Adolescents: Substance Abuse In The United States

In 2015, nearly 25% of high school seniors said that they had used drugs in the past month, including 7.6% claiming to have used a drug other than marijuana: teens are even deeming the usage of marijuana less dangerous (Marcus). The high level of substance abuse in adolescents is not a problem with the individual, because they had to be persuaded into substance use: it was not an innate characteristic of the child. The high level of substance abuse in pre-teens and teens is a problem with the environment that these adolescents are in. The problem is usually a result of pressuring friends, a desire to seem normal, and adults who are abusers in the teenager’s life. Some of these youth also become addicted to the drugs that they use, and the vast …show more content…
According to a national survey that showed the relatedness between marijuana usage and cocaine usage, teens that smoke marijuana are 85 times more likely to use cocaine (“National Study”). Besides the growth in marijuana usage among high school teenagers, there are other social contributors to America’s substantial teenage drug problem, primarily stemming from friends and from home. There are many social forces that make a student who wouldn’t normally be inclined to use drugs to try them. Possibly the largest contributor to drug usage among American high school students is the pressure that friends and fellow students place upon them to try harder drugs: a drug addiction prevention organization claims that, “the most common reason teens try drugs is peer pressure” (“Teen Drug Addiction”). These teenagers’ peers may try to persuade their friend, saying, “I've tried it…so you’ll be fine too” (“Teen Drug Addiction”). Teenagers see parents and adults abuse harder substances and will view it as okay to do the same. It is said that “parents play a key role in preventing juvenile drug abuse” and that “parents who set clear and reasonable rules and enforce them consistently, who provide appropriate supervision, and who communicate their expectations about drug use reduce the likelihood that their adolescents will abuse drugs” (“Juvenile Drug …show more content…
Contrary to what most people believe, marijuana can be addictive. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, or NIDA, marijuana is addictive, and that roughly 9 percent of users become addicted to marijuana. Those who start smoking marijuana at a younger age, however, have a 17 percent chance of becoming addicted, and somewhere from 25 to 50 percent of daily users are addicted. NIDA concludes that “many of the nearly 7 percent of high-school seniors who (according to annual survey data) report smoking marijuana daily or almost daily are well on their way to addiction, if not already addicted” ("Is it possible?"). Many teens do not believe that marijuana can be addictive, despite an enormous portion of them are already addicted or nearly addicted. Besides marijuana-addicted teenagers, there are many teenagers in America that are addicts to dangerous substances. CBS News claims that two million adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 “need treatment for a substance abuse problem,” yet only 150,000 receive help (“Teen drug abuse: 14”). The percentage of teens that are not being helped with their drug abuse problems versus the percentage that are is significantly larger. Teenage drug addiction or abuse not only affects a vast number of American teenagers, but the majority of those affected are not receiving aid in any