Drug and Teenagers
Introduction
Drug abuse is refers to the pattern of harmful consumption of any substance with an aim of mood-altering. It can also refer to the consumption of illegal substance or over-the-counter or prescription drugs in a wrong way or purposes. This habit is a severe public health issue that affects virtually every family and community in some way. Statistics indicate that drug abuse causes almost 40 million severe diseases or injuries, in the United States alone, every year. Out of this, teenagers are the most affected group, a fact that has raised concerns over how to avert it, among all the stakeholders, including parents, schools, the community and the government. Teenage drug use is a widespread problem in the society today, majorly caused by easy accessibility, peer pressure, stressful events and parental negligence and whose consequences are detrimental to the teenagers’ lives.
Reasons for Teenage Drug Use
Teenage is a very challenging stage of development because people want to try out new things. However, establishing those ones who will want to experiment new things and prevent them from getting into this problem is hard. Nowadays, drugs are found everywhere, making them easily available to teenagers. This is one of the causes of drug abuse teenagers. A lot of teenagers are tempted to use them because they are excited over the resultant effect.
Another factor of drug abuse is peer pressure among the teens. This is a sense of belonging among the teenagers. When growing up, a natural and important part is someone belonging in a certain group. Naturally, teenagers want other teens to like them and the behaviors they do. They may want to join a group that is abusing marijuana, heroin or alcohol and end up using these drugs in order to get a sense of belonging. Curiosity may lead to drug abuse among teens. Many teenagers are curious about alcohol, marijuana and other illegal drugs. Even though they learn in school that some of these drugs are harmful, some of them abuse them in order to satiate their curiosity. In addition, parents may lead in drug abuse among the teens.
On the other hand, many teenagers are stressed with education, poor results in school and various adolescents’ challenges. The teens have used unsuitable ways to deal with their stresses and problems. This is by using drugs such as marijuana, alcohol, tobacco and heroin to ease their stresses (Carl & Oakley, 2008). Many of them consider using these drugs to cheer them up and comfort them thereby reducing stress. Other teenagers tend to have high risk behaviors and are courageous. This is because they think that nothing bad will take place if they abuse drugs.
Edith (2001) asserts that a parent, who abuses drugs or does not spend much time with the child, will not know the problems affecting a teen. This will lead to freedom among the teenager by trying to use the substances the parent is taking. Bad relationships between the teenager and the parent may lead in drug abuse. Lack of moral support from the parent is another negligence that leads to drug abuse. Many parents do not spend time with the teenagers, thereby not assisting them in guidance and counseling.
Consequences of drug abuse in teenagers
When a teenager abuses a certain drug occasionally, a substance abuse problem will develop, therefore leading to relapse when trying to stop using the drug. In school, a teenager may not pay attention and focus properly. Teenagers abusing drugs will possibly engage themselves in sexual activities putting them at risks of acquiring sexual transmitted diseases, pregnancies and victimization. Drug abuse may also lead to hallucinations, anxiety or mood swings among the teens (Schaefer, 2010).
According to Schaefer (2010), hallucination may lead to a teenager seeing or hearing things that are not there. Either of these disorders may result in the death of a teenager by suicide. Using anabolic steroids may lead to liver diseases, heart attacks and cancer. Depending on how a teenager abuses drugs, it can affect the teen’s body by either having permanent damage in the brain mainly associated with inhaling drugs.
Conclusion
Drug abuse is increasing due to lack of proper care and drug education to the teens. Parents are supposed to know that drug abuse among the teens is real. Clear communication between the parent and the teenager is vital in decreasing drug abuse. The parent is needed to educate his or her child on the negative emotional, functional and physical effects of drugs (Dryden-Edwards, 2011). When a parent supervises a teenager adequately, the teen might not end up abusing any drug. It is a key responsibility of a parent to know where a teenager is and who he or she is socializing with. Limiting the teenagers contact to substances that can be abused such as prescribed medications kept in homes will assist in reducing drug abuse. Parents need to be good role models and show love to the teenagers. Honest and open drug discussions will diminish drug abuse among teens.
References
Carl, H., Ksir, C. & Oakley, R. (2008). Drugs, society, and human behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill
Edith, H. (2001). For teenagers living with a parent who abuses alcohol/drugs. London: iUniverse
Schaefer, D. (2010).Choices and consequences. California: Hazelden
Dryden-Edwards, R. (2011). Teen drug abuse. Medicine Net.com, 3. Retrieved from < http://www.medicinenet.com/teen_drug_abuse/page3.htm#how_can_parents_prevent_drug_use >
