Jaiden Sosa

Prof. Shana Creaney

ENGL 110

Nove. 29th, 2019

Teens and Drug Abuse

A person’s teenage years are the most important years of their young lives. This is a time where young people are exploring themselves and are trying to figure out who they are personally. Teens go through this phase of their lives by beginning to become influenced by their surrounding environment. The teen years are a very crucial and vulnerable time in an adolescent’s life because the decisions they make as young adults is what can make or break a person’s future. Most decisions that are made by adolescents are through the influence of experimentation. A big form of influence is through experimentation with drugs. Teenagers and drugs have become very close in working hand and hand. Teens try and eventually abuse drugs because they want to fit in with friends, peer pressure, and coping with emotional trauma. The purpose of this paper is to show that Teens are abusing drugs as they are becoming more addicted to them at an earlier age. They fail to realize the dangers that drug abuse can have on their futures.

As an adolescent, the brain is not fully developed and is still developing to full maturity. Specifically, the frontal lobe of the human brain does not fully develop until a person’s mid 20’s. The function of the frontal lobe is to control a person’s cognitive skills. However, once the brain has matured is then when teens can use their proper judgment and reasoning abilities. This means that once the brain has fully matured, young adults will have more control over their behavior and emotions. As teens begin to experiment with drugs, the greater the risk that teens will become more addicted to abusing drugs. Once they’ve become addicted to drugs, the harder it will be for them to become completely sober due to the immaturity of the teenage brain.

A young person’s teenage years are not only a time of vulnerability, but a time of curiosity. As the first stage of teens and drug abuse, teens begin to experiment with several kinds of drugs. According to an article titled “Teen Drug Abuse” by Roxanne Dryden-Edwards MD, on the website, Medicinenet says teenagers typically abuse drugs that are commonly used by adult addicts. These drugs include tobacco, cannabinoids like Marijuana, cold medications, inhalants, depressants, and club drugs.

There are several reasons why teenagers abuse drugs. Teens can abuse drugs because of the environment that they’re growing up in. For example, teens from a single-family household are more likely to act out and begin to use drugs. According to an article titled “Family Structure and Adolescent Drug Use: An Exploration of Single-Parent Families” by Vanessa Hemovich on the website National Center for Biotechnology, it has been found that teens who reside with one parent are more likely to go through emotional trauma. This causes teens to disobey. Further, in a single-family household, the mother is typically the head of the household. Research has shown that in a female-headed household, there is often less strict and consistent monitoring of the child (Hemovich, 2). Living in a dysfunctional household can cause a child to feel neglected and become anxious and depressed. These are disorders that can cause a child to act delinquently and use drugs. A dysfunctional household plays an essential role in whether a child will abuse drugs in the future.

As a human being, there is this biological need to fit in. In schools, peer pressure is one of the biggest forms of influence on teens becoming future drug addicts. Peers who are actively using drugs, addiction becomes more of a risk factor. According to an article titled “Peer Pressure and It’s Connection to Addiction” on the website Clinical Services of Rhode Island, peer pressure is one of the hardest forms of influence to ignore at any stage of a person’s life. It has been found that through peer pressure, drugs have become more accessible to teens. However, with it being so easy to have access to drugs, it makes it harder for teens to realize the harm they are putting themselves through physically and mentally (Clinical Services of Rhode Island, 2). As teens become more familiar with drugs, they are also surrounding themselves around people who are using drugs to help cope with their stress, and to calm down (Clinical Services of Rhode Island, 3). Teens unfortunately become trapped in this cycle that they can’t break out of. Teenagers are vulnerable and will act without thinking because there is this need to fit in. That is the developing brain that is easily influenced. With this, teens fail to realize that it will be harder for them to step away and find alternative ways of coping with their addiction. To break the cycle, teens must undergo treatment, where creating a new support group may be necessary while trying to recover (Clinical Services of Rhode Island, 4).

Among all the drugs that teenagers experiment with, Marijuana has become one of the most common drugs used amongst teens in the last few decades. People tend to turn to marijuana as a coping mechanism for their depression. In an article on Healthline titled “Can Medical Marijuana Treat Depression?” by Ashley Marcin, it has been found that yes, medical marijuana does have some benefits for those who are ill. According to Marcin, medical marijuana helps with easing physical pain and relieves most of the people’s anxiety (1). However, teens fail to realize that while their lives are being consumed by drugs, they are slowly killing themselves. There are many dangerous effects of drug use in teens. For example, teens will have shorter attention spans, they are more likely to relapse while trying to become sober, substance use can mask emotional problems, and drugs could permanently damage the body from functioning properly. Marijuana can have a heavy influence on an individual, and teens are becoming desperate, feeding into their addictive cycles.

Over the years Marijuana has become one of the most accessible drugs to the public because it comes in many forms. Marijuana comes in the form of a leaf strain, bright and colorful packaging, and the form of a vape gel. As of late, suppliers are targeting young people who smoke by attracting them through the packaging the drug comes in. Suppliers will package drugs in bright and colorful bags to draw the attention of teenagers. They are taking advantage of the fact that their customers are young and naive. It has been found that teens are more drawn to the colorful packaging that the drugs come in rather than the drug itself. Vape gels, on the other hand, are detachable carts that can be put onto a vape pen. This form of marijuana has become the most popular form of its kind but has been the most lethal. Recently there have been many reported deaths of vape users. This past October, there was the first youngest reported death due to vaping. According to an article titled “Bronx teen confirmed as first New Yorker to die of vaping-related illness” by Bernadette Hogan on the New York Times website, talks about a 17-year-old boy named Denis Byrne, who died from a respiratory illness. It was said that his death was caused by vaping cartridges containing THC. It was mentioned that after this last reported death, the vaping death toll has risen to two dozen (Hogan, 2). The purpose of mentioning this story is not to scare teens, but to show them how dangerous using drugs can be. Byrne was the youngest reported death to have died from vaping, but people’s bodies can react differently to drugs. This means that this could have very well been another teen who loses their life due to vaping.

Teens will either feel obligated to use drugs or think that using drugs is the answer to all their problems. It has been found that teens are using drugs before the age of 21. The sad part is that once teens try a drug, they’re entering a cycle that will never stop. This is a cycle that will lead to the rest of their lives; becoming drug addicts. Teens will abuse drugs to cope with their problems, or simply because it’s cool. However, this is not the case. Teens are becoming involved with drugs without understanding the threat that they are causing themselves, let alone the people who love them. The purpose of this paper is to show that Teens are abusing drugs as they are becoming more addicted to them at an earlier age. They fail to realize that drugs are never the answer and the dangers that drug abuse can have on their futures.

 

Works Cited

Dryden-Edwards, Roxanne. “Teen Drug Abuse: Get the Facts and Statistics.” MedicineNet, MedicineNet, 18 Nov. 2015, www.medicinenet.com/teen_drug_abuse/article.htm#what_are_some_adolescent_drug_use_statistics.

Hemovich, Vanessa, and William D Crano. “Family Structure and Adolescent Drug Use: an Exploration of Single-Parent Families.” Substance Use & Misuse, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2009, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3075408/.

Hogan, Bernadette, and Tamar Lapin. “Bronx Teen Confirmed as First New Yorker to Die of Vaping-Related Illness.” New York Post, New York Post, 8 Oct. 2019, nypost.com/2019/10/08/bronx-teen-confirmed-as-first-new-yorker-to-die-of-vaping-related-illness/.

Marcin, Ashley. “Can Medical Marijuana Treat Depression.” Healthline, 31 May 2016, www.healthline.com/health/depression/medical-marijuana-for-depression.

“Peer Pressure and Its Connection to Addiction.” Clinical Services of Rhode Island Treatment Center, clinicalservicesri.com/are-you-an-addict/peer-pressure/.