Platonic Essay Setting: It is early Saturday morning and three characters, Dr. Andrew Jacobs, Slade Johnson, and Bruce Wilson, are gathered over breakfast discussing the topic of prescription drug abuse and addiction. Dr. Jacobs: Hey guys, I was reading the newspaper today and I stumbled across a section stating that the abuse of prescription drugs, especially pain killers, is becoming a major problem. I am curious to hear your thoughts on this. Slade: Interesting, I actually read that same article and I don’t think that it’s that big of a problem. The newspaper probably ran out of things to write so they added that in as an extra story. Bruce: I must disagree with your assumption Slade. Prescription drug abuse is actually a bigger problem than …show more content…
Bruce: Now, what I would like to know next is; who is affected the most by this crisis? Dr. Jacobs: If my knowledge is correct, “Men ages 25 to 54 have the highest numbers of prescription drug overdoses and are around twice as likely to die from an overdose than women, but rates for women ages 25 to 54 are increasing faster” (Levi 9). Therefore, those in this age group are affected the most by the prescription drug dilemma. Slade: Let’s not forget that the families and others who have relationships with those involved with the drugs are also affected. In all honesty, we are all affected; there was actually a study showing that “in 2006, nonmedical use of prescription painkillers imposed a cost of about $53.4 billion on the U.S. economy” (Levi 4). Bruce: unbelievable! I never realized that it had such an impact on the economy. This problem needs to be fixed as soon as possible. Slade: The only solution that there is to give every last one of these drug addicts and abusers a fine and then lock them up! If they actually followed instructions they wouldn’t be in the mess that they are in to begin with! These types of people don’t deserve second chances. Dr. Jacobs: I think your judging too