Drug Abuse

by shann80 (student)

A drug is “a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being” (Dictionary 1). Even though most teens are using drugs as an enhancement, drug abuse for teens is a world wide spread problem. Drug abuse is especially bad in the United States. In a survey, the website teenhelp.com reported that 34.3 percent of high school seniors used marijuana in the last year. Marijuana is the most used drug of teens but over the past 12 months 5.3 percent of high school seniors has used cocaine and 10 percent used stimulants and 4.2 percent used inhalants. Causes of drug abuse have had efforts to solve but they do not work. If drug abuse is still present, the consequences can get worse.

There are many causes to drug abuse. The number on reason why students do drugs is because they are stressed and want an escape from reality. “An accompanying study showed that parents severely underestimate the amount of stress their teen is under and the impact it has on their life” (“Top 10 Reasons of Drug Abuse”). Parents do not know what teens go through so if they are not watching them they can form bad habits such as drug abuse. Another major reason why teens use drugs is because of peer pressure or social acceptance. “If your teen’s friends think it’s cool to se drugs or alcohol, or if your teen is searching for a peer group that will accept them, they may be lured into drug use by their desire for social acceptance” (“Top 10 Reasons of Drug Use”). Teens care a lot about being accepted to the right group. Teen drug abuse can also be caused by the availability of the drug to the teen. “If there is alcohol in your home and your teenager has access to it when you are away or not paying attention, you’re leaving the door open to abuse. This applies to all drugs, from cigarettes to prescription medication” (“Understanding Causes of Teenage Drug Abuse”). Parents need to keep a close eye on what is available at their own house. Teens have a lot of stress from a variety of things. Teens might have issues with social acceptance which causes stress or the availability of drugs and alcohol from parents could lead a teen to drug abuse. People should be focusing on ways to solve teen drug abuse.

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There are many ways to solve teen drug abuse. The first attempt to solve teen drug abuse is to make drugs illegal. An example of a law is a drug-defined offenses and that means “violation of laws prohibiting or regulating the possession, use, distribution, or manufacture of illegal drugs” (Drug-related crime). This did not solve the problem because not everyone does what people tell them and people break the law. Another attempt to solve teen drug abuse is to just try talking to a teen about not doing drugs. Some people think that “talking openly and honestly with your teen and keeping a healthy home life may prevent your teen from trying alcohol and drugs” (Teen Alcohol and Drug Abuse) but that is not always the case because most teens will want to rebel. A third attempt to solve teen drug abuse is to have teens take voluntary drug tests. The only problem with it is easy to cheat or “false positives can mislead you. Poppy seeds, cold medication and even antibiotics in high doses can potentially cause false-positive results on certain types of tests, says Levy, leading parents to falsely accuse innocent teens of illegal drug use” (Lyon 1). Even though these efforts to solve teen drug abuse have not worked there are some that can stop teen drug abuse. If people do not act now though, it could be too late to help stop the consequences of teen drug abuse.

There are many consequences to teen drug abuse. One consequence is that a student might start having health problems such as “learning problems, drug abuse damages short-term and long-term memory and can lead to problems with learning and memory later in life,” or it can cause ”diseases, teens who abuse drugs with needles increase their risk of blood-borne diseases like HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis B and C”, or it can cause “brain damage, drug abuse among teens can result in serious mental disorders or permanent, irreversible damage to the brain or nervous system” (The Effects of Drug Abuse on Teens 2). Teens are destroying their own bodies and could give them a shorter life. Teen drug abuse also causes emotional issues, “like anxiety, depression, mood swings, or hallucinations. Either of those symptoms can result in death by suicide or homicide” (Teen Drug Abuse 2). If a teen is acting kind of crazy with anxiety or mood swings it can cause people not to want to be around that person. Another effect of teen drug abuse is less participation in school, “the teen may also have less interest in school and skip classes” (The Effects of Teen Drug Abuse on Families). There are many consequences and negative effects of teen drug abuse. To solve the issue people need to focus on serious possibilities only.

A few ideas to solve teen drug abuse could be mandatory drug testing. For example, if you wanted to do extracurricular activities you have to take a drug test at certain high schools, “her older son also has random drug testing at his public high school, but only for kids who participate in extracurricular activities” (Clayton 1). A second idea would be sending a teen to rehab. It could save someone from hitting rock bottom, “the sooner your teen gets help for drug abuse, the more likely they’ll be to avoid the long-lasting consequences” (The Effects of Drug Abuse on Teens 2).

Drug Abuse

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