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Englisch

BG/BRG Knittelfeld

2003

Julia D. ©
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ID# 179







DRUGS

Turn on, tune in, drop dead?

GO ASK ALICE (biography)

Alice was a little girl at the age of fifteen. She had a lot of friends, who admired her a lot because she was really pretty and she was always good at school. Even the teachers liked her. When she entered a room, she lit up the whole place.

She seemed to be the happiest little girl in the whole world. The girl had the ability to make everyone laugh. Alice had wonderful, thoughtful parents, who helped her as well they could. Her plans for the future were to have a good job, to get married one day and to found a family.

But the truth was that she was a very sad, young girl. She really didn’t like her life, she didn’t like herself. Inside she was scared and doubtful. When Alice looked in the mirror, she only saw an ugly, little, plump girl with weird (freaky) hair and a potatoe-nose.

She was really discontent with herself. Sometimes she thought that committing suicide would be the only way out.

Her parents, her friend , really nobody, know about her thoughts.

She started a diet to lose weight, but even that couldn’t stop her uneasiness. One day she got some drugs from a strange boy. First Alice had second thoughts: ”Should I take it or not?” But then she couldn’t overcome this temptation and took the pills.

These drugs made her feel free and she loved this feeling. She was able to forget about all her problems. The drugs got banal[1] (day-to-day) and the girl became an addict.

Theories about why people start taking drugs

à The “Weak Personality” Theory:

- People take drugs because they have a weak personality and because they are inadequate[2] in some way. Drug-takers take drugs to escape from their problems

à The “Evil Pusher” Theory:

- People take illegal drugs because a “pusher” tricks them into trying drugs à he or she make them addicted and then sell them drugs for a high profit (are people, who sell drugs or alcohol pushers?)

àThe “Pleasure” Theory:

- People take drugs because they like the effect

àThe “Rebel” Theory:

- Young people take drugs in order to rebel against their parents and against the rest of the society – they take drugs because they are illegal

àThe “Doesn’t Know Any Better” Theory:

- Only stupid people and people who do not understand the facts take drugs

àThe “Curiosity” Theory:

- People are just curious about the effect of drugs and want to know for themselves what it is like.

àThe “Fashion” Theory:

- People take drugs because it is fashion to take it.

àThe “In-with-the-crowd” Theory:

- People take drugs if they want to belong to the crowd. They do not like to feel different and like to take part in what other people are doing.

àThe “Because-it-is-offered” Theory:

- People take the drugs because they get the opportunity – they might take a legal or illegal drug just because it is offered to them (even though they were not looking for it.)

àThe “Strong-desire-of-attracted-some-attention” Theory

Drugs – A Basic Briefing

- Amphetamines (Speed): white or brown powder, in pill or capsule form, sniffed or injected à effects: lively, giggly, overalert à depressive and difficult with sleep can follow à heavy use can produce feeling of persecution.

- Cannabis (Pot, Dope, Hash, Grass): hard brown resinous[3] material or herbal mixture, smoked in a reefer (joint) or pipe –sometimes with tobacco, distinctive[4] herbal smell à to feel drunken, talkative à risk of accidents when intoxicated[5].

- Cocaine (Coke): white powder, commonly sniffed, injected or smoked à similar effects to amphetamine but more likely to lead to dependence.

- Crack (rock): used form of cocaine, smoked or snorted[6]à like cocaine, but more addictive[7] than any other form of cocaine.

- LDS (Acid): tiny coloured tablets, microspots on blotting paper[8], small impregnated stamps, taken by mouth à glazed eyes and sometimes overexcitement à heavy use can produce acute confusion and ideas of persecution

- Heroin (Smack, Skag): white or speckled brown powder, heated on silver foil and fumes inhaled, sniffed or injected à initial[9] alertness[10] - drowsiness[11] and “drunken” appearance à overdose can produce unconsciousness à regular frequent use produce dependence à abstinence can result in physical withdrawal symptoms similar to flu (Heroin is made from morphine, an addictive drug used in medicine for stopping pain and making people calmer.

Dangers of drugs:

- having an accident while under their influence

- some drugs may depress or stop breathing

- accidental overdose can lead to unconsciousness or even death

- addiction or dependence, after regular use

- bring on confusion and frightening hallucinations

- cause unbalanced emotions or more serious mental disorders

- violently sick (first time users)

- regular users may become constipated

- girls can miss their periods

- later: more serious mental and physical deterioration

- infections leading to sores, abscesses, jaundice[14], blood poisoning and AIDS virus

Fates of people

- Age 25, talented painter and sculptor, has occasional small jobs to earn his living, lives in small studio flat with his girlfriend, dropped out of university (art school), smoked pot for pleasure and inspiration, takes LSD every week with his friend, thinks it helps his work, aware of the danger of heroin (will never try it)

- Age 55, doctor, unmarried, lives alone above his surgery[15], was unhappy about being totally overworked under lousy conditions, has easy access[16] to dangerous drugs, took morphine - when depressed - two years ago – now takes morphine when he has a lot to work, hooked on it.

- Age 46, secretary in small office, lives in a small house with husbands and children, started drinking at sixteen (had to drink a lot whenever with boys to overcome her shyness), tried to stop (became worried about it), took to tranquillizers[17] to reduce tension of not drinking but soon went back to drinking as well, lost friends, became aggressive, often trouble with family, denies[18] that she is an alcoholic, has to lie to doctor to get enough pills

An interview with Dr. Fielding

This interview with Dr. Fielding, a drug psychologist, is about drugs, their risks and about how you get hooked on its.

The diary of Alice gives a good insight into the life of a drug addict. It is about one girl who is drawn into the drug- scene. It is really difficult to escape from drugs because the adults, our paragons, who should throw light on the risks of drugs, are taking drugs too. They have the same problems, so how they could help the teenagers?

We are living in a drug consuming age, more and more people take drugs and the grown-ups should inform the youngsters, but they can’t lock up their children.

Young people need friends and they need constant passion, otherwise it is really likely to occur that teenagers start taking drugs. They look for a way to stop their pains, their problems, or they can’t resist the temptation of this illegal thing.

Dr. Fielding mentions that if a friend offers you some drugs, it will be difficult to say no, but it is easier to say no to a stranger. He is of the opinion that drugs know no boundaries of classes. Everyone is at risk to start taking drugs, to get hooked on its – also doctors, politicians or sportsmen.

People turn to prostitution, they become muggers or they do shop lifting and it is not easy to prevent that. And how can we prevent teenagers from getting hooked on drugs? Young people need grown-ups, who understand and help them. The adults should inform their kids about the basic facts and maybe the youngsters, who have a drug problem, should share this problem with their families.

In Dr. Fielding’s eyes the young people should have confidence to their families – there ought to be a good communication between kids and adults. For him it is fatal that the parents have a moralising attitude. They shouldn’t say the whole time that their children do something wrong.

They shouldn’t point out their mistakes to them the whole time and they shouldn’t see them only as children, who have no free will, no own opinion. They should accept them as a person with a personality and an own will.

Page 133 ex.18 – Love is the key for teenagers to quit smoking

- Teenagers are more likely to give up smoking if they boyfriend or girlfriend wants them to than through the influence of cancer warnings, health campaigners.

- girls are most likely to be influenced to give up smoking by their boyfriends, and the other way round.

- campaigns have failed to persuade young people that smoking was harmful (especially girls)

- celebrities influenced teenagers

- show that is not to sexy to smoke

- teenagers have crazy ideas about the risk of smoking – they think it is about as important to avoid traffic fumes as cigarettes

- half are going to kill themselves (unless they quit smoking)

- non-smokers have low lung cancer risks (despite traffic pollution)

- smokers, who lived in the countryside had high lung cancer risks à smoking and not pollution should be blamed.

- one in four 15-year-olds are regular smokers





[1] alltäglich

[2] mangelhaft

[3] harzig

[4] markant

[5] berauscht

[6] schnupfen

[7] Süchtig machen

[8] Löschpapier

[9] anfänglich

[10] Wachheit

[11] Schläfrigkeit, Benommenheit

[12] ableiten

[13] verschlungen

[14] Gelbsucht

[15] Ordination

[16] Zugriff

[17] Beruhigungsmittel

[18] leugnen

[19] On the dole


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