The document discusses drug abuse, particularly among teens and young adults, highlighting its harmful effects, signs, and the importance of parental awareness and intervention. It identifies various substances involved in drug abuse, the statistical prevalence among different age groups, and the associated health effects. Recommendations for prevention strategies are provided, including managing peer pressure and engaging in healthy activities.

1. DRUG ABUSE
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9/20/2018 1Drug Abuse

2. What is Drug Abuse?
• This is a habit of taking illegal drugs. It is an
abuse of chemical substances such as
alcohol.
• Also known as substance abuse.
• People use the drug to an extent which is
harmful to themselves or others.
• For instance, the use of a drug, alcohol can
affect both the user and people around them.
• The term “drug abuse” is not majorly used and
substance abuse has been majorly used so
that it can separate classes of drugs.
• If one persists the use of a particular drug
such as alcohol I may cause drug abuse
related problems.
• Drug abuse does not only relate to alcohol but
also to others such as cocaine, heroin,
marijuana, Vicodin, Oxycontin and many other
more.
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3. Teens and young adults abuse drugs
• Statistics have indicated that many teens and young
adults engage themselves in abusing drugs. The latest
report from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health
have reported that 8% of youths aged 12 to 17 years and
another 23.3% of young adults between the age 18 to 25
have engaged themselves in illicit drug use.
• 12th graders are considered to be the highest percentage
of 62% in using alcohol, 10th grade with 42% and 8th
grade with 23%.
• However, some of the reasons that makes them engage
in drug use are an adolescent experience since is their
time for them to experience new things of taking risks and
exploring new identities.
• It is at this period of development changes that can lead a
teenager and a young adult to fall into drug abuse. This
may make them fall into a wrong crowd.
• However, if one engages themselves in drug abuse, it
may not make them be addicts, but parents should take
care of their children to prevent them from engaging in
drug abuse.
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4. Knowing that teens are
using drugs
• Parents should cautious in knowing their children behavior. They may indicate a red
flag in them engaging in drug abuse. Early intervention may help them not get
addicted.
• The following are the signs of teenagers engaging in drugs.
o Changes in behavior
• Many of these teens usually become very angry if they start using drugs, they
become secretive since they don’t want anyone to know their “bad” behavior. They
then become so dramatic and always happy even if there is no reason.
o Change in physical health
• With using of drugs especially alcohol, their weight starts to fluctuate. They start to
have a headache, nausea, and vomiting together with sores on the skin.
o Changes in appearance
• Teenagers after involving themselves in drug abuse their grooming starts to
deteriorate. They have bad breath since they don’t have time to groom themselves.
There may arise some signs of new skin problems.
o Changes within home
• Since they may not be working, at home parents will start complaining that their
money is frequently missing. There may exist some containers or tools within their
room.
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5. Effect of drugs
• Drug abuse has a lot of effects on one’s health.
• Drugs have chemical effects on the brain.
Depending on the amount of drug abused it can
affect the functioning of the brain. It may affect
one person thinking, mood and perception. It may
result in malfunctioning of the motor nerves
interfering with decision making and problem-
solving.
• For alcohol, it affects metabolism and intoxication
levels. The following are some of the effects of
alcohol on teenagers.
o Mood swings
o Coordination issues
o Problems with memory
o Having troubles in concentration
o Drinking a large amount of alcohol can result
in blackouts or even amnesia.
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6. Symptoms of drug abuse
• People engaging themselves in taking alcohol are
usually very dirty and to note them cant be a hard
task.
• Parents will start to note that their teenagers have
issues at school or with the assigned tasks at
home. They usually start to miss classes or
dropping in grade.
• As indicated above they neglect themselves and
lack interest in clothing and grooming.
• Their eyes may change to being red due tot eh
effect of drinking too much alcohol.
• They may have difficulty in concentrating or
remembering what they have been told.
• Slow reaction time.
• Paranoid thinking
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7. Symptoms of withdrawal
in drug abuse
• In America, Alcohol is the most abused drug with 12 adults battling
with alcohol dependency.
• Withdrawal from using drug has some side effects from a mild
hangover to death.
• The more one engages in drug abuse, the more their brain is likely
to be dependent on alcohol.
• The following are the effects of alcohol drug abuse;
o Anxiety
o Shakiness
o A headache
o Nightmares
o Sweating
o Loss of appetite
o Irritability
o Fatigue
o Dizziness
o Depression
o dehydration
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8. Preventing drug abuse
• Preventing someone using drug can be difficult. However, there is something open can do to
avoid drug abuse.
o Deal with peer pressure
• The main cause of teens engaging in drug abuse especially alcohol is friends and peer pressure.
One will be required to find a better group of friends that will not force you to use drugs.
o Deal with life pressure
• Many people nowadays are overworked and overwhelmed, and alcohol is their excuse to cool or
deal with pressure. However, people should know that using drugs makes even their life more
stressful despite many of them failing to recognize this. To prevent this. People should look for
other alternatives to relieve stress from them; they can read a book or create something.
o Engage in mindful activities
• This activity involves yoga or meditation which has helped many of the teenagers to manage
negative emotions and to reduce stress while improving personal health and well being. Spend
time with friends and family
• Socializing can be a healthy and well-being practice. However, it should be good friends since
having bad friends will increase the enhances of abusing drugs. A teenager should always ensure
they are surrounded by people that don’t use drugs. They should also have family members that
provide them with a positive environment that make them have less risk of encountering emotions
that may trigger them to abuse drugs.
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9. References
• Jones, Christopher M., et al. "Vital signs: demographic and substance use
trends among heroin users-United States, 2002-2013." MMWR. Morbidity
and mortality weekly report64.26 (2015): 719-725.
• Grant, Bridget F., et al. "Epidemiology of DSM-5 drug use disorder: results
from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related
Conditions–III." JAMA psychiatry 73.1 (2016): 39-47.
• National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, Alcohol: Brief description, 2018.
Available online: https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/alcohol
• Vowles, Kevin E., et al. "Rates of opioid misuse, abuse, and addiction in
chronic pain: a systematic review and data synthesis." Pain 156.4 (2015):
569-576.
• Wiers, Reinout W., Matt Field, and Alan W. Stacy. "Passion’s slave?
Conscious and unconscious cognitive processes in alcohol and drug
abuse." The Oxford handbook of substance use and substance use
disorders 1 (2016): 311-350.
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