Drug use affects almost every part of society. This includes our schools, our neighborhoods, the places we let our children play, and even who influences our children. Drug use, whether legal or illegal, can take a toll on the economy. Once the dependency stage is reached, the healthcare and criminal justice systems are also affected. This not only endangers the future of young people, but also the country itself. There are many politicians who argue that drug legalization is a realistic way to overcome America's ongoing war on drugs. While this topic has debatable opinions on both sides of the issue, one must agree that the processes involved in drug law enforcement cause a strain on the economy. Some researchers believe that the outcome of drug legalization would make the problem we have now much larger and eventually completely out of control. I studied the most common medications and their most common side effects. This will show the potential dangers to our community if we make them readily available to people. Opioids are often used as painkillers and to help people wean themselves off other addictive drugs. Prescription drug abuse is the fastest-growing drug problem in America. This outbreak was recently classified as critical by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to Jayawant and Rajesh, OxyContin is one of the most common forms of opioids. This is a synthetic opioid that has become very public. Although this drug provides substantial pain relief, it has created extensive media attention due to the number of people who abuse this drug and eventually become addicted to it (Jayawant and Rajesh). According to this same article there are asto...... half of the document ...... system article published in 2009 there were a total of 3,952 fatally injured drivers who tested positive for drugs (Office of National Drug Control Policy ). With numbers like these involving already legal drugs, how can we expect to prevent the abuse of drugs that are not legal? If anything, we should be tougher on regulations regarding legal drugs. Works Cited Guzmán, M. “Result Cannabinoids: Potential Anticancer Agents.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. US National Library of Medicine, October 3, 2003. Web. May 6, 2014. Jayawant, Sujata S., and Rajesh Balkrishnan. “The OxyContin Abuse Controversy: Problems and Solutions.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. United States National Library of Medicine, November 24, 0005. Web. May 06, 2014 "National Office of Drug Control Policy." The White House. The White House and the Web. 05 May 2014.