Riley Morris

Health 1050
4/26/20

Reflection Paper
Throughout the length of this course I have learned many new things involving drugs and
drug use. I guess that I have never realized how big of a problem it is in America. I had never
thought about all of the different ways that we could prevent drug use and overdoses by taking
full effect of safe injection sites and stronger education about the effects. There are so many side
effects with drugs and some people don’t fully understand them and how the drugs will affect
their lives long term. I also learned about how the cartels are involved in the illegal drug industry
and how they are able to have so much power and control over local authorities and people.
Drugs effect so many different things in your life, not only does it effect your physical
health but also your mental health. The drugs effect everything about your body, they change
your heart rate they rewire your brain and effect your weight and eating habits. It changes your
brain to the point where getting your next fix is the only thing you are able to think about. The
strong desire to have that drug will make you do things that you though you would never do.
People would steal and cheat in order to get money for that drug. They hurt people they love
because their brain and body tell them that the drug is the only thing that matters. Families have
been torn apart as a result of addiction and theft all for some fake temporarily happiness. After
seeing how it effects people long term, I want to make sure that I am never put into a situation
where I am involved with drugs.
There are plenty of methods to prevent the use of drugs. One of the methods that I think
would have a huge effect in the US would be safe injection sights. With how many people are
overdosing every single day having a place to monitor and watch the users to make sure that they
are safe would be a great idea. Having places like that have been proven to be effective in
Canada and have decreased their number of overdoses. Also, by giving out clean needles the
government is able to reduce the spread of diseases and keep their people safer. I also learned
that the current education system is failing us and is not informative enough to prevent the youth
from trying drugs. Prevention is so very important when it comes to drugs, getting off the drugs
is so hard but if you are able to stop the problem before it begins then that saves everyone a lot of
time and effort. This has affected me by realizing how dangerous the drugs are and how
addictive they can be after just one use.
In this class I also learned about how big of a problem drug cartel are. There is so much
violence associated with the cartels and police have been unable to stop them, but by legalizing
marijuana they have been able to decrease some of the power of the cartels because no they have
less money to bribe police and purchase guns. The price of the drugs also effects the amount of
violence that surrounds it, after seeing all of the death and violence that surrounds cartels and
people associated with them, I will make sure that I avoid all situations that would put me in
danger with drugs.
In conclusion after taking this class I have seen just a fragment of how dangerous illegal
drugs are. They cause nothing but misery and pain. I personally have seen lives ruined due to
alcohol and drugs. They can affect everything in your live from your work all the way to your
Riley Morris
Health 1050
4/26/20
family. After becoming addicted to something your body becomes dependent on it and will do
anything for it. The united states view safe injection sights as encouraging drug use but people
are going to use the drugs anyways and it would be better for people to have a safe place where
supervisors are able to make sure that no one gets hurt. As a result of taking this class I will
never put myself in a situation involving drugs.