Dear Mr. President,

My name is Travis and I live in San Diego, California. I live a wonderful life, a great family, great school, and have amazing friends. However, there is something much more dangerous and it’s everywhere. And with these coming years more and more people have become addicted to it. The thing I’m talking about is drug addiction. And I say that drugs have been ruining this country nearly as much as other problems.

The main reason why I have decided to delve into this topic is because I was once told of how one of my family members nearly died of a drug overdose. I could imagine it crystal clear, he took some heroin, not thinking it was going to have disastrous effects, and nearly died from the drug. This is what got me scared of how lethal some drugs are with just one milliliter of overdose. But this isn’t stopping people from taking illegal drugs, or stopping people from getting addicted to prescribed drugs. And it seems that every 19 minutes someone dies of substance abuse, making it a big reason why this should be acknowledged.

According to Dr. Kima Joy Taylor, 23.5 million people in America alone are addicted to alcohol and other drugs, which is approximately the population of Texas, or 1 in every 10 people over 12. As well as only 11% receiving treatment for these addiction. Also, more deaths happen from substance abuse than any other preventable health condition. And people who have a drug addiction have a higher chance of any bad outcome than if you don’t have a drug addiction. But if a person can get addicted to drugs, what are the causes?

Some causes for young kids can be school related stress, where the just need something to calm them down. Another reason could be bullying, which never leads to good results. For older people it can be work stress, or just somehow getting an addiction from parties and such. Even prescribed drugs, like painkillers, can lead to an addiction. Effects of drugs can be very bad on people, as it can lead to suicides, depression, destroyed relationships, and very big accidents, just to name a few.

So with all of this going on, how are we going to fix drug addiction? I propose that we make it so prescribed drugs should be monitored, and legal drugs should have a smaller dosage. Also, treatment for addiction should be easier to acquire, since it would make the rates of substance abuse go down. But, I’m just a citizen, so I send this message to you to hope that it will make this country a better place.

Sincerely,

Travis