Monday, May 26, 2014


According to the yearly Monitoring the Future survey of high school aged kids in the United States, by the time our kid’s complete high school, at the minimum of 40 percent of them have consumed an illicit drug and 70 percent have consumed alcohol. Furthermore, 22 percent of our seniors in high school had used enough alcohol to become drunk within the 2-week span prior to them being surveyed. And 1 in every 15 students in high school was using marijuana daily or almost daily.
Those statistics happen in spite of the best efforts of teachers and parents to direct our youth along paths that are drug free. As every story will have its unique qualities, there will include some patterns discovered to the approach to addiction witnessed in young adults.
Many teenagers begin attending parties in which they share alcohol or drugs with other teens. They begin to steal alcohol from parents and maybe neighbors or friends’ homes. Some teens obtain false identification cards and visit liquor stores or bars. Marijuana is an additional typical drug of misuse amongst youth.
Teens in the Medicine Cabinet
Abuse of prescription drugs is an additional road to addiction for youth. They’ll obtain prescription meds from friends or their parents' medicine cabinets. Or they may lift them from additional family members or other houses they go to.
Some young people, unfortunately, obtain a taste for drugs after receiving them from their own psychiatrists or family doctors. Ritalin, Adderall, even Prozac might be prescribed for teens seen as overstressed or overactive. A car accident or sports injury might result in a painkiller prescription. A prolonged course of these pills might provide a teenager a tolerant attitude toward use of drugs or even themselves result within the initial addiction stages.
When Teenagers Reach Adulthood, Substance Misuse Does Not Disappear
As teenagers grow and go to college or begin to work, their patterns of substance abuse follows them. College might permit an individual to increase substance abuse without her (or his) parents knowing.
A teenager who begins to work or who marries and begins a family will carry these habits along with him, as well.
One habit which is going to go along with the drug abuse is lying. A teen learns early on how to lie and manipulate the ones around him. As the necessity for alcohol and drugs increases, the manipulation and lying keeps other people from interfering. Unfortunately, the addicted may be so skillful at manipulation that their destructive habit might continue for years prior to the family realizing the only answer is drug rehabilitation.
Teens Stealing from your Purse
A deterioration of integrity and morals, along the way, starts to dramatically change the individual's life. If needed, the addicted individual is going to resort to crime in order to keep his drug habit supplied. An individual might sell drugs and an additional one may trade and steal, sell or pawn whatever they are able to get their hands on. Routinely, families discover that valuables within the home go missing. Many have to change their locks in order to get the theft to stop.
Short and Long Term Effects of Drug Addiction
Drugs will affect different parts of the body and impair normal functioning. Individuals know that drug misuse is dangerous, yet most of them do not know its exact effects. It’s important to understand the long and short term effects of alcohol and drug abuse on the body to keep away from them. Prior to discussing the long and short term effects of the drugs, here’s a short overview on every drug.
It’s amongst the most misused drugs in the United States. According to NSDUH (National Survey on Drug Use & Health), over 50% (51.9%) of Americans or 130.6 million, aged twelve years and older were present alcohol drinkers within 2009. It’s legal, yet a harmful central nervous system (CNS) depressant. It might be as potent as most additional illicit drugs of misuse. The primary issue with alcohol is that most individuals oftentimes don’t recognize that they’re growing addicted to it.
Cannabis is the most typically misused illicit drug in the United States. NSDUH reports that there were 16.7 million abusers of marijuana in 2009. It will have similar effects as hallucinogens, depressants, and stimulants. Pot smoke has more carcinogens than tobacco smoke, and creates a greater lung disease risk.
It’s highly addictive and a strong stimulant to the central nervous system. There were 1.6 million cocaine users aged twelve years and above, in 2009.
Short term effects
Alcohol beverages: Alcohol intoxication impairs motor skills and brain function, causes behavioral changes, alters capability of learning and remembering, as well as decreases sensitivity to pain. Also, alcohol consumption affects vision, which narrows down the visual field, decreasing resistance to glare and reducing sensitivity to colors. High doses of alcohol may lead to death. Alcohol, if consumed with additional illicit drugs, may trigger life threatening effects.
Cannabis: Short range effects of marijuana involve significant rise in heart rate, reddening of the eyes, dry throat and mouth. Pot use additionally boosts body temperature, drowsiness, and appetite. Cannabis impairs the capability of driving a car or working on a machine as it will affect coordination, reaction time, and concentration.
Cocaine: Instant effects of cocaine use involve high blood pressure, stuffy nose, dilated pupils, respiratory and heart problems. A freebase cocaine form, crack,  causes increased pulse rate, dilated pupils, insomnia, elevated blood pressure, hallucinations, loss of appetite, seizures, and paranoia. In some instances, use of cocaine may cause death by cardiac arrest. Users of cocaine might experience restlessness, anxiety, tremors, twitches, coordination problems, spasms, nausea, chest pain, respiratory arrest, cardiac arrest, and seizures. In rare cases, first time cocaine use also can cause immediate death.
Long term effects
Alcoholic beverages: Drinking large amounts of alcohol for lengthier periods may produce permanent liver, brain, stomach, and pancreas damage. It also may cause high blood pressure, malnutrition, reduced resistance to diseases, as well as gastro-intestinal issues. Heavy alcohol may lead to cancer to important organs like the pancreas, liver, stomach, and esophagus.
Marijuana: Long range marijuana misuse may decrease short term memory, as well as capability of performing tasks which require coordination and concentration. It may produce lung damage, respiratory problems, and cancer.
Cocaine: Long range users of cocaine risk respiratory failure, heart attacks, seizures, strokes, abdominal pain, nausea, abnormal heartbeat, headaches, and chest pain.
Aside from causing danger to an individual's health, drug misuse deteriorates financial condition, impacts users' interpersonal relationships, and decreases the capability of working. Therefore, it’s important to avoid drug use.
For more information regarding this topic please contract or check out the DVD on alcohol call “Pee, Puke and Pass Out” or the Marijuana DVD called “High Expectations.”
Ray Lozano - CEO, Prevention Plus