Dear President:

People all around the world that you may not know have an addiction to prescription drugs or heroin, and no one can help them unless they want help. We have an issue of many people who are starting to get addicted to prescription drugs and heroin. Many overdose on these drugs and die from them, others just use them to feel better or to have fun. These people don’t know what things these drugs could be laced with, or how bad it is for your health. This is important because I feel that people need to get the support and help they need to get back to their normal selves, and maybe even feel better without having drugs in their systems. Having therapy or help from people is a great feeling I know it may seem dumb at first but it can change your entire life in a good way. I feel that we need to open up to others and provide programs that are safe and a welcoming environment for people in need of help.

Children and adults in the world need to understand how harmful these drugs can be to their bodies, and what it can do to change their lives. After the use of heroin some people may feel like their life has changed and they are just sitting around rotting. ABC News did a story a few months ago about a girl named Ashley and she shared her story. Ashley was a good student, one day in her freshman year of college she had tried drugs, her friend was with her they were smoking heroin. Ashley said “he was addicted to this, and he wanted somebody else with him to share it” (Sullivan). I think after Ashley had done heroin her life completely changed. Once you start something especially something addictive it changes your whole life, ashley is living a life where she is a full time junkie. The deeper she got into the addiction she dropped out of school, quit her part time job and just kept sinking into the addiction. As much as Ashley wants to change she can’t she says “it’s the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning, it’s the last thing I think of when I go to bed” (Sullivan). Her life is revolved around drugs, she can’t take her mind off of it and all she wants is to keep doing the drugs. She realizes how bad it is for her but once you’re hooked on something it’s hard to stop. A result of helping kids like Ashley with an addiction would to be to hire more people who are willing and wanting to help people who have a problem.

People in our world today do not understand what could happen if you take one prescription pill or if you smoke heroin one time, they don’t understand how harmful and severe it is. Heroin or prescription pills can ruin someone's life in an instant of a second. A guy named Bill Whitaker did a story called “Heroin in the Heartland”. Two parents named Christy and Wayne Campbell had a son who had passed away because of a heroin overdose. Their son Tyler started to become addicted to pills after he had shoulder surgery, he started to get addicted to vicodin. Wayne Campbell explains “vicodin is a normal prescription for that type of procedure” (Whitaker). Tyler had been taking this medication and started to like the way it made him feel, and decided to keep doing it. People who often are addicted to pills switch to heroin during the time of their addiction. Tyler had switched to heroin, and one day he came home late at night and couldn’t resist the urge anymore and overdosed on heroin. Kids and adults don’t understand that drugs like these are very easy for people to access these days. In result of this situation I believe this could be prevented if we parents and doctors were to notice the different ways they act after being addicted. Rehabs and caring adults could be a very helpful way of saving one of your loved ones lives.

People who disagree with me might say that rehab doesn’t help kids, some people relapse and keep getting re addicted to the drug. If the rehab facilitations allows their hospitals to have a check up on the patients every so often it would be less likely to have people relapse. I think that if we had a strong and caring system on our hands we could be able to help people fight off the addiction. My goal for this is to want people to want to get help. On ABC News the story about Ashley is a life changing event and she says to herself during her addiction “my mind is just like ‘I want to get sober, I want to get sober” (Sullivan). Ashley is a strong young women who wants to get better and have another chance at her life. When people start doing drugs they had wished they didn’t because it changes everything for them. They wish they could start over and get a fresh start on everything. People who truly care and want to get better are the people who will do anything to fight the addiction. If people have the courage in themselves or others have courage in them, then they can do anything and everything to fight this battle.

Most people in the world who you may not know have an addiction are most likely not wanting help, and if they do they can’t get it. People in our world don’t know how harmful and painful these addictions can be on others lives. The effects these drugs have on our life is one of the hardest things to cope with, people deal with emotions in different ways, but the most common one is going straight to a drug that is going to make them feel better. Kids having a safe and caring environment to get help is the best choice for our world to take on because I myself have felt the same way these kids do, worthless, and anxious about life. I am a 15 year old girl who has gone through some of the same struggles these kids do, we don’t know how to or what to say to ask for help, the best way for kids to get through this is by knowing help is there. Getting help can change your entire life in a positive way, because you will know that you can be happy without having to put yourself and others at risk with your problems.

Sincerely,

Claire