigations have.
Pharmacies need to have a requirement of recording prescriptions electronically. This
record should also be monitored in real-time by a federal agency to review legitimacy.
Pharmacist need to be treated as drug lords if they are found to be in contempt of their legal
responsibilities. The mom-and-pop pharmacies would need to call into the new investigation
hotline to verify legitimacy of the prescription and to record that prescription digitally at a
minimum. All these control measures will help eliminate loop holes that are currently being
used. To achieve all these new control and security measures, funding will need to be increased
and that will be a major issue.
Although funding is very slim for many government programs and agencies, counter drug
funding needs to be a priority just as national security is. Counter drug funding needs to be
imperative because it can help create programs. These programs can enables us to make
educated choices about drugs use, legal and illegal. It can teach us of the effects of drugs
physiological and on society. As citizens, we must have nonviolent protest, create petitions,
write to our legislators, senators, governors, and president to bring back attention to our drug
epidemic that has been silenced and drowned out by other major current events. It is not just
about attempting to eradicate drug cartels but its about family and the safety of our children.

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