Drug abuse in youth - Essay Example

Taking the book as an example, it is easy to point out the reasons why drugs are so attractive to the users. Simply put, they represent an easy way out for those who have no other way to go (Welsh, 1996). The families, the schools, the friends, religion, even relationships do not hold them back from destroying their own lives. The primary reason for that might be the complete lack of these social connections for the individual. Their lives come across as being empty and useless filled with only the drive to get more drugs regardless of how they can get a hold of them.

It must be clarified that the characters involved in the book are not immature or foolish in the literal sense of the word since they make plans, carry out ideas and often make profound statements about the world around them (Welsh, 1996). Even their political statements, which certainly hold some weight, can be considered to fall in the extreme left or right direction. Yet, they are knowingly killing off their future to get away from their present situations. Disillusioned youth who are on the fringe of society have little to gain by being a part of it.

More over, the characters do realize that their situation is bleak and they have to break out of their addictions. However, even after they try time and again to quit their habits, their past catches up with them and they are too weak to fight against the withdrawal symptoms or their situations. As described by Welsh (1996), hiving up drugs and relapsing into the same old habits is a continual process the characters go through. While the reader feels some sympathy for them during their attempts to give up heroin, the sympathy is replaced by indifference once the characters go back to their old ways.

The book also raises the larger question of the right way to prevent drug use in youth which was a greater problem in the 1980s than it is today. Surveys conducted by the National