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Stories about drugs are often covered by the news media. Illegal drug use and abuse are portrayed as having extremely harmful consequences, from causing serious health problems to lethal drug overdose cases (Goode, 2014). Legal drugs, such as alcohol and nicotine, however, do not receive as much attention in the media coverage, and the question of why this is so might need further consideration.
Although international studies have revealed that legal drugs are much more harmful than illegal ones, news reports still seem to mostly cover stories about incidents and deaths caused by illegal drug abuse. Researchers have found that combined tobacco and alcohol use cost more than a quarter of a billion disability-adjusted life-years worldwide , while Illegal drugs only accounted for tens of millions (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2018). The lack of attention given to illegal drugs in the press can be attributed to a number of possible reasons.
Firstly, people who die as a result of illicit drug use are generally younger than those who die of diseases caused by alcohol abuse or smoking. This may make the public see illegal drugs as a greater evil, with news media raising more awareness about this problem, and ignoring the fact that legal drugs can be just as habit-forming as legal ones. Secondly, the distinction between legal and illegal drugs by itself may be the reason why news media and the public tend to underestimate the problem. While many people claim they do not trust the government, when it comes to issues like this, they probably do. Making one type of drug illegal and another one legal on the governmental level gives people the idea that this division is valid, and the government made sure to prove the former types relative safety.
Nevertheless, it has to be stated that all types of drugs are harmful and can destroy ones health, work, family life and relationships. Raising awareness about one type of drug and ignoring another can pose the danger of creating common misconceptions about how damaging all of these drugs are. News media is one of the most important types of media, and its principles should include aiming to provide people with accurate information, especially when it concerns public health.
Reference
Goode, E. (2014). Drugs in American society. McGraw-Hill Education.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (2018). Legal drugs are more dangerous than many illegal ones, a study finds. Web.
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