Writing 103--Spring 2024

  Photo illustration: Opioid epidemic and drug abuse. Opioids are a prescription pain medication or they are illegal drugs. Over the years the rate of death from this type of drug progressed quickly. There is treatment you can receive for this type of substance abuse but you must want it. People who do receive this treatment either progress or relapse. Since the early 2000s more than 800,000 Americans have died from overdosing on opioids. The big question is what causes the addiction to this drug? People do not know the answer to that question. Is it because it helps with pain or it just makes people feel good? Studies show that even doing it one time can get someone addicted to opioids. After a period of taking the substance for a long time and multiple times a day you can experience euphoria. Euphoria is the feeling of happiness. You also can experience withdrawal if you stop or not take enough of the drug.  By Alyssa Valentin  Posted April 28, 2017  In Articles...

Teen Drug Abuse      “His lips were ash white. His pupils were popping out,” the boy’s mother, Lilia  Astudillo, said. Jose Perez was a 14-year-old from Texas who told his mom "I'm not a  drug addict" and told his mom to not take him  anywhere  for help.       The next morning Jose was dead. His mother was planning on taking him for help the next day, but it was too late. Jose was one of three people in his district to die in a span of months.        It leaves parents thinking "Why didn't I help them sooner", and "What could I have done". This small town in Texas isn't the only town suffering from this problem.         Teen drug addiction is a complex issue that has significant implications for many teenagers. It affects their social life, family life, and every aspect of their day-to-day life.  Drug abuse encompasses the misuse of alcohol, marijuana, nicotine, and much more.  D...

Highway signs warning about drinking and driving Did you know  intoxicated drivers cause 4.13 times more  accidents  than sober drivers? In 2012, a company named TruTouch invented an infrared alcohol detector. Installed in vehicles, this technology works by detecting the amount of alcohol present in a person by the amount of infrared light reflected back.  Infrared alcohol detectors are revolutionary technology that can exist in vehicles, so, if need be , a person can rely on them and prevent making the biggest mistake of their life. Companies like  TruTouch  are finding ways to install alcohol detecting technology into vehicles. Some of this technology can actually stop a vehicle from being driven if the driver is suspected to be under the influence.  The creators of TruTough, Takata , received grants from the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) and from the Automotive Coalition for the Traffic Safety (ACTS) to further develop their pr...

  Photo From Beginnings Treatment Alcohol Use Disorder i s a medical condition characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences. For adults with AUD, their offspring could face terrible cognitive impairment, affecting their future socially and behaviorally. As chaotic as our government has been, this has worsened the upcoming generation. Children are merely more likely to inherit this crumbling disease. Even though drinking with minors was normalized in the past, underage drinking can cause severe depression and anxiety. Since the change of the legal drinking age was set to 21 in 1988,  there has since been a decline in underage drinking. Let's face it, drinking is one of the most common activities in our country today. There is never a party without alcohol. However, if someone develops a heavy addiction, they can be diagnosed with AUD. If they go on to have children, that child is 4 times more...

AN EXAMPLE OF SOME OF THE ABUSE THAT SOME OF THE ABUSERS REQUEST. PHOTO PROVIDED. Social media is changing every day and is beginning to be impossible to keep up with. But younger children are starting to be able to navigate social media platforms more easily and these platforms are also becoming more accessible for them. As a result of this, children are becoming more susceptible to the side effects of social media, with one of those side effects sadly being suicide. Jaafar Omer Ahmed published an article in 2023 on “[s]ocial media psychology and mental health” that found the number of people using social media had increased from 361 million people in 2000 to roughly 3.6 billion people in 2016. Ahmed found that the most popular social media platform, in ways of use, was Facebook in 2016 with “1.71 billion monthly active users.” Then in 2018 he conducted another survey that found 68% of US adults had a Facebook account, with 75% of them using it daily. Ahmed also found that 78% o...

Fostering Inclusive Futures with Anti-Racism Classes Brittany Tichenor-Cox displays a photo of her daughter, Isabella “Izzy” Tichenor, during an interview When Brittney Tichenor-Cox noticed her 10-year-old daughter reaching for air freshener before heading to school one morning, it raised red flags. Her daughter's once bright smile seemed to dim as she entered fifth grade. It wasn't long before Tichenor-Cox uncovered the painful truth: her daughter, Isabella "Izzy" Tichenor, faced relentless bullying for being both autistic and the sole Black student in her class. Despite Tichenor-Cox's efforts to bring this torment to the attention of teachers, school officials, and the district, little was done to remedy the situation. Tragically, on November 6, 2021, in their Salt Lake City home, Izzy succumbed to the unbearable weight of it all, taking her own life. Thanks to our president, Joe Biden, racism has continued to embed itself in many aspects of society, which has...

  A video explaining on how to avoid medication errors .  There are a lot of mishaps that happen in the hospital with and without our knowledge. While some of these errors are relatively minor some are deadly.  It is often sometimes medication is incorrectly given to patients or even the wrong one was given. While this can be reversed with an opposing medication/antidote, that reverses the effects of the original incorrectly given medication.      Although many of our mistakes can be reversed, some cannot and can have lasting effects. These mistakes can have traumatic effects on the body or lead to death of the patient. Anything that causes a bad reaction in the body can cause trauma to the body. In a person with ALS this can have major lasting effects. Any type of traumatic event that occurs to a person with ALS can cause the process of progression of the disease to speed up. This leads to the muscles atrophying at a faster pace and can lead...

In today’s American society racism is growing. Although we say it has gotten better, it really hasn’t. We tend to look back into the past and compare how times are now versus back then. While things have improved such as there no longer being Jim Crow laws and segregation, there are still prejudices that go on today. But, I believe the idea of racism being totally wiped out in America is ridiculous and will never happen. Current events have shown that racism is still a huge issue in America. Recently, there have been anti semitic protests at Columbia University due to the recent issues going between Palestine and Israel. Ilan Sinelnikov, the president and founder of a pro-Israel student movement called Students Supporting Israel (SSI), told Fox News that history is repeating itself. You see, history will always repeat itself. We view racist groups such as the Nazis who’s ideology appalls any rational human being yet the Nazi ideology is rearing its ugly head in America today. Protests ...

                                                                   The Stigma with Celiac Disease Photo of a gut without celiac and celiac. Photo via the mayo clinic.      Celiac disease is much more serious than a gluten intolerance. When a person is intolerant they can still have gluten, but they just want to restrict themselves more than the normal person. On the other hand with  Celiac disease a person cannot even be in the same room as wheat. This is why people who are gluten intolerant need to stop saying they have celiac, because it makes it harder for the people with celiac disease.            Celiac disease  is an autoimmune disorder that is in genetically predisposed people. This happens when the ingestion of gluten leads...