Drugs are everywhere. They are in schools, work, the streets, and even people’s homes. Drugs have been a developing problem throughout the recent years. It has gotten so bad that states are legalizing the use of a certain drugs. Drugs affect the lives of many in many different ways. Drugs could affect the people in our society by having seeing them being used everyday while just walking the streets, or even by a family member that can’t escape the grip drugs have. In the worst case, someone could be addicted to them themselves. Drugs are a large problem and they can’t be stopped until people see all the huge problems when using drugs.

The largest and most obvious problems that come with using drugs is addiction. According to the Lund Report, almost 9 percent or 370,000 people in Oregon are suffering from drug or alcohol addiction. This high percentage means Oregon has one of the highest drug use rates in the country. In an interview with a nurse at Kaiser Permanente, who wanted to remain anonymous, “I don’t know that anything that are good idea daily use unless you need to get the medication. Like there are people that use marijuana as medication for pain and or seizures. Then in that case, it’s a completely different situation.” What she is saying is that even though so many people use drugs, some of those people may be using them for medical reasons and not for their personal enjoyment. And in this case, it’s possibly a good thing for people to be using some types of drugs to help them. But it also has a lot to do with moderation of the use. Too much can be bad and that’s where you run into problems with people that use it for fun and not for medical use. In an article from Live Science, recent studies have found there is no safe level of alcohol consumption, and marijuana is only safe in the amounts a doctor tells you.

The drug that leads the drug use in Oregon is Marijuana. This may be due to the recent legalization of the drug, but even before the legalization, marijuana was still the highest used drug in Oregon not counting alcohol. Marijuana it very easy to grow in Oregon due to the weather here. And that may have been a reason why marijuana was so prevalent here even before the legalization. But marijuana isn’t the only drugs that people are using. 4.38% of people in Portland said that they used illicit drugs other than marijuana. A local musician gave more insight on why marijuana is so big in Oregon. He said, “Well first of all it’s pretty easy to get drugs into Portland. Just because we are so near places that have those drugs and want to sell them.” he also said, “It’s not synthetically made so I feel like that’s one thing that people feel safer about. And also you can’t overdose on Marijuana. You might think you are but there are no studies proving that you can. So overall people more safer with marijuana because in a sense it’s less dangerous and also it’s legal here now too so they don’t have to be scared to use them.”

Addiction isn’t the only problem that comes with drug use and people being addicted. Another huge problem is the amount of money Oregon and people have to spend to support addicts. Six billion dollars are spent a year to support drug addicts and the problems they may cause because of their excessive use of drugs. $2 Billion is used directly towards drug abuse, $1.2 Billion is used in crimes that may be committed by people under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and $978 Million is used towards premature deaths. There are more expensive such as Healthcare, criminal justice, etc. All these facts were found on a NorthPoint Recovery article about the drug use in Oregon. In an interview with a doctor at Kaiser Permanente that would like to go anonymous, he said this about the amount of money spent on drug abuse, “Well yeah that number doesn’t surprise me at all really. I do a lot of things around here so I see how many people come in here and want to buy pills or get subscribed to medical marijuana. So I see the state having to spend a lot of money on having to restock those products and then having to deal with the possible consequences of those people abusing those products.” What he is saying is that when people come get their medication, it costs the state a lot of money to keep up with those requests. And then the state has to deal with people possibly abusing those drugs, which also costs a lot of money.  

Drugs are a bigger problem than anyone really knows. Everyone knows drugs can ruin peoples lives, but they don’t know the amount of money that goes into drug abuse, and how many people use drugs. The state of Oregon has spent 2 billion dollars towards drug abuse almost every year. Oregon also has 9 percent or 370,000 of their residents using drugs on a daily basis. Oregon isn’t the only state that has problems with drugs. Drugs have become a huge problem on our country and world wide. Drugs affect over 200 million people in the world according to Partnership News Service Staff. With drugs affecting that many people, they could more dangerous to our world than anyone realizes. And that number is only growing. People need to find a way to stop or the world has to do more to prevent these high usage rates. If we don’t, it might be too late to turn back.