We Live In An Era of Drugs
By Hector Gonzalez

This is the era of the drug culture. It seems like everyone is on something, to stimulate their mind or to physically enhance their well-being.

Coffee used to be an adult drink; kids would never ask their parents to buy them coffee. But now it seems like almost everyone drinks coffee, including pre- teens. Even when it comes to a child's favorite such as ice cream, who would have thought that the most popular flavor of the new millennium would be coffee? All over America, pre-teens are going to Starbuck's for their daily dose of a caramel frappuchino.   Seeing teenagers hanging out Starbuck's is not rare at all, in fact many times, the workers themselves are teenagers.

Back in the day, kids used to drink Gatorade as an energy intake before a basketball game, but now they have “energy” drinks such Red Bull and Monster. The caffeine from one energy drink is about a cup of coffee, which for the most part is not healthy for a pre-teen to consume, yet the energy drink market and Starbuck's have even been able to get young kids drugged up with no major public outcry. After all, caffeine is a drug.

At one point in America, some one might have said, “I need a cup of coffee to get me through the day”, or even, “ I'm so depressed that I drink my problems away.” All through out grammar school I would hear teachers saying, “ I need a cup of coffee.” These sayings were perhaps the catalyst for an America that now depends on drugs to not just get them through the day, but literally to get them through life as a whole. For better sex you have Viagra, for uppers you have caffeine, and to relieve stress after work a beer will get the job done.

The American life style is a very complicated one, so complicated that it is unnatural and thus unhealthy. Everything from food, work, and television are all contributing factors to our over all lack of health and well-being. A few years ago, when I barely had turned 21 and was just going to school, I thought that going out to clubs and partying hard was a waste of time. Now that I am in the work field and spend approximately forty hours of my week working, I have come to realize that people who party at clubs are not wasting their time at all. Going to the club and getting a few drinks is actually a necessity for many people who are consumed by work.

Some of the most top selling medical pharmaceuticals are drugs that help us to continue to live this American lifestyle. The top selling drug at the moment is Lipitor that treats high cholesterol, and Zoloft a drug that helps depression, is another top ten. Most of the twenty most sold prescription drugs will treat high cholesterol, heartburn, depression or asthma. These are afflictions that many times will be caused by the complexities of the American lifestyle. Things such as high cholesterol and heartburns are both caused by food intake, high blood pressure and fattening foods can also lead to depression. Even asthma is many times caused by the amount of pollution in the environment.

Growing up in the 90's, a decade where the television seemed to be the primary dictator of the lifestyles we chose, the “Say No To Drugs” campaign was all over the place. Pop culture outlets like MTV and rap music that might contribute to the encouragement of drug use, would be counteracted with the prevalence of the “Say No To Drugs” campaign. Today, the largest hazard to the health of our youth and society in general is the drugs that are in our food. With that said, I wonder why the there isn't a “Say No To Fast Food Campaign” on television, instead there are prescription drug commercials that are not intended to counteract the McDonald's commercial, but rather, as a reminder of what pills to take once the heart burns start occurring.

We Americans are becoming victims of our own greed, consuming much more than we need, and now we paying the consequences.

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