Book Title: Incredibly Disgusting Drugs

For my book essay I chose to read a book called Incredibly Disgusting Drugs: Ecstasy by Tamra B. Orr. It's one of five books in the series, and they are short but excessive amounts of information are contained through-out the book. The book was written to inform people about the dangers of ecstasy. Tamra B. Orr has a very negative outlook on drugs which was her reason for writing this book. After reading this book, it really made me understand why she is so against it. So yes, she did meet her intended purpose and the feeling I got after reading this was intense. It made me feel sorry for the people that are addicted to ecstasy. "Some ecstasy users have run temperatures of 108 degrees before they began to literally melt from the inside out." That's extremely dangerous because when you're sick with a fever of 104, that's deadly and if it gets any higher than that, usually you'll be immediately rushed to the hospital. When your temperature is 108, you have no water in your body and that can be considered as an over dose. Reading that little piece of information was probably the thing that stuck in my head the most, because I can't believe people would want to risk their lives just for one night of fun.

This book was very organized and it was organized in four different sections. The first section had the introduction and the dangers and dirty business of making ecstasy. The second section talks about your body on ecstasy. The third section involves information on your brain on ecstasy. And the last and fourth section talks about many different things: a world of trouble in one small pill, glossary, the bibliography and the index.

The introduction has a couple stories about teenagers who have overdosed and died, and teenagers who have only taken one pill and have died. This proves that even if you're only doing it one time, it's still deleterious and it only takes one time to lead to death. It also gives a little bit of background history of ecstasy, and I knew most of it, because of the previous blogs I looked up research for. I'm sure many parents appreciated when they gave the street names of ecstasy, because a lot of teenagers don't call it ecstasy.

The second section described the title of the book perfectly, Disgusting Drugs, and I think many people who try ecstasy go wrong when they do it before researching it. "If you happen to already have high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy, or panic attacks, the stress placed on your body will be even greater, and the effects more severe and dangerous." Before trying anything new, I believe research is needed to make sure what you're putting into your body is safe. Ecstasy might not be deadly, but if you have a medical condition, it very well could be. Towards the end of the section it explains the dangers of a pacifier. Ecstasy has a chemical in it, that makes people clench their jaws and makes them want to chew on things, so teens suck on pacifiers so they don't chew their mouth apart. "If someone uses pacifiers, it can cause orthodontic problems." "If you hold it in the front and it pushes on the front teeth, it has the effect of thumb sucking." Personally, I believe a smile is the most attractive thing on a person, and it's what catches peoples attention. If you're teeth are ruined because of a pacifier, I think that's an extremely huge loss, just for one night of fun.

The third section follows up the one before it talking about your brain on ecstasy. "While under the influence of the drug, users may sometimes experience confusion, disorientation, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, insomnia, depersonalization, derealization, perceptual disorders and hallucinations, paranoia, and psychotic phenomena. Suffice to say, it's extremely dangerous." I don't even know what most of those things are, but if they can be caused by a tiny pill, that's not even the size of a dime, that's saying something about the severeness of it.

The thing in the last section that left a lasting impression on me, was the part about getting caught with ecstasy. "If you are charged with the possession of one ecstasy tablet, you face up to a year in prison, or a $1,000 fine and three years probation." Most people would not get caught with only pill, because it would be easy to hide. More than likely they would get caught with a large amount, and if one pill equals all those chargers above, think about getting caught with 100. "If you are older than 6, your name will be published in the newspaper." Prison would be terrible, but getting your name in the newspaper it's so embarrassing. Everyone and anyone would look down on you, and ecstasy is something people don't take sitting down, and you would probably not be forgiven by a large amount of people. You would lose friends, maybe family, and the respect from hundreds. Making money illegally is not worth any of that.
The way the information is placed through-out the book, the information really stuck in my brain. It goes from bad to worse, and it's all extremely negative information that would scare anyone away from the drug.

I chose to read this book because in the back of it, it gives background information on the author: Tamra Orr. She's published over 100 nonfiction books, which makes her writing legit. I think her motivation for writing this nonfiction books, is her oldest daughter. She works for social services and tells Tamra stories about drug-addicted patients every day. From the stories and experiences people have told her, Tamra has a very in depth understanding of drugs, and the statistics she writes about to try to keep as many children as safe as possible are backed up with research. She has 26 credible sources in the back to show where the information in this book came from.

The main conclusion that this book comes to, is that in one little pill could lead to a world of death. Teenagers are too caught up in the moment and don't think about the long terms effects in life. It's sad because if the kid had someone to tell them what the dangers of ecstasy are, I'm sure that would stop many kids before trying it. They hear from their friends that's it's the best feeling ever, and when you're a teenager there is so much drama, it seems nice to escape for a night. Although, there are other ways to escape than drugs. They just need to be introduced.

The style of this book, it kind of like a kids book. It's short, has colorful pictures, and not very many words. Although the information in this book is far from a childrens' story. Some of the words I have never heard before, but in the back of the book there is a glossary which is very helpful. There's a variety of short and long sentences, as well as punctuations. Most all of it is expository text, explaining the dangers of ecstasy.

Reading this book answered all of my questions I had from the beginning of this unit. I'm surprised I did not use it earlier as a source, because everything I researched I found in here. I enjoyed reading the book, but when I was finished with it, it gave me a funny feeling in my stomach. It was not a very good feeling, but I think it's cause I was reading about a depressing subject. I know I'm not the only one that felt this way after reading it, and I bet it had more of an impact on other people who have friends or loved ones addicted to the drug. I would recommend this book to everyone. Considering it scared me, I know it would scare many other people and if that's what it takes to make people not take drugs, so be it. :]