Monologue

How does it affect Latin América?

Sadly, Latin América is known to be the continent in which a great percentage of the drugs in the world are produced, especially cocaine. Even though most of the drug produced is sent to Europe, U.S.A. and Africa, the market within the continent has grown a lot and is increasing. This allows people to infer that the demand is increasing at a very fast pace.The effects of drugs has already being stated, now, the consequences of consumption of any of these drugs can be seen in Latin America and it is not pretty image at all. Based on the recollected data, Chile figures as the country in which more alcohol is consumed with an average of 9.6 liters per person a year in Latin America. Followed by Argentina with 9.3, then Paraguay with 8.8, Brazil with8.7, and Venezuela with 7.9 liters.Comparing this with worldwide records, Latin America is the second continent in alcohol consumption whereas Europe figures as the first continent. On the other hand, Latin America is above Europe in the soft-drinks consumption.

It is not only alcohol but also marijuana and cocaine that are very popular this days among Latin people, especially people between theages of 17-30. It seems like people don't really think that the consequences are real. All of these drugs can lead you to death, and even worse, they can lead you to become an unpurposely murderer. Alcohol is one of the main causes of deadly car accidents. Based on a study leaded by the Organizacion Panamericana de la Salud (OPS) alcohol causes the death of more than 16000 every 100000 people inMexico, 22000 in Brazil, 2000 in Chile and 1800 in Guatemala. This is hard proof that alcohol is not something you should play with, especially if you are young and immature. Latin America is also second in the list of amount of seizures caused by Cannabis Herb (marijuana).

This is all extremely sad. The fact that most of the people know the effects of each of these drugs, and still use themputting their and other people's lives in danger is very disconcerting. If people were more responsible about their actions all these nonsense deaths would have never occurred in the first place.

How does it affect Bolivia?

Bolivia is not even in the top 10 of alcohol consumption in the countries of Latin America, but even though this is great news, Bolivia is one of the three countries that areleader of cocaine production worldwide.

Even though Bolivia is not one of the countries that drink lots of alcohol, this drug is still very popular and can be found in almost every event. Research by the government (CELIN) shows that drug consumption is increasing every year. Alcohol and tobacco are the two most popular licit drugs among Bolivians, while Cannabis is the most popular illicit drug.Another study shows "la prevalencia anual de consumo de drogas de uso ilicito (%)" in which La Paz is on top with 15.2 % on cannabis, followed by Cochabamba with 5.1% and then Santa Cruz with 1.8%. The government tried and is still trying to lower the consumption as much as possible with campaigns such as "Coca si, Cocaina no" but based on the substantial data, they are very unsuccessful.Drugs cause more than 200 different illnesses. They also cause death in several ways. Alcohol seems to be a great part of social life nowadays since people tend to think "no alcohol means no fun". Alcohol is not bad, as long as you are responsible and not abuse it, that has been proven. The government should try and find the way to reduce the consumption, but that will never happen unless societycommits to a more responsible lifestyle avoiding the consequences that these drugs cause. Everyone is affected. Everyone should act.







Spanish:



¿Cómo afecta a América Latina?

Lamentablemente, América Latina es conocido por ser el continente en el que se produce un gran porcentaje de las drogas en el mundo, especialmente cocaína. A pesar de que la mayor parte de la droga producida se...