Drug Abuse Among American Teenagers Essay -- Drug Abuse, Substance Abu

Drug Abuse Among American Teenagers Drug abuse in America is a major problem. Especially among teenagers. Drugs have hurt the lives of nearly 40 percent of all teenagers in America. Either with health problems, DWIs, highway crashes, arrests, impaired school and job performance. These drugs that teenagers use range from Alcohol, LSD, Marijuana, and even Cigarettes. Most of the teenagers that are involved in drug abuse have either, broken families, parents that are drug abusers, a unstable environment where they are constantly moving from place to place, or there parents aren't exactly making a lot of money and they are never around because they are trying to make enough money for them to survive. But even to most ordinary teenager can have a drug problem depending on there friends, and relationship with there family. These teenagers turn to drugs because they have no where else to turn. There family members aren't ever around, or hardly ever around. Some teens may have there parents around, but they too are involved with drug abuse, giving little or no attention to there children. They may have dropped out of school, or aren't meeting the standards set for them to meet, giving them a sense that they aren't worth anything. So what do they do? They turn to drugs, thinking that it will take all there problems away. They soon discover new friends with the same outlook on drugs as they have. And now they have a place to turn, a place where they will not be rejected or put down, a place where nothing matters, everyday is a good day. Until they finally just fall apart. The reason most teens get involved in drugs is because they have what's called a low inner and outer containment. Inner containment is what people believe is right... ...ervices, 1996). 2. The Gallup Organization, Consult with America: A Look at How Americans View the Country's Drug Problem, Summary Report (Rockville, Md.: March 1996). 3. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Preliminary Estimates from the 1995 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. 4. Rand Corporation, Modeling the Demand for Cocaine (Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand Corporation, 1994). 5. W. Rhodes, P. Scheiman, and K. Carlson, What America's Users Spend on Illegal Drugs, 1988-1991 (Washington, D.C.: Abt Associates, Inc., under contract to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, 1993). 6. National Narcotics Intelligence Consumers Committee, The NNICC Report 1995: The Supply of Illicit Drugs to the United States (Washington, D.C.: Drug Enforcement Administration, August 1996). 7. Office of National Drug Control Policy, Pulse Check