TheTelegraph

London, England
Monday, March 18, 2013
3 pages
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Drug abuse on the rise

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Britons wanted certain drugs decriminalized.
Its human nature for one to defend his
actions. Its not surprising that 86% of
frequent
drug
users
want
drugs
decriminalized, since they wish to defend
themselves. Regardless of the fact, Britain is
caught up in a potential drug war, focused
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mainly on marijuana.

Despite the illegal status of the drugs, drug

users have found their own avenues to acquire
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their substances. Sources indicate that drug
One of the biggest issues in England and in
users are most likely to acquire drugs from
the UK in general is drug abuse. Statistics
their friends, in which case the friend would
show that nearly one third of Britains
buy the drug from the dealer for the drug
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population has taken an illegal drug.
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takers own protection.
Its becoming
Fortunately, only 21% ever continue to take
extremely hard to keep drugs from coming,
such drugs, most of whom are between 16 and
what with online shopping on the rise. Silk
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34 years old.
Even so, these drugs are still
Road, an anonymous online store, is notorious
illegal, and, therefore, should be banned from
for drugs online. Only 16% of current drug
England, and possibly the entire United
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users buy online, but that statistic may climb.
Kingdom.
Due to the costs of drugs, substance abuse
Its important to note that the opinion that
can lead to negative effects on family. Drugs
drugs should be banned is not shared by
will not only affect the addict on a personal
everyone. According to a survey, 39% of
level, but trauma is brought to the addicts

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family.
One example is poverty. If you were
to look at the price of cocaine, one ounce of the
substance in the UK was almost 785 in the
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year 2011.
Cannabis, another popular drug,
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averaged approximately 121 per ounce.
Frequent use of these drugs can put a family
into poverty, and the consequences can be
devastating.

Addicts and non-addicts have split views,

but its common sense that the effects of drugs
are negative in the long run. Even if an addict
takes prescription drugs for recreational
purposes (or legal highs), thats almost just
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as bad.
All evidence points to the fact that
illegal drugs can ruin lives, but in a nonbiased
manner, they are one of Englands biggest
issues.

Educational failure
continues to be a subject of
debate

Have you ever gone into a secondary school

classroom expecting that all the students will
be well behaved?
How often has your
prediction been proven wrong? Why do you
think that is? You see, a large portion of
Englands secondary students arent getting the
best education, and the reason is very
controversial. I can give you an example: Is it
the students faults, or is it the teachers faults?
I thought this question was interesting, so I
searched for causes of the educational failure
and selected three articles to read.
One argument is that the transition between
primary and secondary schools is much too
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abrupt.
Students dont have enough time to
absorb the culture and rules, and they begin to
feel like they cant succeed. They feel less
motivated. The argument implies that the
transition between schools with different
disciplinary policies may also be a factor. This

can lead to poor behavior that makes learning

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seem impossible,
which can spread through
the classroom like a virus. Inadequate teacher
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training may also be an issue.
This makes
sense, as the teachers are in charge of
discipline and teaching in the classroom, but
they also may be allowing students to use
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their mobile phones.
Its easy to see why this
is a factor.

For somebody to learn somebodys got to

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allow them to learn.
For someone to learn,
he must be taught well. A group of business
leaders concluded that the education system
needs more emphasis on team building,
emotional maturity, empathy and other
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interpersonal skills.
Who wants the next
generation of workers to not be able to work as
a team?

An opposing argument could be that the

students themselves are the problem. On live
TV, celebrities were enlisted to teach struggling
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children.
The expectation was that the
children would be awed by the experience and
listen to their new teachers. Surprisingly as it
was, the reverse happened. The celebrity
teachers were unable to control the students.
So why dont kids listen to people they watch
and listen to on TV and radio all the time?

Drug abuse on the rise sources:

The fact is, with so many credible claims, I

really didnt know who to trust. But I agree
with an even more convincing argument that
came from the same article that mentioned the
TV celebrity teachers. The article suggested
that in the past, billions of pounds have been
spent on state education without making any
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difference, quoted from Dr David Starkey.
Starkey also mentioned that the students
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needed stronger discipline.
Ive seen for
myself that students, especially younger and
undisciplined ones, are especially difficult to
control. Starkey said something important that
I dont think everyone understands right away:

1.
Man smoking with cocaine. Digital image.
The
Sun
. Web.
2.
Mann, Jim.
"Drug Use Is Rising, But We're Not
Addicted."
The Guardian

. Web.
3.
Winnett, Robert.
"Britain Named the
European Capital of Drug Addiction."
The Telegraph

.
Telegraph Media Group. Web.
4.
"Drug Prices."
Independent Drug Monitoring
Unit
. Web.
5.
UK drug bust. Digital image.
LBC
. Web.
Educational failure continues to be a subject of
debate sources:
1.
British classroom. Digital image.
Start
Empathy
. Web.
2.
Weale, Sally, and Richard Adams. "Ofsted
Chief Warns of Growing Failure in England's
Secondary Schools."
The Guardian
. Web.
3.
"British Education System Is Our 'greatest
National Crisis' Says David Starkey."
The Telegraph
.
Telegraph Media Group. Web.
4.
Howse, Patrick. "Education 'failing Economic
Needs'"
BBC News
. Web.