Students Use Drugs example essay topic

Teenage Drug Addictions Teenaged addicts live in a world much different from the world of the other teenagers. It is not a small world. There are millions of teen addiction cases in the world because of drugs, which include heroine and cocaine and also, alcohol. Their lives are filled with violence and powerful emotions.

Their fears and their tears are hidden from those people around them. According to the research of The Health and Human Services, drug use by adults rose from a low of 5.3% in 1992 to 10.9% in 1995 (Anonymous, 1996), and one study from the Drug Abuse Warning Network showed that the number of people who used drugs in twelfth grade increased 20% (Selleck, 2002). There are many reasons behind this problem, especially in United States, and it is impossible to give one single answer because the reasons are complex and differ from teen to teen. The causes can be classified into four categories: parents, peers or friends, social pressures, and governmental policies.

First of all, In American families there are many single parents who must work very long hours to support their children. As a result, the children are sent to day care centers and are often cared for by strangers. This causes the children to feel depressed, lonely, and isolated because the parent is absent; the parent is unable to provide a good model for her or his kids. Children learn by example, and when their parents are not there, the children learn from television programs or their friends. As a result, the children do not learn good morals and ethics. An example about Heidi's family can prove that idea.

Heidi's mother was usually at bars, discos, and at clubs more often than at home and she thought having fun was very important; otherwise, why spend more time having fun than at home with her daughters. Because of that, Heidi tried to use ecstasy, and then she got addicted (Selleck, 2002). Another thing, when the children see their parents smoking or drinking alcohol every evening to change their mood or to be happy, or when one or both of the parents are addicted, the children and other family members become victims. The children get a strong message that using these bad things is acceptable. Also, fighting among parents creates unhappiness, resentfulness, anxiety, depression, and extreme stress, so Children often use drugs in order to escape.

Moreover, the divorce of their parents also makes the children be shocked because they are used to living with their parents and suddenly they lose one of them. They lose not only fathers or mothers but also the mothers' love, the fathers' love or both. They think that from now then no one will take care of them. Because of that, they sometimes go out and find something to release their sadness. They find drugs, which bring them happiness, and they no longer have anything to worry about, and then they get addicted. As Crim, a certified youth assessment / intervention specialist at Minneapolis' African-American Family Services, said, young people don't have skills or can not copy better skills to solve the stresses, and drugs are usually the quick way of curing their pain (Anonymous, 1996).

Another reason for teenage drug addictions is the negative influence of friends, and it is extremely rare for a teenager to start using drugs by him or herself. There is always some peer pressure for a teen to do what his friends are doing. For example, the first experience of Heidi with ecstasy was at home with her friends, and they sat around the table and they began to use ecstasy (Selleck, 2002). Also, the teens want to fit in with a group. Reginald Brodie, executive director of a Washington, D.C., area youth group, said that they have worked with some kids who told them that using a drug is a kind of survival because the children will be viewed like valueless things or outcasts (Anonymous, 1996).

For example, Martin, 17, and his brother, Chris, 15 thought that drinking alcohol or using drug was cool (Anonymous, 1995). The media also provides negative examples to teens. There are many programs on television that show the use of drugs and alcohol in a positive light. Movies show various stars using drugs as well, so teenagers think it is cool and harmless. According to Dr. Elaine M. Johnson, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, many prodrug messages are being sent by the pop culture, lyrics or internet, for example, the prodrug messages on some T-shirts, the shape of a marijuana leaf on some CDs, and the information about legalization of marijuana on some websites (Anonymous, 1996). The teenagers are so na " ive that they are enticed by anything which can make them think that they cool.

Besides, in Vietnam, some gangs force the children use drugs because they want the children to obey them and make money for them. Moreover, those gangs want to have more money, and they entice the children to use drugs the first time for free. The children will get addicted. After that, the children couldn't live without drugs, so they must give the gangs money to buy them. When they lose all of their money, they must do everything for the gangs in order to have drugs. Teenage drug addiction can also be affected by social culture factors.

The teenagers always want to get bigger, stronger and faster. That's why they use steroids, a kind of drug, to get their achievement. An example is the death of Lyle Aldado, who died of rare brain cancer which was caused by using steroids because he wanted to have a larger of body (Pumped up, 1992). The children think drinking alcohol is acceptable because when they walk past three liquor stores on their way to school and they see commercials for alcoholic beverages and public service announcements warning about the health risk of drinking, those things make them feel drinking alcohol can be acceptable.

Besides, the children have a lot of confusion in their minds, which is created by the advertisements of alcohol or cigarette companies, the big sponsors of most major sporting events. Besides, the numbers of people who drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes are increasing because of American culture. On some festive occasions in America, people can be acceptable by drinking and smoking. In some countries in Asia, the people are not allowed to buy or sell alcohol.

Therefore, addiction is not an issue at all. For example, in some countries drinking alcohol is illegal. Those countries have laws that punish the people who drink alcohol by putting them into jail for a long time. Drinking alcohol is also the problem in the environment of education. The effects of the increasing difficulty to succeed academically are many, and students are experiencing much stress. In order to escape from the pressures of being accepted into college, many students turn to drugs or alcohol.

There is also a great pressure to use drugs and alcohol once in college because students want to be cool and fit in. Not only that, but the cost of beer or wines in some countries is also a reason why teens drink beer or wines. For example, the television program "Underage Alcohol Abuse" (1993), about a Spring Break in the 1980's in the United States, showed students who were under 21 buying beer and drinking on the beach. The police could not do anything. The six packs of beer were just $2.50 while the six packs of coke were $3.00. The beer was so cheap that everyone could buy it.

According to Martin-Morris (1997), more and more teenagers are trying heroin. The police said many teenagers do not believe the drug is all that risky. In the U. S, the number of teens who use marijuana is rising. Marijuana is the drug which is the most commonly used in the U.S. Many teenagers and adults, as role models in American culture, approve of and use marijuana as easily as they use legal drug. According to the National Institute, in 1994, 13% of 8th graders, 25, 4% of 10th graders and 30, 7% of 12th graders smoked Marijuana. In Atlanta, in all senior high schools, 1/3 of the students smoked marijuana in 1994, and 1/5 of the students smoked it regularly.

The National Parents' Resource Institute for Drug Education (PRIDE) survey involved 198,241 students in 32 states. In addition, recent research in Maine, New York and Baltimore County in Maryland have shown the increased teen use of marijuana. In New York, the office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse says the number of teens in the state who smoke marijuana at least four times a month jumped from 6 to 12% between 1990 and 1994 (Holmstrom, 1995). Teenagers often get to know other students who sell cocaine and heroin or something like that at age 13.

They start leaning how to buy drugs and who to buy them from. There are some data about drugs in middle school and high school. In middle school, 25% of teachers, 56% students and 10% of principals say their schools have students use drugs. 36% of students, 10% principals and 33% of teachers say drug problem is getting worse.

In high school, 44% of teachers, 78% students and 18% of principals say using drug still happens in their schools. 51% of students, 15% principals and 41% of teachers say the drug problem is getting worse (Anonymous, 1999). Another research of the 1990 national school-based Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRS) on 11,631 students in grades 9-12 in 50 states of the United States showed that 58.6% used alcohol at least once during the 30 days existing before the research. For students in grades 9-12, initial use of alcohol, marijuana, or cocaine increased substantially with age.

For example, over 1/3 students (33.6%) had used alcohol the first time before 12 years old and 92% students had used it the first time before 18 years old (Anonymous, 1991). It is a fact that teenagers are very rebellious by nature, so they use things that are forbidden; they are also unable to solve problems by themselves, and it is often easier for them to use drugs than to try to work through their problems. Teenagers also have difficulty communicating, and the frustration of this causes them to search for an escape. In conclusion, the government can't be expected to solve this problem without the help of parents, schools, and community groups.

People must control themselves, and their families must prevent them from using drugs. Their parents should spend more time helping and taking care of them. These are the best ways to deal with these problems.

Bibliography

Anonymous, (1991, Dec 18).
Alcohol and other drug use among high school students-United States, 1990.
JAMA, 266, 3266-3267. Anonymous, (1996, Sep 9).
Why more young people are using drugs. Jet, 90, 14. Anonymous, (winter, 1999).
What Americans think: Drugs in school. Spectrum, 72, 14-18. Anonymous, (1999, Jan 15).
Unforgettable lessons. Know your world extra, 32, 4-5. David, H. (1995, Nov 13).
Teen use of marijuana is rising. Christian Science Monitor, 87, p. 12. Martin-Morris, D. (1997, Oct).
Teens on heroin. Teen, 41, 74-76. Moore, L (Production editor). (1993).
Underage Alcohol Abuse (American Agenda). Englewood Cliffs, N. J: Regents / Prentice hall. Pumped up. (1992, Jun 1).
U. S News & World Report, 112, 54. Selleck, B. (2002, Mar).