Psychology is the scientific study of human and animal behavior. It is made of
theories and tries to prove why we behave the way we do, our mental processes,
our emotions, and our actions. In this writing assignment I will discuss why
some people choose to behave so outrageous that we see it as abnormal
self-destructive behavior and why others try to fit in this society and follow
the rules. In the United States there`s people from all over the world from
different cultures and traditions. I will give my personal opinion on some of
the issues and controversies in our country. My first issue is about drugs. Many
people feel that certain illegal drugs like heroin, marijuana, and cocaine
should be legalized. I think it`s a crazy idea, people feel that is they
legalize it at first we would buy it but then we would get bored and the use
will decrease, but how many lives will be lost? Is it worth taken a chance? I
don`t think so, tobacco is legal and people don`t get tired of smoking, so if
they legalized these drugs more and more people will get addicted. The effects
of any drug depend on several factors like the amount taken the user`s past drug
experience, the manner in which is taken, and circumstances. Heroin is a highly
addictive drug derived from morphine, which is obtain from the opium poppy. It
is a downer that affects the brains pleasure systems and interferes with the
brains ability to perceive pain. Heroin can be injected into a vein or a muscle,
smoked in a water pipe, inhale as smoke through a straw or snorted as powder via
the nose. Cocaine is a powerful central nervous system stimulant that heightens
alertness, inhibits appetite and the need for sleep, and provides intense
feelings of pleasure. Cocaine`s short-term effects appear soon after a single
dose. Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette or in a pipe or a bong. If you
have a job and you are selected for a urine test marijuana will show up. The
short-term effects of marijuana include problems with memory and learning,
distorted perception, loss of coordination, increased heart rate and anxiety.
The long-term effects of these drugs include slowed and slurred speech,
constricted pupils, droopy eyelids, impaired night vision, sedation, coma,
addiction, convulsions, heart failure, paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, loss
of interest in sex, marijuana even contains some of the same, and sometimes even
more of the cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco. These drugs can hurt you
and those who surround you. I don`t understand why would anyone go through the
risk of dying of overdosed and just the fact of addiction is a nightmare that
many choose to live every day of their lives. Drugs bring me to my next issue
which is why some people think that alcohol and tobacco should be illegal. Let
me start by saying that millions of lives would be safe if smoking and drinking
was illegal. Is it fair for innocent people to die because of a drunk driver or
because of second hand smoke? How much do we value the lives of others and our
own?. You don`t need to drink much alcohol before your ability to dive becomes
impaired. The more heavily you drink, the greater the potential for problems at
home, at work, with friends, and even with strangers. One of my family member
was an alcoholic and I know that they face a lot of problems like arguments with
the family or friends, loss of employment due to absences or decreased
productivity, committing or being the victim of violence and also alcohol can
cause a range of birth defects, the most serious being fetal alcohol syndrome
F.A.S. (physical abnormalities, mental impairment). Children born with
alcohol-related birth defects can have lifelong learning and behavior problems.
Some problems, like those I mentioned above, can occur after drinking over a
relatively short period of time. But other problems such as liver disease, heart
disease, certain forms of cancer, and pancreatitis often develop more gradually
and may become evident only after long-term heavy drinking. Women may develop
alcohol-related health problems after consuming less alcohol that men do over a
short period of time. Some drinkers develop alcoholic hepatitis, or inflammation
of the liver which can cause death if drinking continues. If drinking stops,
this condition often is reversible. Alcohol also causes cirrhosis which is not
reversible and causes death unless you stop and you`re chances of survival
improve considerably. Moderate drinking can have beneficial effects on the
heart, especially among those at greater risk of heart attacks, such as men over
the age of 45 and women after menopause. It wouldn`t be so bad if alcohol was
illegal and you could only get it like most legal drugs with a medical
prescription. Long-term heavy drinking increases the risk for high blood
pressure, heart disease, some kinds of stroke, and cancer, especially cancer of
the esophagus, mouth, throat, and voice box. Women are at slightly increased
risk of developing breast cancer if they drink two or more drinks per day.
Drinking may also increase the risk for developing cancer of the colon and
rectum. The pancreas helps to regulate the body`s blood sugar levels by
producing insulin. The pancreas also has a role in digesting the food we eat.
Long-term heavy drinking can lead to pancreatitis, or inflammation of the
pancreas. Alcohol had a great effect on body, and it does more damage than good.
Tobacco is another drug which I think should be illegal. Tobacco contains
nicotine, an addictive drug that makes it very difficult for users to quit. One
out of every three smokers dies from tobacco related disease. The tobacco
industry main targets are teens, minorities, and women. Nicotine has both
stimulant and depressant effects upon the body. Stimulation of the central
nervous system may cause tremors in the inexperienced user, or even convulsions
with high doses. People who use tobacco products frequently depend upon it
providing the side effects, some of them are the stimulation of the memory and
alertness, alleviation of boredom to help them accomplish certain tasks at
specific levels of performance. Tobacco is believed to have an addictive
potential comparable to alcohol, cocaine, and morphine. There are many
associated health risks. In general, chronic exposure to nicotine may cause an
acceleration of coronary artery disease, peptic ulcer disease, reproductive
disturbances, fetal illness and death. Tobacco and its various components have
been associated with an increased risk for cancer of various body organs like
cancer of the oral cavity, esophagus, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, stomach, cervix,
and bladder. Another big problem with smoking is second hand smoke. Many people
who have never smoked once develop cancer faster than a regular smoker. Some of
the health risks in children are: increased frequency of respiratory infections,
asthma, and decreases in lung function as the lungs mature. We all know there
are many good reasons to stop smoking or never start. Tobacco can also cause
brain damage, there is strong link between smoking and strokes; it increases
cholesterol and decreases the vitamin C levels in your blood. Smokers have a
higher lifetime frequency of substances abuse, severe depression, anxiety
disorders, and other psychological problems. Smoking can also make you look
older. Heavy smokers have nearly five times as many wrinkles as their
non-smoking peers. Since more people get connected to the Internet every day,
pornography has become a very discussed issue in our society. Constitutional
rights freedom of speech and expression do not factor in to the risk of harm
carried by pornography. There is pornography protected by the First Amendment
and illegal pornography which is not. Pornography use is a choice, and is like
an addictive drug; a little can get you hooked and too much can damage your
life. Pornography aside, sex is selling for businesses that aren`t even selling
sex. The mere existence of the advertising industry and the billions of dollars
spent on advertising are proof that visual images persuade. I do think that
pornography is psychologically and socially harmful and should be illegal in all
forms. Pornography shapes attitudes and the way people view relationships and
sex roles, specifically by normalizing aggression towards women for some men in
sexual and other interpersonal encounters and increasing the tolerance for
aggression toward women in the larger culture. Sexual interest and sexual acts
of any kind are mistaken for acts of love. Sex gives the illusion of being loved
and appreciated. In the absence of love, people seek intimacy through porn and
sex. Casual sex is portrayed as exciting and desirable outside of a committed
relationship. Beauty is measured by proportion of body parts, shaping
unrealistic expectations of what a woman`s body should look like. Pornography`s
messages about sex and sexual fulfillment are misleading. Pornography also hurts
kids. Teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases like Aids are completely
nonexistent in porn, giving a false believe that there is no adverse
consequences to behaviors depicted in pornography. Teaching that sexual
experimentation with anyone, anywhere is a major theme considered fun in
pornography. Pornography teaches that women enjoy being stripped, forcibly
abused and even raped. Other messages in pornography are drug addiction,
prostitution, exhibitionism and voyeurism are branded in the minds of children
as normal behavior. One such message is that women are sex toys readily
available for sexual fulfillment by anyone and are devoid of value, worth and
feelings. These messages found to hurt adults have an even greater impacts on
kids. Child pornography consists of photographs, video tapes, books, magazines,
and films that depict children in sex acts, all of which are illegal. Child porn
has become a sophisticated multi-million dollar black market industry. Hard core
pornography of adults is legal to posses but illegal to distribute. My last
point of discussion is the choice women have of abortion. There are for options
when a women is pregnant with a child. First the option of having and raising
the baby, thus bearing responsibility if she could have helped conceiving the
child, in cases where the pregnancy was due to consensual sex. The other option
is to have the child and raise it, thus showing love to the child where the
woman isn`t responsible for the pregnancy, she was raped. The third option is to
have the child and gave it away for abortion, regardless of how the child was
conceived. The last option is to have an abortion. The morality of abortion
depends upon the nature and identity of the thing being aborted. I do think that
abortion should be illegal except in cases where the baby had a defect or the
woman was raped. I do believe abortion is the taking of a human life, being
morally equivalent to murder or manslaughter. The issue of the identity of the
unborn (is it human or not?) is prior logically to the issue of the woman`s
right to choose. There is no morally relevant difference between a fetus and a
viable child who is outside the womb. Fist the size of the fetus doesn`t
determine its humanness; the level of development which would mean that a 25
year old man is more human than a 13 year old boy; the environment, so if I step
out of the house, do I become less of a human being? also the degree of
dependence, appearance and function, many people have hardly any functional
abilities at all but they are still considered humans. Abortion is permissible
in the case of rape. Rape is bad. There is no doubt about this. But if abortion
is taking the life of a human being, then adding murder or manslaughter to an
already existing rape hardly solves the problem. We have four logical
possibilities concerning abortion. First the unborn is a human being and we know
it. Second the unborn is a human being and we do not know it. Third the unborn
is not a human being and we know it. Fourth the unborn is not human and we do
not know it. To me abortion turns out to be the intentional killing of a human
being, which should e considered murder. If the case abortion is not murder. But
it is not okay either. Abortion turns out to be manslaughter. For manslaughter
is the unintentional killing of a human being. What lives in the womb is a real
child, a small person, a human being essentially like us, in the first phase of
his or her existence. Our society will never be perfect and I think that`s our
main goal. I have discuss some of the more controversial issues in our society
today but it is impossible for everyone to agree on one solution.