by Wes Becker

Created on: May 20, 2008

Drugs, one word that can go to encompass a whole broad classification of chemical substances. When most of us first think of drugs we think of things like cocaine, LSD, marijuana and all other substances that are portrayed readily in the media and pop culture. We think of gang run business selling their products on dark street corners in the middle of the worst parts of town. But in reality drugs include many everyday substances. Very legal substances are constituted as drugs. Tobacco, caffeine and alcohol are all drugs as well. These substances are used everyday. While all of these substances produce negative effects, some produces limited positive results.

Caffeine is one drug that most Americans use everyday. From coffee to tea, many people in this country start their day off with caffeine. This drug boosts energy and mood. It is a psychoactive drug. Other psychoactive drugs include pain killers and heroine. A medication or medicine is a drug taken to cure and/or ameliorate any symptoms of an illness or medical condition, or may be used as preventive medicine that has future benefits but does not treat any existing or pre-existing diseases or symptoms. These drugs have symptoms, but they all work together to end a certain illness in a particular body or person. Drugs that are medicine can be taken in a numer of different ways. They can be taken orally as a liquid or solid. This involves being ingested through the stomach. Some drugs can be inhaled through the lungs as vapor. Another way to get the effects of these drugs is by injection of liquids straight into the bloodstream. Drugs can also be taken rectally or vaginally.

Many cultures use drugs in their practice of religion. This is an activity that has been in use since pre-historic times. Some religions are totally based on the use of drugs. These religions of native peoples from the Americas, east Asia and Africa many now be in declining numbers due to mass conversions to Christianity and Islam, but the drugs are still a central part to a people's culture and way of life. If a drug is central to a religion or culture, and it allows people to be spiritually connected to something larger then themselves then they must bring some positive effects.

Although people used to use drugs in a religious context, they are now mainly used for recreation. People use these drugs simply for the effects and to have fun. If people still used these drugs to connect themselves with something larger then themselves then the drugs might bring some positive effects, but now they are only seen as ways to have fun. These drugs impair peoples minds, and this is why they are illegal in most nations of the world.

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