Awareness as a Method of Combating with Drug Trafficking

What is drug trafficking? Drug Trafficking is an illegal drug trade on the black market and is prohibited by the laws of the U.S. This process of foreign business includes the illegal use of drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, etc. Ever wonder why drug trafficking is a big deal in society? Whether it’s dealing on the corner on late nights, or getting people to sell the product for you so you can handle things from another location. You could even expand your trade just by moving the product through companies and making a bigger profit. The excessive amount of money isn’t the only thing that the dealer has to endure. Selling drugs comes with a price and the price is pretty high. Drug trafficking has major consequences one of them being they have to stay hidden from law enforcers. The legal process states that drug trafficking results in federal time meaning felonies which is a long and crucial years in prison. Knowing this, many people have become infamous for doing this illegal activity. Although it helps their business, how does it impact users of the drugs? The selling and use of drugs are illegal because research shows that many die or become addicts to the various drugs out there. However, the want and need for addictive drugs make the drug trafficking world still prominent in today’s society. Drug trafficking and drug abuse affect and impact families negatively because it interferes with their safety, money, and health.

To start off, Drug trafficking affects families' safety. Doing illegal drugs comes with a consequence. The consequence is maintaining your average lifestyle and reputation while also remaining anonymous in the eyes of law enforcement. Since drug trafficking is punishable by law, possessing or consuming illegal drugs are also punishable by law. This means that while taking the drug you cannot be seen with it. This affects the families safety because it poses a danger to their lives. According to criminal.findlaw.com, it states, “10 years to life in prison for 1 kilogram of heroin; 5 kilograms of cocaine; or 1000 kilograms of marijuana;5 to 40 years for 100 grams of heroin; or 500 grams of cocaine; or not more than 5 years for 50 kilograms of marijuana.” This shows the amount of time one stays in imprisonment if he or she has possession of those specific drugs. This is extremely important to note because they years stated above are over 1 year. Which means whoever is caught with the possession of these illegal substances he or she would be written down as a felon. Becoming a felon not only jeopardizes your safety but also your reputation. No real job hires felons so the job that the person originally had would no longer be their job anymore. Keeping this in mind, the family has to hold in classified information to keep the family and the business protected. This means not being caught with the substance on them and/or seen in public places with the said substance. This may seem easy but it places a lot of burden on the family because no one is 100 percent cop-proof. This means that the cops could pull you over for anything. Whether it’s drive-out tags, going over the speed limit, or just the average pullover, no one can escape the police without having the percentage of getting pulled over be greater than 2 percent. Along with being caught, the person may have to confess where and whom did they obtained the substance from. This poses a threat to the family's lives and safety because snitching on any drug dealer has serious consequences that can result in severe torment or possibly even death. Although the family faces external influences causing their downfall, the family can also cause their own life to crumble apart through their choices due to health.

The next problem deals with the effects of drug abuse. The person who consumes drugs regularly face the problems of basically neglecting their own personal needs. Although drugs have a temporary feeling of satisfaction, contentment, merriness, or even exuberance, there is often lifelong consequences of doing drugs. According to the article called “Effects Of Drug Abuse and Addiction”, it states, “Drug and alcohol use impacts nearly every part of your body from your heart to your bowels. Substance abuse can lead to abnormal heart rates and heart attacks, and injecting drugs can result in collapsed veins and infections in your heart valves.” This evidence shows that the effects of drugs on the body are not minor situations. It clarifies the mistaken belief that either drugs cause no serious injuries and that drugs only affect the mind. In the article titled “Long-Term Effects Of Doing Drugs” it states, “Drug abuse also affects the body and overall health, causing potentially lasting issues like heart disease, lung cancer, kidney failure, and liver damage. Some of these long-term effects may be permanent, but many can be reversed by quitting and getting treatment.” (altamira recovery.com). This states that serious permanent life-threatening diseases can come from temporary fun. Most of the diseases stated are not curable or have a low percentage of people surviving from it. Which raises caution flags to people who take drugs. It may seem as though health and safety are the only things being lost in the process of taking the drugs but there is something else that every exchange, whether good or bad, comes with. A price. Knowing that the drugs are not something you can get at a gas station, this puts the price at a higher rate because it's harder to find because it's not in the commonplace. Also not only is the customer putting his or her life at risk but so is the dealer because the act is still illegal.

To add on, such as shying away from financial responsibilities. Hurting the family financially is a big problem according to Just Think Twice, “They may have to sell valuable items to raise money to pay for drugs and may have to mortgage the house to cover expenses for drugs”. This piece of evidence shows how the households of families can be hurt and ruined financially. Drugs and drug distribution can consume your whole life and it can hurt your families relationships making them less important. Losing control of the household priorities such as bills, keeping the house clean, and maintaining the overall atmosphere of the house. According to drugabuse.gov 24.6 million Americans that are 12 or older and 9.4 percent illicit or sold drugs in the past month. This shows how many Americans are affected by drug dealing and drug use in the U.S. Mostly teens are affected by drug dealing and drug use every day. Teens have more problems that they face which leads them down a narrow path. Drugs are what they turn to when they have nothing to turn to but drugs. They start to steal money and sell illegal drugs to each other then going in and out of jail for the same thing that got them in jail in the first place. Prescriptions and drugs are most highly rated in teens and very young adults and that affects families making young teens go against their parents and do things they would not normally do. Most things like stealing from their parents, selling valuable things, and most of all going against their parents rules and regulations. Drug dealing and drug use has a big effect on a lot of young adults and Is why drug trafficking and drug use is very bad and has a massive effect on families' foundation and how they live and treat each other as a whole.

In conclusion, drug trafficking and drug abuse have negative impacts on families. A few of many issues that comes from drug trafficking and drug abuse are the lack of safety one may have, their health failure, and their financial-economic lifestyle going down. These are all major factors of doing something outlawed by the country. As you can see by the major consequences of doing illegal drugs, a life of constant use and abuse puts nothing but temporary fun on hold and lifelong problems occur.

Even though research has shown people across the U.S. dying and obtaining serious illnesses, people still use it today. It’s honestly because we live in a world where “It won’t happen to me” is so prominent that all the effect are often overlooked. So at a young age, adults try to prevent it by making awareness of the growing pressing issues. Hopefully being well-informed can change the mind of the youth today. Without knowledge of the problems of the past, we are forced to repeat them.

Before we can make changes to anything we have to change ourselves for the better of the youth and the elderly to prevent these problems and changes in families making them grow apart and keep kids and teens off of drugs. Also, prevent them from the life of being a drug dealer and selling illegal drugs. So thats the reason why drug trafficking and drug abuse are a big deal in society today.

Work Cited

1. “Drug Trafficking/Distribution.” Findlaw, criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/drug-trafficking-distribution.html.
2. “The Harmful Effects of Drugs and Alcohol.” DrugAbuse.com, 23 Dec. 2016, drugabuse.com/drug-alcohol-effects/.
3. “Long-Term Effects of Drug Addiction.” Alta Mira Recovery, Alta Mira Recovery, www.altamirarecovery.com/drug-addiction/long-term-effects-drug-addiction/.
4. “Just Think Twice.” VIDEO: Synthetic Drugs | Just Think Twice, www.justthinktwice.gov/how-drugs-hurt-your-family.
5. National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Nationwide Trends.” NIDA, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/nationwide-trends.