Book Blog

The Encyclopedia of Psychological Disorders provides up-to-date information on the history of, causes and effects of, and treatment and therapies for problems affecting the human mind. I really think the author(s) met their goal of informing people the effects of Marijuana and Hashish in the users and society. The structure of the book was good it had a contents page with subtitles of the sections that are in the book. I think the structure of the book helps in the comprehension of the book, because first it gives you some statistics and it tells you that Marijuana has become a popular poison among society. The book goes on and tells you about the history of Marijuana and Hashish use, then it tells you why adolescents use or have used Marijuana. I would have to say this book is very complete because it also tells you how short and long term users are affected, also the impact on society, and current treatment options. The author of the book is Elizabeth Russell Connelly ,but the book comes from The Encyclopedia of Psychological Disorders which is an encyclopedia that has other books similar to this one, and all of them are related to different types of drugs and the treatments for drug use. I'm sure we can trust this book not only because it comes from a very broad collection of encyclopedias ,but because it has several dates, statistics and important facts about drug use. The book has different main points, the first one is about the history of Marijuana use "cannabis sativa or better known as marijuana was an India hemp plant was known to have been used for medicinal purposes in China as far back as the third century B.C. The second main point talks about Why do adolescents use drugs? the book tells that teenagers start using drugs to try to "fit in", other reason why is because the peerpressure is a lot, the book also says that adolescents are more likely to try drugs at the beginning of their teenage because this a time of changes, its a time of frustration, anger ,and rebellion. The third and one of the most important points in the book is the current treatment options, many of drug users tend to deny any health or psychological problems especially if they have been forced into treatment. In addition to improving self-awareness, therapy can help adolescent drug users make certain lifestyle changes, such as avoiding those persons, places, and things related to drug use. The book gives different types of therapies that can be very helpful. This book was written in third person point of view and it also has second person point of view, the book is not a straight expository or narrative book its more of a informative book. This book ties to my topic because it talks about drug use and its treatments. What i enjoyed about the book was that it did not focused only on one topic, what i didn't liked was that it was a bit short, but it still contains very helpful information. I would recommend this book to everybody especially if you are interested in learning and helping those who have a drug problem, it is a very informative and helpful book.

My Choice

For this blog i will not do any research, i will not look through a book, and i will not lie about the story of of a brave men that fought and did not let the illegal substances take over his life, his girlfriend, and itself. The men I'm talking about used to play with me when i was a kid, and he always took care of me when there was nobody to help me. He was not a bad guy but he had a problem he began stealing cigarettes from his dad when he was a kid, then from the normal tobacco cigarettes he went to smoking pot. At the beginning i did not knew he smoked pot, until one day i found out because i caught him smoking with his friends, he didn't know what to do neither did i. As i grew along with him i saw how he began changing, and i didn't know why. Time went by and i only saw him get in trouble and one time almost dead, at this point is when i realized he was not the same. Even after 2 years with his girlfriend and a new born coming pretty soon he was out there doing whatever he wanted, everybody speculated and tainted him as someone who did not care about anything. This kept going throughout the nine months of pregnancy and now most of the people including his family and friends were worried not only about him, but his wife and new baby. Amazingly they did not got divorced even though the drug use did not stopped, his little daughter was growing fast and his drug use became more serious. His mom and a lot of people tried to talk to him but he refused to listen. One day he disappear for almost a week we freaked out, we went to the police station but he was not there. We didn't know what to do or think, and the last thing we wanted to hear was that he was dead. Nine days after he left he came back, everybody was glad he was not dead. After he came i sat to talk to him he told me he was ready to change and take care of his family, at first i thought this was going to be a promise like the ones he made before, and i did not take it seriously. After almost seven years of listening to him tell me that he was ready to change, and four years without seeing him, i have not heard or seen him go through something like he did. This did not changed the friendship between us and he will always be not only my cousin he is like a brother for me.

Movie Review

The movie 24 Hour People by the director Michael Winterbottom is interesting and the film is a dramatisation based on a combination of real events, rumors,urban legends, and the imagination of the scriptwriter. I think the scriptwriter, Frank Cottrell knew what he was talking about because in the movie he clearly explains events about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records. It begins with the punk rock era, and moves through the 1980's and early 1990's. The main character is Tony Wilson a news reporter from Granada Television and the head of Factory Records. The story opens in the late 1970's in the Pennines where Tony Wilson reporter for Granada Television is dissatisfied with his job as a television news reporter, then Wilson attended to a concert in June 1976 at Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall by the Sex Pistols. Despite only being attended by 42 people, Wilson cites the concert as a great historical event that would inspire attendees to "go out and perform wondrous deeds". Wilson now the host of a music show, So It Goes, decides to move beyond just putting bands on television and get into promoting concerts. Wilson continues in the music business and with some friends starts Factory Records, singing Joy Division, led by the erratic, brooding lead singer Ian Curtis. The success is short-lived, however, when, just before Joy Division is to tour the United States, Curtis commits suicide  by hanging himself. Despite all the success, Factory Records is losing vast amounts of money, both on The Hacienda nightclub they owned and on recording its bands. Hannett one of Wilson's friend has a falling out with Factory Records over finances, and spirals into decline due to alcohol and drug abuse, he dies at 42. Meanwhile, various aspects of Wilson's life are glossed over, and Wilson takes a moment to acknowledge this, quickly skimming over his divorce from his first wife, Lindsay his second marriage and children. His own drug problems and professional difficulties are also glossed over. "I'm a minor character in my own story," Wilson explains, saying that the stories about the music, as well as Manchester itself, are more important.

Fact Charts

When i look through this chart its as if i was looking at a rocket that it is escalating more as time goes by. This chart shows that prescription drugs are the second most abused drugs after marijuana in the U.S. I think the data is reliable because it comes from the National Survey on Drug use and Health from September 2009. The chart seems to have the data complete and organized because it has the most common abused drugs. I'm sure this will help people to understand and see how big this issue is, and also this chart helps to encourage them to do something about it. The information i saw in this chart was a bit  eccentric because it is obvious that the number of drug users keeps going up. The chart shows that prescription drugs are third most abused drug after marijuana. The most important thing this chart can teach us, is to always be aware of what our kids are doing because these substances are not just around the corner, also around your medicine cabinet doors.



 http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/prescrptn_drgs/chart1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/prescrptn_drgs/

Reflection

When we started brainstorming about what the topic was going to be for our blog i was not sure what i wanted to do, and  i couldn't decide between drug problems or immigration. It was hard to decide because i really wanted to do my blog about immigration because of all that is going on right now, but i ended up doing it about drugs, because i think its an important issue and its something that is engrossing our teens. I've learned from this topic and the research i did so far that the way we see these problems has changed because back then drug problems existed but were not as serious as they are today. Also I've learned that a person is influenced to try alcohol, tobacco or drugs by their parents behavior and attitudes, but not only by their parents also by their classmates, friends or they do it just to try to ''fit in''. Some of the things about my topic i already knew, but now that i got into it more I'm interested in learning more about where is this whole problem going, is it adjacent to an end? or will the number of drug users will keep increasing?

Did you know that illegal drug use its at its highest level in nearly a decade?

The US its loosing its most valuable resource, the next generation to drugs, it is imperative that we do more to address the underlying issues. Young teens are using drugs more often due to many reasons, although people have done many things trying to solve this problem, and there are a lot of places, resources to get help the number of teens using drugs or have used drugs keeps going up. The use of these substances started as a tribal or for religious purposes, but this did not stayed like that for a long time. The way that people began looking at these intoxicating substances has changed over time, so does the people and the way we deal with it. You may ask yourself why are there so many teens using alcohol and other drugs? and we will probably never know why and how this problem has escalated the way it has, but what we do know is that a person is influenced by other peoples behavior and actions. National studies find that parents are a big factor in teens drinking and drug abuse. Sometimes teens are influenced by their parents actions for example teens who have seen at least one of their parents drunk are more than twice as likely to get drunk in a typical month, and three times as likely to use marijuana and smoke cigarettes. Parents are not the only big factor in teens drug abuse, some other reasons have to do with how well a parent has educated their kid, or weather the kid had parents to guide him. Adolescence, when young people begin to branch out their own, is when many are more likely to try alcohol, drugs and cigarettes. But some are more at risk than others that is why is important to teach kids since they are born what is good and what is bad and dangerous. There are five core issues that dictate whether teens abuse alcohol and other drugs. The first factor is the age they start using; the second is how frequently and-or intensely they use substances over a 30-day period; the third and fourth are parental approval and peer approval; the last one is peer-pressure. You may think this is eccentric but here are some interesting facts: Two thirds of teens who drink at least once a month get drunk at least once a month. Teens who get drunk at least once a month are 18 times likelier to use marijuana and likelier to associate with teens who abuse other illegal and prescription drugs. More than one third of teens (8.7 million) can get prescription drugs to get high within a day; nearly one in five teens (4.7 million) can get them within an hour.


   

Source: Student Research Center
Weekend All Things Considered (NPR); 09/19/10

Different Points of View

Illegal drug use in the US and many countries has escalated up to the highest level in nearly a decade. The different views to this issue has been point of attention among society; for quite a while now; but people are still debating and doing all there is to do to support their points of view. The percentage of people who do not support the legalization of illegal substances is higher than the percentage of people that supports the idea of legalization. The people who do not support this idea is the people who had friends or relatives that have died due to illegal substances, or people who have lost a loved one due to someone who was under the influence of an illegal substance. They also think that with legalization of illegal substances, even with the regulations people will find ways around those restrictions. Mr. Peter Delaney (Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, from NPR News, 09/16/2010) said: "When I hear kids on campuses say hey, it's just pot, I'm saying, what's your grades like? you know, do you go to class? We have to stop having a relativistic discussion - saying oh, it's not harmful; please it's not like heroin - and start having a kind of clear discussion of, this is what this one does; this is what this one does. Drug use, it does impact you." on the other hand Ms. Heather Turner (student, UCLA, NPR News) who is in favor of legalization in one of the oldest known illegal substance, Marijuana said: "It's tremendous what it can do for people, you know, for everything from like, migraines to menstrual cramps, to people going through chemotherapy and stuff.'' Officials say the number of people who are getting treatment for drug abuse is still just about the tenth of those who need it. But we still don't know what the future laws will be like, meanwhile let the great debates engross us.