Drugs

The definition of drug is “an illegal substance that some people smoke, inject etc, for the physical and mental effect it has” – Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th edition. There are three categories of drugs:

Class A: Heroin, Cocaine, Crack, Ecstasy, LSD, Magic Mushrooms
Class B: Cannabis, Amphetamines, Methylphenidate, Pholcodine
Class C: Tranquilisers, some painkillers, Gamma hydroxybutyrate, Ketamine

The drugs statistics in 2003 according to The Guardian, there are half a million people who are Class A drug users. But it was in year 2003; the number of people can rise by now. There are more people who are using Class B or C drugs than Class A drugs. I have the statistics for Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2008 (Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety report). It states that 69% of individual who are addicted to drugs are male, one quarter (23%) are aged 21 and under. Cannabis was the most commonly reported main drug misuse (35%) followed by Benzodiazepines (31%). 10% of the individual use cocaine and 8% are addicted to heroin.

The statistics shows that there are a large number of people who are using drugs. I am not surprise that cannabis is the most commonly reported drug misuse for Northern Ireland because I know so many people who are smoking cannabis. I can see in my own eyes that drugs can affect many individuals – they can lose their temper, loss of their appetite and weight loss.

Personally I don’t like drugs and will never touch them. One day about few years ago, I was watching a television programme about heroin users travelled to Thailand for rehab to go off heroin. Watching them to go off had shocked me – they were physically sick and suffered mentally.

http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/news/news-dhssps/news-dhssps-october-2008/news-dhssps-071008-statistics-drug-misuse-database.htm