Prescription Drugs Affecting Teens

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.

These numbers reveal that teenagers face an apparent exposure to drugs, and have little trouble getting a hold of some if desired. This article concludes that drug use and its consequences are not stressed enough in the current high school curriculum. The statistics prove that more needs to be done to identify and educate students at risk for drug use.

Drugs can result in teens not doing well in school, which can lead to lower academic opportunities and career options.

Prescription drug abuse has become an epidemic in the United States especially among the youth of our country. The Partnership for a Drug Free America says that 2,500 teens a day abuse prescription drugs. Abuse of these narcotics can lead to serious mental and physical consequences. Why is this such a problem, what can we do to solve it, and how is it affecting our social lives?

Many teenagers between the ages of 12-18 are exposed or already on their way to addiction to substances that are not good for our mental or physical health. Many teens experiment with drugs but aren’t addicted. According to addictioncenters.com “teen drug abuse can have long term cognitive and behavioural effects since the teenage brain is still developing.” A study also shows that half of all new drug users are under 18. This is because our brains are still seeking the “thrill” and temptation of substances. Other common reasons are curiosity, peer pressure, stress, emotional struggles and wanting a escape. Thankfully drug use among teens, despite popular opinion are significantly decreasing. The teenage brain is very immature. By doing drugs as a teen you are at a greater risk for being an addicted adult.

You might find it difficult to read the data related to teenage drug abuse and addiction. Based on recent stats, the picture is not pretty and the information indicates that Americans are not doing enough to combat the problem of teenage drug

Prescription drug abuse is a problem that is not just focused on adults. There has been a substantial rise in prescription drug abuse among teenagers. Teens are abusing prescription drugs for a number of reasons, including to get high, pain treatment, and/or because they think that it will assist them with school work (Coalition against Drug Abuse, 2014). However boys and girls tend to abuse some types of prescription drugs for different reasons. For example, boys are more likely to abuse prescription stimulants to get high, where girls would abuse them to stay alert to study or for weight loss.

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.

Prescription drug abuse has become a major epidemic across the globe, shattering and affecting many lives of young teenagers. Many people think that prescription drugs are safer and less addictive than “street drugs.” After all, these are drugs that moms, dads, and even kids brothers and sisters use. The dangers are not easily seen, but the future of our youth will soon be in severe danger if the problem is not addressed,it will continue to get worse if action is not taken soon. Prescription drugs are only supposed to be consumed by patients who have been examined and have a medical report by a professional, more and more teens are turning to the family’s medicine cabinet to “get high” but what they are

According to the recent Monitoring the Future study, which is the largest survey of drug use among young people. Prescription drugs are the second most widely abused drugs besides marijuana. The latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that 70 percent of people abusing prescription drugs got them from friends or relatives. 5 percent of those got the drugs from a drug dealer or from over the Internet. The CDC reports that drug overdose is the leading cause of injury death. 60% of those were caused by prescription drug overdose. Pain relievers, tranquilizers, and stimulants are the most abused of these substances. These drugs are fairly easy for people to get. Many people will go to multiple doctors and after hour clinics to get these drugs. A lot of them go to pill mills, which are run by cash. All you do is walk in, pay the money and the doctor will write you a prescription for the pills you want. So this leaves people that are going to multiple doctors doing this with pills not only for themselves, but enough for them to sell on the streets.

Illegal drugs are also becoming a problem in schools among the young adolescence. Schools should require random drug screening with the intent to disciple if drugs or found in their procession. Parents should be held liable if their child or caught with their prescription medication, is disturb or intent to sell, because prescription medication should be lock for the safety of their children. My focus for the paper on community safety, for adult, as well as, children is to keep positive events and activities on going in the community, so drugs will not be a solution to their problems, and to provide program in the community to up-lift the community to help keep the community safe for the well-being for the

The available data related to drug abuse among teenagers and young adults, ages 18-26 in anything but ambiguous. Based on the data gathered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 2013, more than half of the 2.8 million new illicit

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

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.