Why Do Teen Abuse Drugs?

Two major reasons for adolescents abusing illegal drugs are peer pressure and depression. These concepts will be expanded upon in detail in this paper. Peer pressure is one of the major reasons that teens abuse illegal drugs. Peer pressure is when another person in this age group persuades someone else to do something they don’t want to do. (Williams, Rob) This happens often among friends.

They do not know how or do not want to deal with these overwhelming changes and unfamiliar emot... ... middle of paper ... ...s to explore with drugs. But, for many Morgalo 4 teens this experiment leads to a dangerous drug addiction. At the stage of young adulthood, teenagers do not know how to deal with their problems in a positive way, which influences them to find the answer to their problems in drugs. Also, teens with drug addictions hurt their friends and loved ones because they make the drugs their number one priority. Although drugs can feel good at first, they ultimately do a lot of harm to the psychological and mental health of a young adult.

By the time kids reach their teens, they naturally start to follow their own path. They become interested in the activities of older teens and adults, especially their use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Young people want to be perceived as more adult. In truth, kids who veer into a lifestyle built on something as external and artificial as drugs are defeating their own goals for independence by taking the opposite road - the road to dependance. Young people are more inclined to have drug problems if they have difficulties managing their experiences and emotions, or their confidence and skills can't meet the demands of everyday living.

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 availability. Drugs addiction among adolescents in turn lead to depression and suicide (Shiromoto 12). One of the most important reasons of teenage drug usage is peer pressure. Peer pressure makes drugs seem popular, makes you have a fear of being an outcast, and since everyone is doing it, it is the "cool" thing to do…right?

Why do teens use drugs? Many reasons contribute to adolescent drug use. It may be stress, peer pressure, or even the difficulty coping with the ills of school life. Teens use drugs because they have no true guidance. The absence, of certain vital components such as, someone to talk to, morals, values, or even responsibility forces teens to use drugs.

While some parents may feel relieved that their teen is “only” drinking, it is important to remember that alcohol is a powerful, mood-altering drug. Not only does alcohol affect the mind and body in unpredictable ways, but teens lack the judgment and coping skills to handle alcohol wisely. Some teenagers are brought up with the attitude that drinking is pure evil. But most of the time this just causes rebellious behavior and makes them want to try it even more, and once they try it they could possibly get addicted. According to associate professor Deborah Deas and assistant professor Suzanne Thomas from the Medical University of South Carolina, more senior high school students use alcohol than any other drug.

The Signs of Addiction Constantly teenagers are starting to use drugs at a very young age, but why is this problem happening? Many of the problems are because teenagers might have a history of substance abuse in the family. For instance,

Teen Drug Use I once read in an article “Some teens use alcohol or drugs to dull the pain in their lives. When they are given a choice to take something to make them temporarily feel better, many cannot resist” (Look). The use of drugs will [affect] the everyday lives of many teenagers today. Throughout history more and more teenagers have turned to the use of drugs to help them through their everyday struggle. Many teens often feel as if they cannot deal with the everyday pain they may be going through.

Drugs can affect someone’s life by damaging their health. Using a drug can be very addictive, and that can lead to an overdose, or suicide. Someone may also get in trouble by the police, if they catch anyone with drugs. Couple great impacts that someone might have as a teenager would be starting to ditch class, and may affect family relationship. Those are some of the impacts that can affect a teenager’s life.

There are many reasons why teenagers do drugs such as, social pressure, other illnesses such as depression, and it can even be linked to genetics. Many social situations put teens in positions where they feel that the only way to gain acceptance or "be cool" is to do drugs. These adolescents can struggle with self-confidence and the need to make people like them. Boys as well as girls feel these problems. Although most people believe that attaining drugs is difficult, the reality of that varies greatly.