Drugs, we all have heard about them, how they destroy lives, and what they do to bodies;however, it seems like it still doesn’t stop people from doing them.

  There are many different drugs in the world, terrible ones like, methadone, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine’s. Then there are the drugs that are “not as bad” like, marijuana, alcohol, ecstasy, etc.

  All drugs are bad, even the ones that doctors prescribe to make you better, because your body starts to depend on them to help you get over your sickness. Take antibiotics for an example, the more it is used, the less likely that the immune system will be able to help you recover from a sickness as easily.

  Many parents believe that alcohol is worse than marijuana because it causes issues in the liver like acetaldehydes (organic chemical compound) that causes damage to liver cells, and eventually will cause it to become inflamed, and not function properly.

  Alcohol will make people not think straight, and even causes people to harm themselves or others. For instance, drunk driving, arguing and getting very mad to the point where they black out.

  The Lancet Psychiatry a journal that publishes a range of article types in psychiatry, including Original Research, Reviews, and much more, reported that teens who smoke marijuana daily are “60 percent less likely to graduate from high school or college than those who never use it and they are seven times more likely to attempt suicide.”

  University of Montreal scientists have conducted studies with teens that started at 13, to show reports of how frequently they used marijuana and alcohol. They suspect that teens who began using marijuana regularly suffer lasting repercussions in their thinking ability.

  Scientist say that marijuana has a more damaging effect on teenagers’ long-term cognitive abilities than alcohol. Even after they stopped smoking, it was reported that their cognition did not improve.

  Cognitive impairment and delayed cognitive development is when there are limitations in mental functioning and in skills like communicating, taking care of themselves, and social skills. This can also cause the brain to have slower development.

  Alcohol is not good either, causing long term damage in brain function, like the memory, motor skills which is the ability to move and coordination.

  Whether people are listening to the side effects of these drugs, and whether or not they care about themselves are not, precaution should be taken in order not to have any of these issues.

  According to NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse), about 72,306 people died from opioids (hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, and many others) and hard core drugs (methadone, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine) that were used in 2017. We as a nation should take action and help those who need it, and slow the pace of death from drugs.  It’s getting out of hand and innocent lives are being lost.

  The purpose in life is moving forward, knocking down every obstacle in our way, not take the easy way out of reality just so people ‘don’t feel.’ They are destroying many lives, and some don’t even realize it.