Teen Drug Abuse

By the time a teenager turns nineteen there is a 98 percent chance that he or she has tried at least one drug (including alcohol). It’s hard to say why teenagers try drugs. Sometimes they don’t even know why they do it. If a person asked ten teenagers at a party why they were getting high, that person would probably get ten different explanations. A lot of the time teenagers don’t even recognize the paths that led them to drug abuse. Drug abuse is usually the result of a problem, an outside influence, or the combination of these. There are many reasons why teenagers decide to use drugs, but there are specific influences that appear time and again.
Experimentation
Part of being a teenager is experiencing new things, taking risks, and rebelling against authority. According to Dr. Mitchell S. Rosenthal, president of a large drug treatment program called Phoenix House, teens are seeking adventure and they often find it by experimenting with drugs. A middle school guidance counselor told Newsweek that when she talks to students about drugs she asks them to go to a certain section of the classroom if they consider themselves big risk takers. The result no longer surprises her. “They push each other out of the way to get there first,” she reports. The attitude that nothing can hurt them, that they can handle anything, makes teenagers vulnerable to the lure of drugs.
According to USA Today, drug use among teenagers is increasing at an alarming rate, while the perceived risk is decreasing. Amy, sixteen, considers herself a “recreational” drug user, meaning she only uses drugs occasionally and doesn’t think drugs are dangerous in moderation. “Every year at school there would be a new drug to conquer,” she explains. “You just wanted to see what it would do to you, you know, would it be cooler than the last thing. It’s no big deal if you don’t take it too seriously.” For many teens who are bored, taking drugs is something to pass the time. Tom, sixteen, says, “There’s