Known Used Drugs By Teens example essay topic

Many dangerous substances are surrounding teens in the U.S. today. Drugs, alcohol, and tobacco are the three main groups these substances are placed in. The widespread use of these three things has increased the death rate among teens as well as adults. The majority of teens faced with these substances are between the ages of 12 and 20, although the legal drinking age is 21, the legal smoking of tobacco is 18, and it is against the law to use drugs of any kind, including marijuana. The question is why are more and more teens each day choosing to use these things? To name a few of the reasons: pressure, wanting to fit in, and looking "cool".

Alcohol abuse and addiction is not only an adult problem; but affects many people between the ages of 12 and 20, although the legal drinking age is 21. The average age when youth first try alcohol is 11 years for boys and 13 years for girls. According to research by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, teens that begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin drinking at age 21. It has been estimated that over 3 million teenagers in America are on and off alcoholics, and several million more have a serious drinking problem and can't manage on their own. The three leading causes of death amongst 15-24 year olds in the U.S. are car crashes, homicides, and suicides, and alcohol is the leading factor in all three. Teens have also turned to drinking as a relief from psychiatric problems such as depression, anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder and antisocial personality disorder.

Short term side effects from alcohol abuse include headaches, nausea, vomiting, the body aching, and drinking to a point where you are sick. Long term side effects include weight gain, high blood pressure, an impaired immune system, cancer, liver disease, alcohol poisoning, and heart or respiratory failure. Weight gain is caused because alcohol contains many calories and few nutrients, along with being over weight high blood pressure results in many serious health problems. Having a weak immune system results in a higher chance of getting the flu and other serious infections. 2-4% of all cancer cases are related to alcohol. Heavy drinking at an early age usually results in heavy drinking at an older age which can cause fatty liver, hepatitis, cirrhosis and cancer of the liver.

Because the liver breaks down alcohol at the rate of only one drink per hour, over drinking causes the liver to go into overtime working mode. Drinking large amounts of alcohol at one time can result in alcohol poisoning which causes unconsciousness and even death; a person suffering from alcohol poisoning has slower breathing and skin becomes cold and may look blue, and overly excessive drinking can result in serious hart or respiratory failure and often means death. Other long term effects include loss of appetite, vitamin deficiencies, stomach ailments, permanent sexual impotence, central nervous system damage, and severe memory loss. Alcoholism is a condition which not many people know is a disease.

Alcoholics are unable to control their drinking, how much they drink, when they drink, and can shorten a persons life by more than ten years. Alcoholism cannot be cured, but can be treated. Alcoholism is also linked with drug abuse, which is also a severe condition. The most commonly known used drugs by teens today include marijuana also known as weed, cocaine (coke), heroin, LSD (acid), Crystal methamphetamine (crystal meth), Amphetamines (speed), and crack. 88.5% of U.S. high school students admitted to have using marijuana (weed) and reported that it was easy to access this drug. Marijuana (weed) is the most popular and easiest drug to get amongst teens today.

In 1995 almost a third of all students in grades 9 though 12 reported someone had offered or given them an illegal drug on school property. There has been question if Marijuana (weed) should be legalized, and still the FDA does not agree that it should be, making it easier to get a hold of would cause twice as many deaths per day. 8.2 of high school seniors reported having ever used cocaine, 1.8% have used heroin; still marijuana is still in the lead of the most used drug among a wider age spread of students. In 2001 there was a 12- 22% increase in marijuana use amongst high school seniors, an 8-20% increase amongst tenth graders and a 4- 9% increase amongst 8th graders. Teens do not understand the dangers and side effects when using drugs.

Cocaine is a white powdered substance usually divided into lines on a small surface, it is "snorted" up the nose with a straw like device, it can also be smoked (crack), and sometimes can be made into a solution and injected. Taking coke is similar to speed but is stronger and the high doesn't last as long. People who take it feel wide awake and on top of the world. When a person takes coke it feels like they have had the flu, and when coming down from a high on coke, there is a strong temptation to take more. When a person over doses or OD's on coke, the persons body temperature rises and causes convulsions and respiratory arrest.

The urban myth states that it is okay to take coke if you are a young teen, but is bad news for someone with high blood pressure or heart condition; FACT: anyone who takes coke or who take too much coke can have a seizure or a heart attack. Coke is a very addictive drug, and using it too much results in depression, anxiety, and paranoia. Coke is also a very expensive drug and hard to get, but the more you take the more you crave. Another link to coke is a similar drug called Amphetamine, or widely known as speed. Speed is a powder that is off white or pinkish and can sometimes look like small crystals. Crystal methamphetamine (Crystal Meth) is processed speed that looks like off white rocks or crystals.

Speed is usually taken by dabbing onto the gums, or sniffed in lines as cocaine is used with a straw like tool. Some people roll speed up into cigarette paper and swallow it, this is known as a speed bomb. It can be mixed in drinks or injected and crystal meth can be smoked in its crystal form. The effects kick in about half an hour after injected, but works much faster if it is smoked. The high lasts about 6 hours but is also followed by a slow long comedown. Speed makes people feel wide awake and chatty; it is often used in clubs because it gives clubbers an excessive amount of energy to dance for hours without getting tired.

Speed was once the main ingredient in diet pills because it stops people from feeling hungry. There is a severe downfall to speed: it is impossible to sit still or sleep when on speed, the comedown can make users feel irritable and depressed and can last for one or two days, speed makes some people panicky. Speed is very addictive, the more you take the more you need to get the same buzz. Speed users have died from overdose.

Like most other drugs it is fatal to people who have high blood pressure or heart disease. Speed can lead to anxiety and depression or even worse conditions such as mental illness and psychosis and paranoid feelings. Injecting speed can cause permanent vein damage, and ulcers. Dirty or shared needles can result in hepatitis, and HIV. Another extremely dangerous drug is Lysergic Acid Diethyl amide, also known as LSD. LSD is a hallucinogenic drug derived from a fungus growing on rye and other grasses.

An LSD experience is known as a trip, and these trips can be good or bad, a good trip can be a lot of fun, but a bad trip is your worst nightmare come to life. People who take LSD lose total control of themselves. LSD is usually sold as tiny squares of paper with pictures on them, but it can be found as a liquid or as tiny pellets. A trip usually lasts 12 hours and once you start a trip you cant stop. A trip can speed up or slow down time, color sound and objects can get distorted and can make your emotions run wild. Although there is no evidence that LSD does any long term damage to the body or long term psychological damage, it is never right to take a drug like this.

LSD is a class A drug which means it is illegal to have, give away or sell. Heroin, the last popular drug amongst teens today, is made up of morphine, a very strong pain killer. Heroin is sold as "brown" and is sometimes used by clubbers as a chill out after a big night out. Heroin comes as a white powder when it's pure, and used by doctors, however; when sold on the street heroin can be anything from yellowish white to brown.

It can be smoked, snorted, dissolved in water, and injected. Heroin slows down the body's functions and stops physical and psychological pain. Most users get a rush or buzz a few minutes after taking it. Heroin is extremely addictive especially if smoked. Excessive doses can lead to coma and death, and if injected there is a high risk of hepatitis B or C and HIV and AIDS. It is never right to use drugs if you are a teen or an adult.

It is illegal and very harmful, although tobacco is legal, it is still harmful and causes many deaths. Tobacco has over 4,000 harmful chemicals in it that can cause things such as -- colds, coughing, loss of sense of taste and smell, premature wrinkles, problems with sleeping, mouth sores and smelly clothes and hair. Teens have started to use tobacco in other ways other than smoking it; it can be chewed and 77 percent of kids thought cigarette smoking was very harmful, but only 40 percent thought smokeless tobacco was very harmful. Tobacco companies produce advertisements that make teens want to smoke by making it look cool, and making it seem like "everybody's doing it" The long term side effects of Tobacco is it is a very addictive drug and, some former smokers and chewers say they never lose the craving, even years after they quit. If they do quit, they (and everyone around them) have to deal with things like anxiety, irritable behavior, fatigue, headaches, weight gain, high blood pressure and other unpleasant effects.

Approximately 60,000,000 Americans smoke, including 18 percent of adolescents age 12-17. In fact, most new smokers are teenagers, particularly girls. Tobacco use causes more deaths each year in the United States than AIDS, alcohol, cocaine, heroine, homicide, suicide and motor vehicle crashes combined. Each day, 6,000 persons younger than age 18 try their first cigarette, and more than 3,000 of them become daily smokers? One thousand of these young people will die of smoking-related causes. After reading and researching all of these facts it makes one rethink their decisions before trying something to make themselves look cool or doing something because everyone around them is doing it.

Why risk your life in one night when you have your whole life ahead of you. After reading the long term side effects, why try something in your teen years when that is your time to grow, and learn, and find out the person that you want to be in your latter years. Why know you are going to be an addict, a druggie, or an alcoholic because you tried something when you were a kid. I advise anyone who reads this to rethink the way they are living their teenage years. You only live once.