Go ask Alice yourself: False Anti-Drug Propaganda.
About 570,000 people die annually due to drug use, but “Alice” was not one of those numbers. The troubling controversial tales of a 15-year-old drug addict may not be as authentic as you once thought. Many have read the “diary” of a young girl 's life who ultimately lost her life due to her of curiosity of drugs, and the world around her in the late 60’s. There has been controversy over the years regarding the authenticity of the book, Go Ask Alice, regardless of whether the author actually existed, the fact remains that drug abuse and mental disorders are real issues, but help should always be delivered with honesty.
Go Ask Alice is a 1971 novel that is the self-proclaimed “real-life diary” an anonymous teenage girl, that has worked as a piece of anti-drug propaganda for forty-four years, little do readers know that it is truly written by Beatrice Sparks. The book was published with the following statement, “A lot of teenagers take drugs and runaway-some never make it back. This is
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Consequently, there have been many fooled by “Alice’s” story and not only readers of this diary. Beatrice Sparks a Mormon youth counselor and therapist has gone on to fabricate plenty more “diaries, and “journals” in her time. From Alice to Jay a boy who got lost in the occult, Annie a teen mother, Nancy dying of AIDs, and many more stories purporting to be the true stories of these children 's lives. There have been real life consequences from the writings of Jay’s Journal, which she used bits of a real patient 's journal to create. The family of the troubled boy have come out saying that their son was never influenced, or apart of the occult among the encounters of his actual journal. This woman has tricked and is still fooling people all around the world. These kids need honesty and genuine help if we are ever to stop the youths contact with drugs and hard paths of life, not lies and fabricated stories that ruin real people
Ellen Hopkins’ Crank is an epic poem geared toward warning young people of the various consequences of using dangerous drugs. However important its message, it provides a single story, a stereotypical tale influenced by pop culture about addiction and the people it affects. In the poem, the heroine, Kristina Snow, gets addicted to methamphetamines, otherwise known as “crank”. Her life takes a downward turn that includes pregnancy and dropping out of school. The poem depicts just one experience with drug abuse and links it to what is perceived to be the most likely thing to happen if you get addicted to drugs, providing a false single story for the young people it targets.
Within this music video, a negotiated position is taken by the audience. While some people can relate to the images shown in the video, not everyone identifies with or understands the dangers. Some may claim that this video is an inaccurate representation of drug users and its effects, whereas outsiders may completely accept the overall argument. Drug users should view this video with complete acceptance and agreement, but like Macklemore said in his lyrics, the majority of users do not believe they have a problem. This video however was intended to reveal that drugs are destructive and there is nothing beneficial about them.
On a seemingly emotional high after attending a high school party as a rising freshman, Melinda’s world got turned upside down when she was taken advantage of by a popular senior jock. Along with the pain of the trauma itself, Melinda was reminded of her terrible ordeal each time she came in contact with Andy: “I want to throw up and I can smell him and I run and he remembers and he knows. He whispers in my ear” (Anderson 86). When Andy encroached on her sanctuary in the art room and destroyed her work, Melinda shut down and locked herself in her closet, where she “stuffed [her] mouth with old fabric and screamed until there were no sounds left under [her] skin” (Anderson 162). While interactions with others could incite her anxiety and feelings of depression, continued encounters with her rapist further aggravated Melinda.
After reading the novel, Righteous Dopefiend, I have a different lens in which I can view substance abuse and individuals who suffer from substance abuse disorders. All of the characters in the novel offered a unique perspective to different aspects of substance abuse disorders and the challenges associated with substance abuse and homelessness. However, despite all of the interesting aspects of each individual in the novel, the character Tina stuck out most to me and had the greatest impact on how I will view and engage with individuals who may suffer from substance abuse disorders. Initially what caught my attention about Tina was the chapters that described how she lived as a female on the streets, which was often considered “a man’s place”.
He does a commendable job of avoiding prejudicial tropes of the era and does not demonize the drugs themselves, noting that the drug “was neither diabolical nor divine” (63). By outlining the physical, psychological, and social effects of addiction, Stevenson presents a realistic portrayal of this problem without demonizing the person suffering from addiction, and in couching as a metaphor he successfully avoids exploiting addicts as well. The narrative, especially at the time of its publication, was suspenseful, terrifying, and enthralling, and though these elements may not have aged well as the work seems rather tame by today’s standards, the story of addiction has only increased in
“A gram is better than a damn,” is a statement that reflects the mindset of contemporary America to use drugs to palliate the problems rather than dealing with them. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley shows the relationship of drug usage in the near future by alluding the use of drugs to the real world. Huxley creates a drug, soma, in his novel that makes a person who takes it instantly becomes tranquil. This drug is commonly used throughout the novel by giving an instant source of gratification and also is used to control the population. Huxley’s prediction of drug usage became a reality because both legal and illegal drugs are commonly used in contemporary society.
This is proof that just because the book shows consequences does not mean that she obeyed by them. This is a concern because it could teach young readers that it's adequate to turn back to drugs even though you are on probation. Also, she is talking about a new drug she has not tried yet and that is not a good mind frame for an eleven-year-old. It is setting our future up for failure by teaching young kids that the information
She is addicted to sleeping meds and is brainwashed by society. ‘“What? Did we have a wild party or something? Feel like I’ve a hangover. Who was here?”’
She was a loving mother, but struggled heavily with alocholism, depression, anxiety, hoarding behaviours and OCD. Inevitably, Carroll’s tendency to lie ultimately landed her son in jail. In
Marissa Woo Ms. Barwise ENG 111 10 November 2016 Acknowledgement of the Unknown: A Delve into Amy Tan’s “Confessions” Amy Tan’s “Confessions” initially appears to stand as a story of verbal and physical abuse, but later is uncovered to be a tale of the complexity of truth and unknown. The narrator describes a moment in her life when she was confronted by anger, fear, and isolation, in the face of young adulthood. She must deal with her threatening and unstable mother, who is slowly losing her memory.
She took as much as twenty grammes a day” (Huxley 143). The truth is that not everybody is happy, but in order to control the masses and escape this hard truth, drugs are distributed and consumed. The fact that drugs are a distraction is not a secret, so instead of solving the issues at hand it is much easier to provide distractions so people will not come to a realization and revolt or cave under the
As most people know, drug can easily make people addicted. Conventional drugs such as opium, heroin, methamphetamine (ice), morphine, marijuana, cocaine can all classify as narcotic drugs and psychotropic drugs. Drug has been a severe problem for decades. The U.S government attaches great importance to this issue. However, there are just an increasing number of people calling for legalizing drugs.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland can be described as a work of fantasy and literary nonsense. The story follows seven-year-old Alice, as she falls down a rabbit hole and enters a strange and absurd world
Drug Addiction : Treatment or Punishment? When a person takes a drug the chemicals affect the brain by interfering with how the neurons send messages. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the structure of Marijuana and Heroin mimic a natural neurotransmitter which tricks the receptors into allowing the drug to activate neurons inside the brain which interferes with messages and leads to abnormalities of behavior. With other drugs such as cocaine there is an abnormally large amount of neurotransmitters released which disrupts communication channels.
As of recent, the war on drugs has been a very often discussed topic due to many controversial issues. Some people believe the War on Drugs has been quite successful due to the amount of drugs seized and the amount of drug kingpins arrested. I believe this to be the wrong mindset when it comes to the war on drugs. The war on drugs isn’t a winnable one so we must do all that is possible to assist those who struggle with drug addiction and decriminalize small amounts of drugs. These minor changes in the way we combat drugs will create significant change and have lasting effects.