Module 2:The Teenage Drug Epidemic. Read Parts 1 Through

According to the text, what factorshave been major contributors to the demise of the two-parent household?

As a physician, situated in Vancouver, Maté is no stranger to vulnerable drug addicts. Most of his clients are addicted to cocaine, alcohol, opiates, or tranquilizers and many suffer from mental illness. (288)

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

Three decades from now, T.L.O., a student at a New Jersey High School was caught smoking in a school restroom, and was brought to the assistant principal’s office. The 14-years-old teenager denied smoking, so the assistant principal persisted in searching her purse and found cigarettes, and rolling paper which is associated with marijuana (T.L.O. vs. New Jersey). Nothing has changed since then. If you look a little closer, you can see teenagers lying around doing drugs here and there. They are no longer determined to succeed in life; instead all they can think about is where the next supply of cocaine will come from. What has our future come to? Research done by scientists and other professionals provide evidence that substance abuse by teenagers is an ever-growing problem due to teen’s poor judgement, it’s irreparable damage, and inability to compete with drug addiction.

Addiction to any substance whether it be alcohol ,drugs prescribed or illegal or even the new legal highs can have turbulent effect on a person’s life, whether it be work, social or family life. It has been said that addiction in any form can be treated through intervention by relevant bodies, such as NHS Trust, Twelve Step Programs, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), to help the person overcome this compulsion through time and guidance, working towards a future clean and sober minded life. Drugs, alcohol, or any other chemical, artificially induced into the body, affects the way people see, speak, walk and hear. Albeit, theorists such as Dr Peele are staunch critics of the 12 steps model as advocated by Alcoholics Anonymous.

Mark’s psychosocial and biological predisposing vulnerabilities ultimately lead to the increase likelihood of his substance abuse disorder. A disorder he wasn’t aware that he was facing because his intentions for the substance were to merely ease his stressors.

Addiction is a disease that I will battle for the rest of my life. After being sexually assaulted at the age of twelve, I started to self-destruct. Lack of parental support, less than pristine living conditions, and an addictive personality paved an expressway to a life of addiction. I chose to hang with undesirable people, and was introduced to Marijuana, LSD, Ecstasy, PCP, Cocaine, Heroin and eventually what became the love of my life, the prescription painkiller Morphine. Never did I think that trying pot would have a domino effect. It led me to try harder and more addictive substances ultimately turning my life upside down. Often publicly

The existence of a myriad of social problems among teenagers that both parents and states have to deal with is a factor whose weight ought not to be treated lightly. The increasing level of drug use among the adolescents constitutes one of the ever increasing situations in the society and may, as a matter of fact, be a representation other underlying issues. The level of the situation in the contemporary world, though not discussed as much as it ought to be, has reached alarming levels. There seems to be an increasing predisposition among the use to take the drugs as it's reflected in the escalating trends of drug abuse among this generation of individuals (spooner, 1999). The ever deteriorating levels of this situation coupled with the widespread permissiveness in the society and the absence of attention from appropriate caregivers at different institutions only means that the need to address the problem is paramount. Different avenues of solutions can be applied in reducing the level of the problem and averting the massive negative consequences that come with the phenomena. Dealing with this issue is not a matter of instance as the different parameters of the problems, its causes and possible workable solutions have to be discovered. As such, research on these dynamics is a mandatory undertaking.

What qualifies the continued engagement in an activity or use of a substance as an addiction as opposed to an interest or hobby? In describing her own relationship with her lover, which had been downtrodden at the hands of her partner’s daily ritual with alcohol, Donna Steiner, in her essay Sleeping With Alcohol, reveals the negative effects that alcoholism, or addiction in any form, can have on the life, well-being, and relationships for the agent of the addiction, in this case her partner, as well as those people with whom she is close. While many characteristics are shared between sufferers of various types of addiction, there exist three essential components to all addictions: the detriment that the activity has, the compulsiveness of engaging in the activity, and the futility of the subject’s attempts to stop partaking, all of which can be observed of Steiner’s partner in Sleeping With Alcohol.

I want to share with you, a letter Dan wrote about his addiction. His letter is sincere, powerful, and has great depth. This is the Dan, my family knew before drugs took him away from us. After reading his letter, I realize more clearly the struggle that Dan is goes through every day with his addiction. I am humbled by his letter, I am sure that I couldn’t have written this eloquent letter.

SD appears to be in the Precontemplation stages of change where he is not ready to make the change. He is aware of the consequences of the negative behavior. However, I believe that he lacks self-efficacy (doubting his abilities), which derails his effort to try. The question that comes to mind is how traumatic was his experience in immigrating from Haiti to New York city, having to acclimate to the school system here in New York, experiencing culture shock and having a speech and language impediment. Is trauma impacting his school success? This has to be researched further but in the meantime the focus of the intervention is to continue to motivate SD by pointing out his strengths, allowing him to set goals and working with him to

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

Abusing drugs during adolescent years stems from a certain reputation within our culture that young people should experiment with illegal substances during their youth before they reach adulthood. When attending an all-boys catholic high school and also a creative arts high school simultaneously, there are two perspectives on how administrations handle drug abuse in their school system, meanwhile at the creative arts high school abuse of drugs comes with the territory of being an artist and it would seem from an outsider looking in that students abuse drugs to get their creative juices flowing and use that feeling for inspiration with their art. To an outsider looking in, it would seem that drug use is growing rampant and is the norm for some students but, this is not the case.

It’s a waste of money. He talks to her for ten minutes, and then plays board games with her. I’m not learning anything about him. His behavior isn’t changing. He still cries. He still wets the bed. I still get calls from school.

In this paper, I will compare my real world experiences at local Alcohol Anonymous’ (AA) meetings, which I attended while enrolled in this course with that in the movie, Thanks for Sharing. Both are based on the lives and experiences of recovering addicts of either substance abuse or sexual activity. This paper will cover the stories and lives of the characters involved. Stuart Blumberg directed the movie in 2012. All movie character references in this paper are taken directly from the actual movie.