Juan Rodriguez
English 1311
Marrufo, R.
9/12/2010
When it comes to addiction, it can be anything! There are so many subtopics that could lead onto addiction---drugs, coffee, social networks, etc. However, when it comes to discussing about addiction, there is one word, one drug that is well known in this topic: cigarettes. These cancer sticks have been known to be a number 1 addicting thing throughout the world. Statistics show that heroin addicts have their lives ruined from their addiction. On the other hand, the addiction that people have for cigarettes is known to be ten times stronger than heroin…yes, heroin! As shocking as this sounds, there are still millions of packs that are on the shelves of our corner stores, ready to be sold to customers, or to addicts that are decaying their lungs and their lives. You could ask anybody in this world and they would tell you what are the consequences of smoking cigarettes: hair on your tongue, bad breath, second-hand smoke, lung cancer. Cigarettes have known to kill people in the long run, something that many agencies have tried to enforce. “Think Outside the Pack” is one of the most popular agency when it comes to eliminating the addiction to smoking cigarettes. They try to target teens as their main audience/ age group because today in life, teens is the number one age group that has been peer pressured to smoke cigarettes. That is why agencies like Think Outside the Pack give out presentations to kids in school about how dangerous cigarette addiction can be. Their genres consist of either posting flyers on neighborhood walls or online, blogs on popular social networks, like Facebook, and their famous commercials on popular teen channels, like the N, and in the radio.
Cigarettes is the number one known addicted drug to happen in society. However, cigarettes are not the only subtopic that can define addiction. Of course, drugs can be another broad topic to discuss, but when it is broken into detail, it seems to yet, still connect within each other. For example, if a person is addicted to cocaine, that person is more likely to be addicted to other drugs. The horrid methods of addiction are also related to different drugs. A person’s health is always at risk whenever one consumes a type of drug. If a person sniffs too much cocaine, for example, the toxins of this drug start to eat through a person’s nose, resulting into holes in their noses! Hallucinations is another consequence that most drug users go through. This can cause one to do something dangerous just because it is a “trip” to them. Irresponsibility plays a huge role when it involves drugs, thus, leading to addiction. The number one consumed illegal drug is marijuana, and even though it is not harmful to the body, it opens the door to trying other types of drugs that are harmful. I am a proud believer that marijuana is NOT an addicting drug, however, I do believe that it leads on to addicting ones. That is why smart people in our society have been gathering groups and starting agencies that prevent the usage of drugs from kids. “Above the Influence” is one agency that has tried to stop the peer pressure of drugs. This agency gives out their message to kids at a young age so that they won’t fall into the horridness of addiction when they are older. Their main way of communicating to the community is by their commercials. Any TV watcher could tell you that there is at least one Above the Influence commercial that they have seen. Teens, once again, is their main audience because drugs are mostly consumed by this age group. Other genres that they utilize is the internet, through their website and blog-postings on social networks.
Yes, addiction is known to happen with drugs, although, there are other things than make addiction happen. Whether it is drinking an Mocha espresso from Starbucks every morning, or constantly updating your facebook status, it is a habit that most of us do in life. Even though it is not as harmful as drug addiction, being addicted to something is, at times, bad. We are so focused on one thing that be could ignore the important stuff in our lives. There are other things that we can do rather than being addicted to the same thing over and over. I see it like this: if one is addicted to something that could harm them in the long end, then that addiction should be stopped as soon as possible. However, if a person is addicted to, let’s say reading a chapter from a book every night before he or she goes to sleep, then that could suffice any circumstance. Yet, addiction in general, could be harmful to the body and to one’s ethics. Thus, addiction is powerful; it promises satisfaction, relaxation, pleasure…but shadows the consequences of temptation, unhealthiness and even death…un-hook your habits.
