Drug Abuse is a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequence. The initial decision to take drugs is voluntary for most people, but repeated drug use can lead to brain changes that challenge an addicted person’s self-control and interfere with their ability to resist intense urges to take drugs. Today people use drugs to just use them or a way to escape reality. Many people use them to cope with whatever feelings they are trying to mask. But today drug addiction is becoming a major problem amongst teenagers.
Many reasons come with why kids get addicted to drugs or even why they start using. They don’t use drugs with the intent of becoming addicted, but factors play into it such as, some kids try drugs for the first time from peer pressure, instead of resisting them they want to look cool and experiment with them along with the fact is sounds fun to get high cause the silliness, the slurred words, the stumbling, the bizarre behavior is all fun thing to have with your friends. Another reason being that adolescents want to be treated like adults they want to feel older, more mature and more sophisticated. Drug use can boost this feeling for them. A third reason being curiosity. The desire to try new things and explore the world and as they get older the desire becomes stronger. As kids get the desire to try it just once they end up in a drug rehab treatment down the road due to some ill-fated need to satisfy their curiosity. Last reason being teens struggle with a lot of emotional pain are vulnerable to drug abuse. They use these substances to self-medicate.
Many different drugs are being used today by teens. Whether it be at a party or a drug addiction they are everywhere and there is a variety of them. Staring with marijuana as the illicit drug most commonly used by teens. With 1.8 million (7.2 percent) currently using the drug, and 3.4 million (15.5 percent) having used it some point in the past. Many people, including teenagers, do not believe that marijuana is dangerous to a person’s health. However, studies have shown the drug can cause damage, especially to the developing adolescent brain. Second drug being prescription drugs. The use of these drugs is on the rise of all age groups, including aged 12 to 17. About 6.6 percent of teenagers have abused psychotherapeutic prescription drugs in the past year, and 2.8 percent have in the past month. Prescription pain killers are likewise abused by teenagers, with 2.2 percent of teenagers using a pain killer for non-medical use in the past month, and 5.3 percent or 1.3 million teenagers have done so in the past year. Third drug is ecstasy also known as MDMA or molly. Is a popular drug to abuse.
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Although ecstasy often is a connection to raves and other parties, only 2 percent of teenagers, have used ecstasy in their lifetime. However, the number of emergency room visits due to teenage ecstasy abuse is on the rise, showing resurgence in the popularity of the drug. About 1.1 percent of 12 graders have used methamphetamines in the past year. The number of meth users aged 12-17 is not as high, with only 0.6 percent having used the drug at some point in their lives. However, for those aged 18-25, that number jumps to 3.1 percent. The use of cocaine is declining in all age groups, including teenagers. However, 0.1 percent, or 30,000 teenagers, has used cocaine in the past month, and 0.9 percent, or 180,000, has used it in the past year
