Don't you find the topic of drug abuse addicting? Well i do because so many people have talked about drug abuse before and the problem we have with it in our nation. So what exactly is this problem with drug abuse in our nation? Drugs are causing mental and physical harm to our families and our nation due to deaths caused by addiction and overdose. This is a problem! We as a nation would benefit from having the people that died alive today. Some of the people that died never even had the chance to make an impact on the world or our lives.

Today drugs are killing the very much loved children and family members that we have. Think of the families that have lost their children that they loved so much to drugs. Think of how sad the mother and father would be from losing their child. Also think of how sad your mother or father would be if they lost you to drugs. On July 20, 2013 The Cockburn family lost their daughter that they loved so much. Their daughter Martha, their only child, was only fifteen years old when she died. It was only an hour before that she responded to her mom in a text of how the she was excited to go to Bristol the next day. Martha's mother is now surging with the sadness and pain because of their daughter who they lost to drugs. Martha's mother also wishes that she could have had just one chance to save her daughter’s life or to see her one final time.

We also have celebrities that left us too soon due to drugs. What celebrities have we lost to drugs as a country? We have lost several celebrities, including some very young ones like Heath Ledger, Whitney Houston, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Heath Ledger was best known for his role as the freakishly, awesome, Joker in the Batman series. Heath Ledger died at only 28-years-old from an accidental drug overdose on Jan 22, 2008. Whitney Houston was a 48-year-old singer that sang many great songs and was known for her outstanding voice. Whitney Houston died on Feb 2, 2012 due to an overdose of heroin. Philip Seymour Hoffman was a 46-year-old man that was known for being an outstanding actor in many movies. He also played the role of Owen Davian in the movie Mission Impossible III as a black market arms dealer.

Each year 570,000 people die due to the abuse of a drug. About 40,000 people of the 570,000 people died because of an overdose of an illicit (illegal) drug, or an overdose of a prescription drug. That is 40,000 people that are removed from the face of the earth every year because of drugs. Now if you don't like that large number, here’s some things you could start doing.
You could raise awareness, report drug dealers, and dont do drugs! There are so many things that you could start as a single individual, and grow into or end as many individual’s. You could start a campaign in your own school. You could raise awareness by hanging up posters in shops and other places all around town. If you see someone dealing drugs, get a glance of who it is and where they are and report it to the police station. You can also report something to the police station anonymously, so the person you reported doesn't know it’s you.
I know that some things are easier said than done, but that doesn't mean you can't go out there and actually do some of these things! Get out there! Go start a campaign! Go and call the cops! Do something! I know, your friends know, and you know that you have the power to say no to drugs, and you have the power to make a difference.