Alcohol And Tobacco At A Young Age

According to current statistics released by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, “In the United States in 2011, there were an estimated 25.1 million adolescents aged 12 to 17. In the past year, more than one quarter of adolescents drank alcohol, approximately one fifth used an illicit drug, and almost one eighth smoked cigarettes” ("A Day in the Life of American Adolescents," 2013, para. 1). Substance abuse is major problem amongst adolescents. Some are experimenting, but some adolescents may become dependent on a particular substance. If one becomes dependent on a substance as an adolescent it could be detrimental to their future health and success as an adult. Spear (2003) stated in an article titled Alcohol’s

In 2005, Needham, Massachusetts, has passed a regulation that banned the tobacco sale to anyone under 21. This regulation has achieved great success. The number of smoking students in high school has decreased by 47%. Smoking rate has decreased rapidly after 30 days and the 60% of frequent smoking

Regarding some of these illegal drugs, in 2013, 3% of Victorian teenagers from age 12 to 17 had tried ecstasy and 3% had tried amphetamines. Around one in six had deliberately sniffed inhalants at least once. 1.9% of 12 to 17 year-olds who had taken cocaine had only used it once or twice. 1.5% had tried heroin and about 15% had tried cannabis.

In 2014, 24.6% of high school students reported that they used some type of tobacco product in the past 30 days (‘National Youth Tobacco Survey’). There are several factors that influence youth to begin using tobacco. Although it is clear that peer pressure can initiate smoking, multiple studies find that tobacco marketing causes an increase in youth tobacco use.

Adolescents shouldn't drink because it does substantial long term damage not only to their bodies, but to their brain. The effects on their brain can be, but are not limited to; structural problems, problems with information processing, and storing information. All these problems can lead to issues later in life.

Cigarettes have a big affect on teens, ninety percent of smokers started before 19 and thirty percent of those smokers continue to smoke and die early from a smoking related disease. 1.5 million packs of cigarettes are bought by minors a year. Research has also found out that smokers are more likely to get into fights, carry weapons, attempt suicide, suffer from mental health and depression.

Alcohol can damage a teenagers health, brain and many other parts of the body as the years go by. “A 2002 article in the journal of studies on alcohol reported that alcohol may interfere with brain development in adolescents, resulting in mild mental impairment. Alcohol-induced changes in the structure or size of the hippocampus (a key part of the brain) may cause lifelong mental problems” (Youngerman, Barry). Another affect teenagers fail to realize is alcohol can be addicting. “When people ask what you hope to be when you grow up, no one will answer “an alcoholic”. But every year, teenagers who thought they could handle a few drinks fall into the trap” (Youngerman, Barry). Many people say they love how alcohol puts them in a daze, a carefree mindset. No one thinks a one time thing can end up becoming a lifestyle or how they function

Smokers have almost twice the risk of having coronary heart disease as nonsmokers. Smokers' risk of getting lung cancer is approximately 14 times than that of nonsmokers. It has taken many years for tobacco products deadly effects to be scientifically documented. Tobacco companies spend approximately $14 million a day on advertising. Students who own cigarette promotional items are more than four times more likely to begin smoking, compared to those who do not own these items. Eighty-six percent of people between 12 and 17-years old who smoke prefer the three most heavily advertised brands. Only about one-third of adult smokers choose these brands. Almost ninety percent of adult smokers began at or before age 18. A recent study showed that thirty-four percent of teens began smoking as a result of the tobacco company's promotional activities. Tobacco companies loose 3,000-5,000 customers each day, more than 1,000 die from using tobacco as intended, the rest die of other causes. The tobacco industry targets 1.63 million new smokers a year to compensate for those that quit or die. The average age of new smokers in the United States right now is 12. Since the 1980s, big tobacco companies have supported a number of efforts to reduce youth access to cigarettes at retail. Thirty percent of teens that smoke say that they were able to obtain cigarettes from retail stores. Thirty-two percent of kids who smoke say they borrow

First off, alcohol addiction and abuse among teenagers today is a bigger problem than ever before. The root of the problem lies in the fact that the teens are so exposed to the culture of this day and age, leading them to where they have easy access to alcohol. For example, their parents may already be alcoholics, and it's merely a few bad decisions later which could cause the child to have a few drinks and cloud their judgement. This is a big problem because their young bodies have never encountered anything like alcohol before, so in turn, the body does not know how to process it, and therefore leads to their downfall. A publication released by the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAA) suggests that by age 18, an astounding 60% of US teens would have had at least one drink. Moreover, according to the NIAA, youth between the ages of 12 and 20 will often binge drink as well.

Smoking a cigarette in the park or in a party would be so much fun for so many teenagers. Also, sitting with friends or a group of people and smoking, many teens believe that this makes them look cool. Many people have many teens under the age of eighteen smoking in street with their friends, they were passing the same cigarette to each other, and this would be a serious problem by passing a disease to each other and they have no idea that would happen. Mayo Clinic Staff, teen smoking might be innocently, but it can become a long-term problem. In fact, most adult smokers begin smoking as teenagers, so most need to stop smoking to be a good example for teens. Number of teens smoker have been raised incredibly. More than 450,000 12-to-13 year

To evaluate present cigarette usage amongst youths, CDC examined information via the 2011 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS). This section explains the outcomes of this evaluation, which established that, last year, the incidence of existing tobacco usage amongst junior high school as well as high school pupils had been 7.1% along with 23.2%, correspondingly, and also the occurrence of existing cigarette usage had been 4.3%, together with 15.8%, correspondingly.

Alcohol has been severely damaging young individuals health both mentally and physically. Even though alcohol can be harmful at any age it is especially dangerous for teens as their brains are still developing and cannot cope with alcohol the same way as an adult can. When consumed

Alcohol and tobacco are among the most frequently used drugs in the world. These substances are seen not only in many forms of advertisement, but they are in practically every drugs store, supermarket, and gas station. They can not only be highly addictive, but also toxic to the body. In fact, tobacco and alcohol hold the highest death rate of any drug.

Teenage smoking can be a result of the influence of other teens, or maybe the amount of peer pressure. This can cause a teen to want to smoke or even think about smoking (Alcid, Arthur, page 1). Statistics show that 794 student and 22.4 percent of teens claimed to be tobacco users. (Alcid, Arthur, page 1). Teens tend to be more abrasive when smoking, and seem to act different while smoking and once they have gotten into the habit of smoking make it a constant thing. In 2003, 21.9 percent of high school students currently smoke cigarettes (Alcid, Arthur, page 1).

About 23 percent of all adults are smokers. This fact seems dwarfed when you hear that 30 percent of adolescents use some sort of tobacco. In fact, statistics show that the average age for first using tobacco is 13. This means that the majority of all tobacco users started when they were a teenager. The effects of smoking are common and dangerous but what most people don't realize, secondhand and thirdhand smoking is just as bad. Authority figures need to set up limitations for tobacco use and combat young age smoking.