The Use of Drugs Among Teenagers

There are so many reasons why individuals get addicted to getting to be reliant on drugs, but there is a worryingly steady increase in drug abusers among adolescent youth in today’s society. There’s no set age group of individuals more influenced by alcohol and drugs than the youth. Adolescent youth experience emotional, social, and psychological changes in their growth and during the ages from 12 to 18 years old it is common to experiment with illicit substances, but most teens do not realize what experimenting with drugs can lead to. Some teens will experiment with drugs and stop, or continue to use occasionally, without major recurring problems. The rest will be hooked/addicted which will progress them into diving into more dangerous substances, which will then impact their future heavily by influencing their life choices.

Teens use drugs today for many reasons which include curiosity, stress relief, vulnerability, availability, and peer pressure. Of course, there is no definite way to tell who will be able to stop using drugs and those who may develop to become a future substance abuser, but there are some factors to consider in those who are the most at risk. Youth that is at risk for developing long term drug abuse include those who have a family history of substance abuse, who have a set low self-esteem, those who are suffering through depression, and those who feel like they do not fit in with their peers. Poor parental guidance, peer influences, low self-esteem, are only a few of the many factors that can lead adolescents into addiction or drug abuse. Research also shows that teenagers are at increased risk of poor mental health, antisocial behavior and risk-taking behavior such as substance misuse.

Historically suicide has been treated as a criminal matter in most areas of the world. However, the decriminalization of individual suicides has occurred in western societies. Illicit drug abuse is the prime risk factor associated with bullying leading to suicide. Contrarily Victimization as a result of bullying shows an increase in the potential to influence adolescent substance use. Other results from the studies of bullying victimization and substance use suggest that experiences of bullying create an adverse cognitive process that increases the chance that an adolescent will use illicit drugs. Using substances as a mechanism to deal with undesirable effects is relative to the research that was done about adolescent substance use. More studies have shown substance use may have a relation in the ongoing effect of victimization and victimizing. The result is that substance use may facilitate youth that is already having suicidal tendencies/thoughts to act upon them.

Also due to the lack of proper education and poverty adolescent teens who belong to dysfunctional and or poverty-driven families experience financial hardships, and as a result, some teenagers involve themselves with illegal activities like drug pushing which makes them interact with other people who would negatively influence them. Teenagers who are exposed to illegal activities, resort to drug abuse that cannot be avoided. To prevent teenagers from resorting to drug abuse there has to be more positive reinforcements around the community whether it be better schooling, more community-driven involvement/events, and counseling for families.

I learned through all the research I conducted that there is no set age group of individuals more influenced by substances than the youth. In a few ways, it feels like it is an issue all over the world. Even though there are rules and laws set out by the government to prevent the youth from obtaining illicit substances they still find a way to get in the grasps of adolescent teens. Drugs are always there and the use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer pressure, curiosity, vulnerability, and availability.