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Media impact on teenagers
Comtemporary issue of drug using amongst adolescents
Effects of drugs use on society
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Recommended: Media impact on teenagers
Generation Y has been through an array of difficulties. Drug abuse is one of the issues teens are faced with everyday. Not only narcotic drugs, but also prescription drugs and over the counter medications have been used and abused. Drugs have gotten easier to acquire throughout the years. Generation Y has had many teens be affected by media messages and how they project an image of sex to the viewers.
What are the reasons behind drug abuse? People from all walks of life have been victims of drug abuse. Some people are depressed and so they try to get away from reality by taking drugs. A person who has been injured could have been prescribed a pain reliever with addicting qualities. That teen that lives down the street gets his pills from his fathers’ medicine cabinet. Each person who has abused drugs has some story behind their behavior. Any drug can be abused by teens as long as they can get access to them (Dryden-Edward).
When living in Ohio, I knew plenty of teenagers who would take pills from their parents, or buy them from other students at the school. A few of my friends would show up to school and take a handful of pills when they get there so that the high that they felt would last them all day. It was be able to hard to watch as they would risk everything just to be able to escape reality for a few hours. It’s a reality we face everyday of our lives; knowing people who have a drug addiction and not being able to help is a horrible feeling, but the reality is, if they want the drug bad enough, they will do whatever they can to get it.
It has been calculated that each day around 3,000 teens have their first cigarette (Dryden-Edward). In 2002 there were 2% of 10th graders who had used cocaine (Dryden-Edward). It ...
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...e prescriptions properly. The media sends the wrong kinds of messaged to teens about the image that you need to have in order to be attractive and that it’s alright to act sexy at a younger age and occasionally that leads to having sex.
Works Cited
Dryden-Edward, Roxanne. Teen Drug Abuse. 23 February 2010 .
Focus on the Family. Why teens have sex. 2009. 23 February 2010 .
Heroin - The Next Generation / Documentary Educational Video. 21 February 2009. 23 February 2010 .
"U.S. Teen Sexual Activity." January 2005. Keiser Family foundation. 24 February 2010 .
About one out of five 10th graders and about 1 out of four high school seniors used marijuana in the past month (Facts for Teens, 1). It is the second most popular drug among teens in the US (Encarta, 1). Teens, ages 12-17, that use marijuana weekly are nine times more likely than non-users to experience with illegal drugs and alcohol (Fed. Study, 1). More 13 & 14 year olds are using drugs, fifteen pe...
Chasing Heroin is a two-hour documentary that investigates America’s heroin crisis. The documentary details the opioid epidemic and how police offers, social workers, and public defenders are working to save the lives of addicts. The documentary explores the origins and continuing causes behind the heroin epidemic such as; massive increases in opioid painkillers starting at the turn of the century, Mexican drug cartels who are now rooted in upper-middle-class neighborhoods, and the cheap price of heroin when compared to prescription pain killers. A program in Seattle called LEAD is explored. This program channels addicts into a system that points them toward help (rehab, temporary housing, counseling, methadone treatment) instead of prison
We are introduced to the story of Matt Schoonover, a young man who had recently obtained his masters degree from Yale. He had grown up “attending a Christian private school, and a prominent church” (2). Matt had begun abusing pills, though he was originally prescribed them by a doctor. Even after undergoing detoxification and then rehab, Matt could not curb his addiction. “Unable to afford street Oxycontin, Matt switched to black tar heroin, brought in from Mexico” (3). We are told how this is unfortunately quite common. People who are prescribed pills often end up abusing them; and once they can no longer afford the high prices of OxyContin they switch to black tar heroin. This transition is often what leads to overdoses, as black tar heroin is extremely deadly and overdoses like Matt’s are common. This is just one story out of tens of thousands of similar stories that all have the same ending. The opiate crisis is a problem that few recognize because it crept up on a majority of Americans. Young people throughout the nation were not using drugs in public, but privately in their own
...y, H. (2008). Drug use and abuse: a comprehensive introduction (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Almost everybody on Long Island, and probably all around the world, has been prescribed a drug by a doctor before— whether it was to knock out a nasty virus, or relieve pain post injury or surgery. However, what many people don’t realize is that these drugs can have highly addictive qualities, and more and more people are becoming hooked, specifically teenagers. But when does harmlessly taking a prescription drug to alleviate pain take the turn into the downward spiral of abuse? The answer to that question would be when the user begins taking the drug for the “high” or good feelings brought along with it—certainly not what it was prescribed for (1). The amount of teens that abuse prescription medications has been rapidly increasing in recent
Some people argue that the drug users aren’t the heroin victims. One writer notes, 'The parents of the user who steals from them, abuses them, physically, emotionally and mentally, the siblings who suffer the loss of care and love but who also get abused and used by the user, the kids of the user who learn that the parent's desire for smack is greater than the desire to be a parent,' are the real heroin victims (Fitzgerald, 2000). This problem therefore effects not only the user but the society living around them as well.
Drugs cause an overall disturbance in a subjects’ physiological, psychological and emotional health. “At the individual level, drug abuse creates health hazards for the user, affecting the educational and general development of youths in particular” (“Fresh Challenge”). In youth specifically, drug abuse can be triggered by factors such as: a parent’s abusive behavior, poor social skills, family history of alcoholism or substance abuse, the divorce of parents or guardians, poverty, the death of a loved one, or even because they are being bullied at school (“Drugs, brains, and behavior”) .
Runaway’s teens often encounter problems with drugs such having an addiction. An addiction is a chronic brain disease that causes a person to find drugs in unwanted places, despite how harmful they are to them (Addiction p.4).Taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, research shows that in earlier stages a person using drugs is more likely to be more seriously
Adolescences in particular can be easily influenced to abusing a drug or multiple drugs. I believe this happens because teens often lack education, live in an environment where drugs are readily available, are peer-pressured and the lack of proper growth of the frontal lobe. Many factors contribute to adolescences experimenting with drugs. As side from being a child, the adolescence stage is of great importance. Healthy habits and activities are supposed to be instilled within this stage of life. The adolescence stage can be very perplexing and what is made into a habit then is easily carried on into adulthood. Our genes act together with our environment to contribute to the addictive behaviors we are motivated to develop. If addiction is left untreated it can ultimately lead to de...
Nagle, Jeanne. Everything You Need to Know About Drug Addiction. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2012.
Drug abuse has been a hot topic for our society due to how stimulants interfere with health, prosperity, and the lives of others in all nations. All drugs have the potential to be misapplied, whether obtained by prescription, over the counter, or illegally. Drug abuse is a despicable disease that affects many helpless people. Majority of those who are beset with this disease go untreated due to health insurance companies who neglect and discriminate this issue. As an outcome of missed opportunities of treatments, abusers become homeless, very ill, or even worst, death.
It has been discovered that most people who struggle with drug addiction began experimenting with drugs in their teens. Teenage drug abuse is one of the largest problems in society today and the problem grows and larger every year. Drugs are a pervasive force in our culture today. To expect kids not to be influenced by the culture of their time is as unrealistic as believing in the tooth fairy (Bauman 140). Teens may feel pressured by their friends to try drugs, they may have easy access to drugs, they may use drugs to rebel against their family or society, or they may take an illegal drug because they are curious about it or the pleasure that it gives them.
Drug addiction is a very big problem in today’s society. Many people have had their lives ruined due to drug addiction. The people that use the drugs don’t even realize that they have an addiction. They continue to use the drug not even realizing that their whole world is crashing down around them. Drug addicts normally lose their family and friends due to drug addiction.
Certain drugs can be injected via a syringe or needle, smoked, ingested through the nasal cavity, and even laced into certain foods and eaten. Unfortunately, in certain areas, drugs can be very easily obtained in an unsafe environment. Usually, drugs affect teenagers the most who are in their high school and college years. It is reported that teenagers can get their hands on narcotics at a myriad of places in their daily lives. They can be found: In the medicine cabinet, at home, at a neighbor’s house, online, a friend, at schools, and at parties. Nowadays, with rapid advancement in drug development, kids as young as 16 can cook and grow their own drugs in their homes. Neglect of strict attention or drug awareness among parents can result in teenagers buying or selling drugs routinely in their
The use of drugs is a controversial topic in society today. In general, addicts show a direct link between taking drugs and suffering from their effects. People abuse drugs for a wide variety of reasons. In most cases, the use of drugs will serve a type of purpose or will give some kind of reward. These reasons for use will differ with different kinds of drugs. Various reasons for using the substance can be pain relief, depression, anxiety and weariness, acceptance into a peer group, religion, and much more. Although reasons for using may vary for each individual, it is known by all that consequences of the abuse do exist. It is only further down the line when the effects of using can be seen.