Since the beginning of the United States, Americans embrace the concept of individuality, “They consider themselves to be separate individuals who are in control of their own lives, rather than members of a close-knit, interdependent family, religious group, tribe, nation, or other group” (American Culture). Indeed, individuality leads Americans to try new hobbies to make them out of the ordinary. Unlike in US, other countries like Mexico, Spain, China, etc., tend to stay close with family. Usually, these people are conservative, and have strong a morality that typically would avoid illicit substance as it would greatly affect their family values. Also, there is an article by Caleb Jacobo that portray the progression of individuality,
A lot of free time for Americans meant a sudden need to celebrate ourselves as morally worthy individuals by spending money of material goods. Americans had heroes in both sports and on the silver screen and we became intoxicated by the possibilities of ourselves (Jacobo).
The quotation stated that many modern Americans are much more open-minded to new possibilities as we are looking to build a better image of …show more content…
It is truly sorrowful for these people going through with their lives nothing but despair, and would use drug to escape the harsh reality. However, many other Americans use drugs because our society and culture strongly encourage us. Cinematic movies like Scarface portrays Tony Montana sitting in his office with a huge pile of cocaine and military assault rifles on his desk or songs that symbolize lighting a joint and share with friends have impact us how we perceive drugs as an alternative form of an American tradition. Another report of National Institute on Drug Abuse, stated that most first time illicit drug users are teenagers, “Most people use drugs for the first time when they are teenagers . . . 2.8 million new users of illicit drugs in 2013, or about 7,800 new users per day. Over half (54.1 percent) were under 18 years of age” (National Institute on Drug Abuse). Many of these teenagers would continue with their drug habit as they get older, and will utilize to reduce the amount stress that they will