The Impact Teen Drug Culture Acceptance is Having Today
The Impact Teen Drug Culture Acceptance is Having Today
The teen drug culture is an issue which we must deal with immediately. Teen drug use is much more prevalent today than parents realize. There is no doubt whatsoever that drug and alcohol addiction is steadily worsening in this country. This issue presents itself as a problem of serious and very real concern.
Drug and alcohol addiction is particularly harmful and severe among American teens right now. Without a doubt, this is the demographic that drug and alcohol addiction problems affect more than any other. These are serious issues, and they only get worse as the years go by. Teens are the number one “at risk” demographic in the United States.
The Facts and Statistics on the Problem
- Young men and women in the United States are sadly falling prey to substance abuse and drug and alcohol addiction in numbers never before seen.
- Studies now show that about 20% of young adults will try an illegal drug by the age of 18 and about 50% of them will get drunk by the age of 18.
- This experimentation sets the stage for a full-blown addiction for these individuals in their early 20s and mid-20s.
- Because of the mental development that is still occurring in the late teens, trying drugs or abusing alcohol at this age, even if done just once, increases the probability of becoming addicted to those substances by about three or four times as compared to older adults trying these substances for the first time.
- Roughly, no less than thirteen percent of teens report that they take prescription stimulants, such as Ritalin or Adderall, which belongs to friends.
- Nine percent of teens in the United States (about 1.9 million) report abusing benzodiazepine in the past year alone (up from 6 percent in 2008) and 6 percent of teens (1.3 million) report abusing benzodiazepine in the past month (up from 4 percent in 2008). Obviously, teen prescription drug abuse is on the rise and in a big way too, big enough to capture national attention.
Doing Something About the Teen Drug Culture
There are three ways to address the teen drug culture in this country. We must do all three to make sure we solve the problem.
- Educate – We must educate our teens about drugs and about the dangers and risks that go along with drugs.
- Prevent – We must do more work to try to stop drugs from coming into neighborhoods.
- Rehabilitate – Teens who sadly have drug or alcohol addiction, need to go through a drug rehabilitation program.
These are the tools and the techniques that everyone needs to address the teen drug culture. With these methods and these approaches, our country can recover from addiction.
