In Ecstasy Notes

In the book In Ecstasy by Kate McCaffrey, this is what happens between best friends, Sophie and Mia. Sophie is the popular one, while Mia is more reserved and shy. So one night at a party when Sophie decides to try ecstasy, Mia follows her lead. Sophie enjoys the high and has fun, but for Mia it’s a completely different world. Ecstasy gives her the courage and self-esteem she lacks on her own. She is able to socialize with the crowd and even finds herself talking to one of the most popular boys in school. Mia has the time of her life. The girls attend a few more parties together, and each time Mia is determined to take ecstasy as a way to become this new, improved person. Yet as the time goes on, Mia doesn’t need Sophie anymore. She becomes attached to her new boyfriend, Lewis, and even more attached to this other person she has started to become. Sophie tries rekindling their friendship but discovers the duo no longer has anything in common.
Mia begins taking more and more drugs in order to successfully be this happy, popular, carefree girl. Her grades slip, she continually loses weight, fights with her parents and convinces herself Sophie is simply jealous of her new life. One night at a party at her boyfriend’s house, Mia is brutally awakened to not only the dangers of drugs but to the type of person her boyfriend truly is. Yet at this point Mia is so addicted that she will stop at nothing to get her fix. Meanwhile Sophie and Mia’s family are forced to watch Mia destroy her life.

In 2011, fewer than one-fifth of Western Australian school students (18.4%) had ever used at least one illicit drug (Figure 1). This is a significant decrease from more than two-fifths (40.4%) in 1996.

Between 1996 and 2011, analysis also indicates significant decreases in consumption in the past year (36.4% vs. 16.3%), past month (24.2% vs. 9.5%) and past week (16.7% versus 5.2%).

No significant change since 2008

Every three years, school students in Western Australia are surveyed to find out about their drug use in the Australian School Students Alcohol and Drug Survey.
They are asked about how often they consume alcohol, tobacco, other illicit and licit drugs. They are also asked about how much they use, how they use and their attitudes to alcohol and other drug use.
This survey has been collected since 1984, with additional drug related questions added since 1996.
The most recent survey included 3,771 young people aged from 12 to 17 years from randomly selected government, Catholic and independent schools across the State.

What are illicit drugs?
Examples of illicit drugs

Why do people use drugs?
People use drugs for a variety of reasons. Young people often use drugs for the same reasons that adults do. Some of these include:
To have fun
To relax and forget problems
To gain confidence
To socialize
Out of curiosity
As a form of escapism
To lessen inhibitions
To remove personal responsibility for decisions
To celebrate or commiserate
To relieve boredom and stress.
Self-medication to cope with problems
Friends, parents, older brothers and sisters and the media can also have some influence over a young person's decision to use drugs.

Peer Pressure: When your kids were young, they wanted nothing more than to please you. Now that they have become teenagers, they want nothing more than to please their peers. Teens’ self-worth depends on the approval of others, even if they know their behaviors are destructive and counter-productive.
Stress of life: Being a teen is really hard because you are being introduced to the real world. Some people can not handle this pressure, and find an escape in drugs. It is their way to get away from reality. Drugs don't solve problems — they simply hide feelings and problems. When a drug wears off, the feelings and problems remain, or become worse, but this is hard to see at a young age. This is way a lot of teens use this dangerous shortcut for solving problems. To a desperate kid, being intoxicated may sometimes sound better than having to face a painful situation. High stress teens are twice as likely as low stress teens to smoke, drink, and use illegal drugs.
Emotional pressure: Loneliness and depression raise emotional pressure, and some teens seek chemical solution for this problems.
Boredom: Often-bored-teen are 50 percent more likely than not often bored teens to smoke, drink, and use illegal drugs. Teens who can't talk to their parents are more likely to feel isolated, and use drugs.
Parental influence: The more that a teen is exposed to alcohol and other drug use, the more acceptable it becomes in his or her mind.Parents that get drunk excessively, use illegal drugs, tell funny stories involving excessive alcohol consumption often promote their teen's drug and alcohol use without realizing it.
Media influence: Some teens believe drugs will help them think better, be more popular, stay more active, or become better athletes.
Ignorance: A little reading can save a lot of suffering. Teens who are not aware of the consequences of the drugs are more likely to use drugs than others. For this reason government and social organizations spend millions of dollars each year to raise the awareness about drugs.
Curiosity: Adolescents are curious about having new experiences. Seeing someone doing drugs makes them more curious to know how drugs will make them feel. It is important that kids are kept away from this type of environment.
To gain attention: Sometimes the “bad kids” get all of the attention. Parents, teachers and other adults tend to spend more time dealing with troublemakers than praising teens for living up to or exceeding expectations.There's no better way to express anger at your parents, teachers, or the world, than by doing something they tell you not to do. Adolescents are constantly questioning the limits of societal expectations, and experimenting with alcohol and other drugs are just one way they may test the boundaries of acceptable behavior.
Addiction: After using drugs for a while people become addicted to them, and don't feel right without them. They experience unpleasant physical and mental sensations and feel a need of using drugs to get rid of this feeling.

http://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/drugid/ration-03.html effects of drug abuse