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Elizabeth Oehlke
Instructor Obach
ENGL 101
4 May 2017
Management and Prevention of Illegal Substances
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health says that, in America, more than twenty
million people age twelve or older have used an illegal drug in the last thirty days (“Facts about”
para 1). There is a huge problem in this world with substance abuse. Rather than just sitting
around watching people ruin their lives, everyone needs to come together to address this issue.
There are so many ways to prevent substance abuse, such as informing people of the harms and
making it harder for people to come in contact with an illegal drug.
Drugs and alcohol are used to cope when people are going through difficult times. There
are many reasons why a person may abuse different illegal substances. Friends and family are
big influences on what a person does in their life. If friends or family notice someone is going
through a rough time they need to sit down and talk to the person to figure out what can be done
to help them. They should not just let that person figure it out on their own, because that is when
people turn to drugs or alcohol as a way to get relief. If nobody does anything, the person may
turn to drugs or alcohol to relieve their pain. The National Institute on Drug Abuse talks about
risk factors and protective factors (“Preventing Drug” para 1). “Risk factors can increase a
person’s chances for drug abuse, while protective factors can reduce the risk” (“Preventing
Drug” para 1). Some examples of risk factors are, aggression, no parental support, access to
drugs, and poverty (Preventing Drug” para 5). Family, friends, and the community can help a
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child in order to avoid risk factors (“Preventing Drug” para 2). Society needs to help kids who
are at risk for substance abuse. People need to make it harder for kids to have access to drugs and
alcohol. If there is a party with drugs and alcohol teens are more susceptible to try and participate
in these illegal activities because they may feel pressured. The National Institute on Drug Abuse
says that “by the time they are seniors, almost 70 percent of high school students will have tried
alcohol, half will have taken an illegal drug, nearly 40 percent will have smoked a cigarette, and
more than 20 percent will have used a prescription drug for a non-medical purpose” (“Principles
of” para 1). Those numbers need to go down. Kids should not have access to drugs or alcohol.
They need to be involved in school activities and sports. It is not only the schools that need to do
something, like inform and educate kids about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, but also the
