Drug Use in New York

New York City is well known for its diverse activities and communities. In the research by Ronald, Kessler, Eric and Denise (1976), it shows how New York students are victims of drug abuse and their distribution, trends, and rates of change of use. The study was undertaken as a matter of national concern about the usage and addiction of drugs. The authors Denise Kandel is a well-known American medical sociologist and epidemiologist, Eric Single is an author to many drugs uses articles, and Ronald Kessler was an American journalist and author of 21 non-fiction books about the White House, U.S. Secret Service, FBI, and CIA.

The research was targeted on students, and a two-wave panel survey was carried out on a multiphase random sample of the target population was undertaken to gather the information required. The first sample was stratified and collected in schools, and the second clustered by homerooms o enable the collection of objectives, desirable data. It was recorded that more than 34% of the New York students had used illegal drugs at any time in their life. The school with the lowest rate was at 28% and the highest at 38%. Drug use rate was high and was anticipated to go higher, and this was due to the availability of drug sources. In New York, people are exposed to drugs but not as open as we could relate to the narrator in the novel. Cocaine is a powerful illegal drug in the United States, but it is still distributed and used by New Yorkers who can have access to them. The narrator in the novel has had troubles with himself internally, which has made him vulnerable to bad sinking behaviors. It is also seen that ambitious people in New York are forced to take jobs they are not comfortable with, and this is one of the significant issues causing them to abuse drugs. Drugs have often been associated with women, the narrator’s reason to use drugs is the fact that his wife had left him for another man and at last found himself in bed with a teenage girl.

The research notably reveals that most people who live in New York are vulnerable to drug abuse. New York is a city of opportunities, but not everyone gets to get whatever he desires. The narrator living in Manhattan, and often going to clubs and night parties suggest that most people in the New York usually take refuge in bars to calm off stress and distract their minds at night mostly by engaging drugs. New York is generally a happy place to live in, but not for the drug users and fragile community. The research found out there were growing rates of drug abuse, which was suggestive that more people could soon be seen broken like the narrator. The government in the 1980s was up on their feet trying to work on eliminating drugs such as cocaine used by the author, but they could be sneaked in by dealers through extreme means. In conclusion, some of the fictional views of New York are the true reflection of the existing conditions.

Reference

Kessler C., Single E., and Kandel R., (1976). The Epidemiology of Drug Use among New York State High School Students: Distribution, Trends, and Change in Rates of Use. Epidemiology of Drug Use. Vol. 66, No. 1