Drug abuse among youths
Introduction
Drug refers to any substance use in medicine. It also refers to substances taken to get dissimilar effects such as happiness and excitement. Considering the definitions, classification of drugs occurs in two categories. These include the soft drugs entailing antibiotics and analgesics as well as the hard drugs including cocaine, heroin, alcohol and narcotics among others. Drugs pass from the body into the brain and change the messages that the brain cells sends. This is because drugs interfere with the brain’s chemical cells known as neurotransmitters, which transmits signals across synapses. Consequently, drug abuse refers to the pattern of harmful use for defined substances in order to alter moods. Youths should stop abusing drugs because they have negative effects to those people who use them. These include suffering from addiction, tearing apart families, adult dependence, and poor school performances, destroying lives and causing deaths (Saint-Jean & Crandall 188).
Causes of drug abuse
There are dissimilar causes of drug abuse among the youths. Initially, most youths abuse drugs because of peer pressure. This is so because they associate with different types of friends. Through the pressure originating from the friends, they tend to have a taste of the drugs. They may also take drugs in order to fit in with friends on in a particular group if a teenager posses a shy nature. It also occurs because the youth lacks the confidence to socialize with people. Youths also abuse drugs due to curiosity (Steeves 29). This is because many youth hear about drugs from their friends, families and media, which make them curios to experience the effects of the drugs. They hear that drugs makes people have fun, feel good and act differently. Furthermore, some youths have seen their family members and friends behaving in different ways while on drugs, which makes them to curious on experiencing the same feeling. Youths see drugs daily on the televisions, movies, home, school, neighborhood making them become curious about abusing drugs (Oshri, Jonathan & Mandi 250)
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Youths also take drugs in order to avoid life reality. Most of the time, this occurs when they are experiencing problems with their family members, employers or at school. For example, they might have problems meeting the job expectations or performing poorly at school or, they are not in good terms with their family members. Consequently, they might decide to use drugs in order to escape the unhappy reality that they experience. This is so because drugs enable them to feel strong, beautiful, important, courageous and smarter. Even though, the drug effects does not last for long, the little time that youths use drugs help them to forget their problems, responsibilities, limitations and be in the fantasy world. This implies that despite the dangers associated with drugs, they are attractive to youths because they change the manner in which they feel (Saint-Jean & Crandall 192).
Drug abuse is also common among youths because there are areas with illegal alcohol producers who hire sells people to sale the drugs to teenagers. For example, some places introduce teenagers to alcohol in terms of root beer and with time, such drinks make teenagers to become alcohol abusers (Steeves 28).
Effects of youth drug abuse
Drug abuse is a human tragedy, which enables youth to search for pleasure and better but those who persistently abuse drugs often encounter dissimilar problems in academics, health as well as in relationships with family, friends and society. Initially, youths engaging in drugs always experience declining grades, show regular absenteeism in schools and other activities as well as increased potentials of dropping out of school. Research conducted by the American medical association showed that low level of commitment to education and high absenteeism rates highly relates to drug abuse among young people. It also revealed that the cognitive and behavioral problem that results from drugs interferes with the academic performances among youths. Drug abuse encourages mental health problems such as developmental lags, depression, withdrawal, apathy and other psychosocial problems. Furthermore, it makes the youth be unstable, go mad and they infiltrate many diseases in the system drugs (Oshri, Jonathan & Mandi 250).
Companies that produce drugs act as sources of employment to dissimilar people, as well the over the counter drugs cures the sick people. On the contrary, taking hard drugs makes the youth be hyperactive and behave in abnormal manner. This contributes to engaging in immoralities such as armed robbery and sexual abuse, which results to getting sexually transmitted diseases like HIV AIDS and other societal vices. Drug abuse has financial impacts because the drug addict youths tend to spend much money in purchasing the drugs. This transforms them into bankrupt forcing them to start searching for money using all means, which eventually increase the rates of crime within societies (Steeves 28).
Solutions to drug abuse
There are different approaches to the eradication of drug abuse among the youths. These include aggressive extinction of all sources of hard drugs including the planted farms. Parents should also take the responsibilities of monitoring the friend their children associate with and discourage them against bad company. The affected youth should attend rehabilitation; schools should teach about the effects of drug abuse and encourage campaigns against the drug abuse. Finally, the government should create stiff penalty to youths found using hard drugs (Oshri, Jonathan & Mandi 250)
Conclusion
This paper draws attention on drug abuse among the youths. It starts by highlighting the main reasons why youths abuse drug. These include peer pressure, to avoid life’s reality and due to availability of many illegal drug producers. It also stated both the positive and negative effects of drugs. Positively, drugs enable youths to feel better, pleasure, source of employment and over the counter dugs cures people. On the contrary, drugs lead to poor academic performances, separating families and makes youths to be hyperactive and getting involved in immoralities. Finally, the paper offers dissimilar solutions that the drug abusers should use.
Works Cited
Saint-Jean, G., Martinez, C. A., & Crandall, L. A. (2008). Psychosocial mediators of the impact of acculturation on adolescent substance abuse. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 10(2), 187-95.
Steeves, Richard. “Recognising Drug Abuse at Work.” Occupational Health 63.9 (2011): 27-9. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 3 Nov. 2012
Oshri, Assaf., Jonathan, Tubman and Mandi L. Burnette. “Childhood Maltreatment Histories, Alcohol and Other Drug use Symptoms, and Sexual Risk Behavior in a Treatment Sample of Adolescents.” American Journal of Public Health 102 (2012): 250-7. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 3 Nov. 2012.
