Dear Mr./Ms. President,

I am writing you today to talk about the issue of prescribed drugs and heroin in America today. Many middle to upper class young adults are getting involved with drugs, some are becoming addicted, and many are dying from overdosing on these drugs. America wants these issues resolved, but with all the easy access to the drugs and the relatively low prices it’s hard to keep young people out of these bad situations.

Many people wonder where kids are finding the money to pay for these drugs and where they are finding them, when many suburban areas are having large issues with heroin. In the article “Heroin in the Heartland,” a politician states, “It’s in every single country. It’s in our cities but it’s also in our wealthier suburbs. It’s in our small towns. There is no place in Ohio where you can hide from it...no place in Ohio where you couldn’t have it delivered to you in 15, 20 minutes.” Heroin has been an issue in the past but not like this. There is more being produced now and since it’s cheaper than other drugs, people are buying heroin more than anything else.

But heroin isn’t the only issue, prescribed drugs such as pain relievers are becoming a huge problem as well. One way these are easy to get for example are because athletes are getting pain relievers for injuries or procedures, and they might have gotten a larger perscription than needed, so when they are better they would sell the rest. This is one way that these drugs are entering into schools. This is a sign that we need to keep a tighter leash when prescribing drugs. One idea I had for this problem is to give smaller prescriptions and give more as needed.

In the article “Is Prescription Drug Abuse a Big Concern?” the excerpt, “Tasina interviewed a drug treatment counselor about why blues have become such a problem. He told her that people often justify using them b/c they assume they are safe.” This indicates that not everyone who is doing the drug is aware of the effects and what the dangers of the drug are so something clearly needs to be done.

Obviously, these problems will not be solved overnight, but there are things we can do to help or slow down the buying and selling of these drugs. For example, maybe in schools in health class, time set aside to talk about illegal drugs could be extended, so teens and young adults are given more knowledge on the drugs and it’s effects to scare them into not doing it. Prescriptions could be put on a tighter leash, maybe there could be a way to manipulate the selling of drugs through prescriptions by giving smaller prescriptions and getting more if needed. Another thing that could give young adults more knowledge on the subject is making the subject a college class. This way not only high school will give the information, but even college students will hear about it and keep the effects in mind as they are living their college life. We as a country have overlooked this issue for a while now and we have waited til it got too out of hand for us to address it. As president I hope you take these ideas into consideration as you are looking for solutions to this issue.

Sincerely,

N. K.