We all know that drugs, alcohol, and smoking fall under a negative category. So why do we still use all of these harmful substances? We might not all know what’s happening to our bodies when we use these things. These drugs are killing our systems, our families, the people around us, and impairing our decision-making. It’s a selfish need that we all succumb to under pressure, and it’s hard to fight the urge. But what if we just had a little push of willpower? There are plenty of ways to kick these habits.


Firstly, drugs, smoking, and alcohol are the same in a way; they all harm people and their health. In my opinion, it’s best to stay away from drugs in general because they not only kill you eventually, but they usually lead you to an affiliation with gangs or drug dealers. And that generally leads to bad things. Alcohol is a drug used as a depressant when people are feeling sad or pressured. They drink and drink until their heart’s content, but what’s the real affect on the heart? If you drink too much alcohol, it can lead to alcoholic cardiomyopathy, the weakening of the heart by excess alcohol intake. Drinking can also kill brain cells so say goodbye to straight A’s! Heavy drinking can also affect the body’s ability to stop bleeding. When people get cuts or scrapes, it’s extremely important for the body to stop the bleeding. Otherwise, a small paper cut could kill! Smoking is a dangerous risk in and of itself. It can give you lung cancer or make breathing difficult. These things can easily be avoided. Even if one person decides to smoke, everyone around that person would ultimately be breathing in the same nicotine. It’s one of the most selfish acts a person can do because when the smoke is in the air, not only you breathe in the disastrous chemicals from one lit cigarette, but other people and even babies can. Smoking ruins your health and the health of people around you as well. So the best solution to these hazardous addictions is to steer clear in the beginning and live your life to the fullest.


Secondly, these addictions can be physically harmful to you and to the people you love as well. Did you know that alcohol is the leading cause of domestic violence? It’s a terrible day when your mom or dad goes to the liquor cabinet and you think to yourself, “Oh great, another one of these days.” This is the typical alcohol abused family for you. It’s not the kids who are doing all of the drinking or fighting, but it’s the parents. Parents are supposed to be good role models for their kids. But instead, they’re being destroyed by these drugs. More and more cases of domestic violence are filed every year, and statistically, alcohol abuse is in more than 60% of all cases. Parents are heart broken when their children are taken away to foster families, but they’re ultimately to blame because they can’t create a safe home environment for their children. And it’s all because of bad choices and drugs like alcohol. Drugs like cocaine and marijuana can be damaging in many ways. They can drive a person so crazy that they’d be willing to kill to get their hands on some. For example, there was a case about a year ago about a child named Michael, a sophomore in high school that got stabbed in his own backyard. The sad part was that it was all over a couple of ounces of coke. He forgot to pay and the drug dealers forgot to ask him before they stabbed him in the back.


Thirdly, alcohol and other drugs can impair your way of thinking and your good judgement. Teens are more at risk of doing dangerous activities when they’re under the influence of alcohol or drugs like hallucinogens. Hallucinogens are drugs that can make people think they’re floating on air when they’re really falling off of a ten-story building. When teens and grownups take these drugs, they don’t think rationally like they would if they were sober. More teenage pregnancies are happening every year because of alcohol or drug consumption. Girls especially should watch out for this because they could be at risk for contracting STDs and other viral infections. They could scar the ovaries, and in the future, when these young ladies are ready to build a family, they won’t be able to. And they owe it all to a one-night stand that they didn’t even want to happen. These things are avoidable. We just need to take the necessary precautions. There’s no gain in drinking, smoking, or snorting. Also, teenagers are at more risk of drunk driving than anyone else. Every day, 8 teens are brutally killed in alcohol-related crashes. And that’s usually because Mr./Ms. Macho decides that he/she can hold their liquor. But it ultimately ends up in the classic scenario: a car crash. So why risk your life over a $5 glass of wine or even a $20 bag of weed? Your life is worth more than that.

In conclusion, what alcohol and drugs do to us is disgusting and demeaning. We may think they make us look cool, but they don’t keep us around very long. There are plenty of people out there who think alcohol and drugs are the way out of everything in their lives right now, but there are simple solutions to stress relief. People just have to be willing to find the right kind. Sports and clubs can be a great outlet for stress relief. Even alcoholics can get help at their local Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. It doesn’t take much to get hooked, but once you are hooked, the affects can be dire. So let’s all just step away from alcohol and drugs so we can live our lives to the fullest. If we avoid smoking, running with our children in the future won’t be as hard. If we avoid drinking alcohol, we won’t have to deal with the agony of watching child protective services take our children away. Being drug and alcohol free in my opinion is the way to go. Instead of walking down the wine aisle at the grocery store, take a walk into your future.