How To Get Teens Off Drugs

Throughout schools in the United States, there is a growing issue in our elementary through highschool aged students. Drugs and alcohol have begun to overtake childrens lives as young as twelve years old. There are many types of drugs involved from prescription drugs, which is the number one drug, to alcohol, marijuana, meth, cocaine, heroine, or inhalents.

Teenage drug abuse is an issue that can result from a wide variety of social influences, stressful events, and mental disorders. Drug abuse among adolescents is a troubling issue because it decreases focus, increases the chance of consistency in behavior during adulthood, increases the chances of developing emotional issues, permanently damages the brain, and damages tissues in every system that can lead to death. Previous scientific research has identified that social factors, including the media and peers, play an important role in psychological development and impact the adolescent's decision to start experimenting with substances (Botvin 888). Appropriate solutions for the teenage drug abuse issue already exist, but the only remaining

Substance abuse is a tragedy that touches many lives. Abuse begins with a single use event that, with continued use and overindulgence, transforms into a battle. The abuser most always loses that battle. Personal relationships, social ties, and employment suffers. Irresponsible and erratic behavior becomes the norm, and though the abuser is aware on some level of the reckless and thoughtless acts that they commit, they continue to use and abuse their drug of choice. What starts as experimentation often ends in addiction. The best hope for a person in the grips of substance abuse is immediate,

Prescribed drugs are usually potent. The common medications that patients normally abused are opioids, stimulants and CNS depressants. Abusing these drugs can be as dangerous as using illicit drugs. Many varieties of therapeutic interventions include community prevention programs that combine two or more effective programs can be more effective than a single program. An intervention requires strategy and a plan of action in order to be successful and it is individualized to each patient situation. Programs directed to treat drug addictions should address all forms of drug abuse, especially the causes of abusing prescribed drugs, the type of drug abuse problem in the community and inappropriate use. Early detection can enable treatment and reduce the debility and co-morbidity that can associate with the disorder. A prevention strategy that can be used by individuals is locking medication in a secured place so that prescribed drugs are kept safe from unwanted hands. Another way is an appropriate disposing medication safely. Families can be familiarized themselves with the warning signs, such as missing prescription script and frequent borrowing of money from friends and

When I was in fifth grade, our school required us to take D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) classes, which promoted how to avoid drugs and the negative effects that they have on our bodies. Raising awareness of drug addictions at a young age is important, because nowadays children are exposed to drugs at rather young ages. The simple “say no to drugs” just does not cut it anymore. Nothing is beautiful about living in a world infiltrated by drugs, disease, and addiction. Since children are exposed to heroin and other hardcore drugs by the time they reach high school, they are more

I truly believe that if you can approach and tackle an issue before it arises you have a better chance of preventing long-term issues that will emerge in the future. Through my studies I have learned that if you educate students on bad choice making and the consequences that come from it you have a better chance for those students not to make those bad decisions. For this Midterm Project I plan to target high school students and inform them about drug use and abuse. In my opinion I think that if we teach high school students the effects that drugs can have on your body and your future maybe we can prevent them from using drugs for the first time or stop the issue before it gets out of hand. Students who are in high school can be hard to talk to but if you use material and language that catches their attention your speech can very influential to them. I want to prevent teens from using drugs. I want and need them to be educated on all the harms that illegal substances do to your body immediately after using them and what long-term effects come with it as well. Students should be shown real life examples of citizens who have lived their lives influenced by drugs and examples of successful people who have chose a

In the last year over a million teens in America alone between the ages 12-17 met the criteria for substance abuse and addiction. Teens should be made aware of the effects of drugs. There are ways to teach teenagers the negative effects of drugs. Such as, fiction novels.

There are many different programs that are established to keep individuals from initially using drugs. Many of these prevention programs target juveniles. Most people first experiment drugs in their adolescence years. Many prevention programs cover ranges of approaches and issues. These ranges and approaches include the dissemination of factual information about drugs and their consequences, the building of self-esteem, taking responsibility for making choices, and learning how to handle peer pressure. Many people believe that drug use is a cause or contributor to criminal activity. Drug prevention and treatment programs may be effective at limiting or eliminating other crime.

Drug abuse requires the person to have one or more of the following symptoms in a 12-month period; recurrent use resulting in failure to fulfill a major role or obligation at work, home, or school, recurrent substance related legal problems, continued use despite persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems or exacerbated by

Education is the next stepping stone to the ultimate goal of prevention. According to The USA Today, 95% of unintentional poisoning deaths in the United States are drug overdoses and the number nearly doubled from 1999 to 2004 (“A Tragic Reminder” 3). Both parents and children alike do not understand the dangers that prescription drugs may bring ("Parenting of Teens" 1). After the recent death of actor Heath Ledger, his father issued a statement that said, “Heath's accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low dosage” (“A Tragic Reminder” 1). Parents need to examine all areas of the problem and be aware of the lurking dangers. If more of the population understood the true threats that lie within the medicine cabinet, then young people today would have a much brighter outlook upon the future. Their outlook would not be based on the knowledge of how to use modern medicine for the betterment of our country and not its internal destruction. Today there are many myths regarding both legal and illegal drugs. Examples of these myths include the idea that marijuana causes people to become violent and the idea that aspirin is safe (Corder 3). In actuality, many have died due to hemorrhages as a result of aspirin abuse (Corder 3). Myths concerning drugs encircle American society; it is important for parents to maintain communication with their children in regard to

Among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, 9.8 % are estimated to be current users of illicit drugs, with 4.9 % using drugs other than marijuana. Nearly three quarters of students have started to drink alcohol and nearly half (47%) have tried using an illicit drug (not including alcohol or tobacco) by the senior year of high school.” (Hassan, Harris, Sherritt, Van Hook, & Brooks, 2009)

Drug use is an increasing problem among teenagers in today's high schools. Most drug use begins in the teenage years, these years are the most crucial in the maturing process. During these years adolescents are faced with the difficult tasks of discovering their self identity, clarifying their sexual roles, assenting independence, learning to cope with authority figures and searching for goals that would give their lives meaning. Drugs are readily available, adolescents are curious and venerable, and there is peer pressure to experiment, and there is a temptation to escape from conflicts. The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer pressure, curiosity, and

Hi Kelly, I think it’s great to explain your personal experiences with addiction to teens that are going through their problems with addiction. I’ve never been an addict, I could never offer that experience to any teen that needed comfort or understanding in that way. I’m a firm believer that teens listen more to people that are, trying to coach them into a better more meaning full life. If they have had the same if not worse experiences then them. In other words they can relate to you more, instead of saying “oh you’ve never dealt with addiction, you were taught everything in school”, type of mentality.

It has been discovered that most people who struggle with drug addiction began experimenting with drugs in their teens. Teenage drug abuse is one of the largest problems in society today and the problem grows and larger every year. Drugs are a pervasive force in our culture today. To expect kids not to be influenced by the culture of their time is as unrealistic as believing in the tooth fairy (Bauman 140). Teens may feel pressured by their friends to try drugs, they may have easy access to drugs, they may use drugs to rebel against their family or society, or they may take an illegal drug because they are curious about it or the pleasure that it gives them.

important to begin educating about the reality or drugs and addictions so we know what to look