Alcohol and other drugs have coexisted with humans since as long as man can remember. Individuals often think these drugs are new, however this is not the case by no means. Drugs and man go hand in hand. In china the emperor recommended marijuana for medical use over 4,000 years ago. Spanish conquistadors found that natives of Peru chewed on coca leaves for the stimulating effects. (Henslin, 80) When Christopher Columbus made it back to Europe he brought a new drug back with him called tobacco. Europeans loved this new thing called smoking tobacco, but King James I felt as if this was a harmful drug so he warned others it would cause bad health problems. Rulers of other countries took it a bit further by putting their subjects to death if …show more content…
Most smokers are males. The number of people who smoke cigarettes has greatly decreased since the 1960s. Alcohol related deaths are about 9,400 American each year. Around 10 million Americans are considered alcoholics. Alcohol doesn’t seem to be a big epidemic in our society today, because everyone uses it and advertisements glorify it. The advertising to alcohol makes it seem so fun and hip to do, nevertheless this is a very serious mood changing substance. Alcohol don’t only causes death it leads to rape, birth defect, medical problems, and much more. People are more likely to not be addicted to alcohol if they see it as a part of everyday life. People who become alcoholics are more likely to have someone to tell them it is bad or for adults their whole life. Marijuana unlike the other drug doesn’t kill its users. Smoking marijuana has it health affects just like smoking cigarettes, because smoke damages the respiratory system. However marijuana helps a lot of things such as; asthma, epilepsy, pain, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and much more. Marijuana became illegal because government felt as if America was going down hill. After the Spanish found cocaine they brought it back to Europe and used for medicine and of course recreational use. Cocaine was even used in Coca-Cola at one point in time. Cocaine was accidentally made illegal when the Harrison Act of 1914 considered cocaine as a