Essay
Gallery
Drug Abuse in Japan
by Naoto Kuragami
In this essay, I present my research on drug abuse in Japan. I am interested in drug abuse because my favorite musician died because of drug abuse, I am going to cover three main points. I want to explore what present situation is in Japan, the reason why people use drugs and what the drug's effect on the body is. First, I will show you there are many problems of drugs in Japan, and then I will cover people use drugs because of less knowledge, high price, and drug's power. Finally, I will show that drug cause psychological dependency.
In any study of drug abuse, it is important to know the background details. People divide drugs into some groups. For example, some drugs affect users to feel a sense of well-being. On the other hand, some drugs influence users to suffer depressions(BBC NEWS, 2003). In this essay, I give a definition of the word "drug": it causes any effects both on the body and in the feeling. Drugs are very dangerous things. It is because once people use them, they cannot stop using drugs. We call it' Drug dependency '. In the world, many people suffer from drug dependency, and some Japanese people also use drugs.
I think this topic is similar to smoking habit because once people smoke with curiosity, they cannot stop using them easily. However, drugs are different from tobacco because using drugs is illegal, on the other hand, smoking is legal for those over twenty years old.
On Japanese TV programs, we often see the topic about drug abuse. In Japan, after 1970, the number of people apprehended for abusing drugs are increasing and about 16,000 people are arrested every year(The Narcotics Agent,2003).
There are four main reasons why Japanese drug abuse cannot decrease easily. At first, drug prices are very high, so Japanese gangs sell drugs. Next, drugs are carried from outside of Japan, so it is difficult to stop importing them. In addition, the way to carry drugs to Japan is so complicated that we cannot find these ways. Third, drug's power is very strong so once people use drugs, they cannot help buy drugs repeatedly. Fourthly, common people do not have much knowledge about drug's effect, so they use drugs without much thought. (Ibid). Finally, we do not enforce the legal system about drugs strongly.
I have shown the reason why people abuse drugs, next what kind of effects do drugs have on the body? Heavy use of drugs can cause not only physical problems but also mental problems, so psychological dependence to the drug and habit are very dangerous.
Once you become dependent on drugs, it is difficult to escape this dependency.(BBC NEWS, 2003). Drug abuse makes many beneficiaries and victims. The main beneficiaries are drug dealers. They earn a lot of money to sell to users at very high prices. People who depend on drugs cannot stop buying them easily, so we cannot make them stop selling drugs.
On the other hand, the main victims of drug abuse are users. They use drugs not because of their will but because of the drugs power. In addition, their families, friends, and neighbors are also victims of it.
I think there are two main solutions of drug abuse. First the government should give enough knowledge to common citizens. If people knew drug's effects, they would not use drugs. Moreover, we should make a new legal system about drugs and enforce it strongly.
In conclusion, many factors start us using drugs near our life. We must think about drugs' effects for our body and our society. If we are aware of this problem, drug abuse must decrease in the future.
(Bibliography of References)
Author not named July 7, 2003 BBC NEWS: A to Z of drugs
URL:http://www.bbc.co.uk/crime/drugs/index.shtml
Author not named, August 22, 2003 The Narcotics Agent.URL:Http://www.nco.go.jp/engrish
