Teen Drug Abuse And Long Term Effects On Teenagers

Teen drug abuse has been a big problem for a very long time, and it hasn’t improved in recent years. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, In the past year, approximately 40% of high school seniors, 30% of 10th graders and 13% of 8th graders have used drugs. Drug use has long been a norm for teenagers, despite the detrimental effects they can have on the developing brains of teenagers. The long term effects of drugs on developing brains can be disastrous. Psychoactive drugs like marijuana and MDMA (Molly) can damage neural connections, interfering with motivation and reward systems in the brain, possibly resulting in long term unmotivated behavior and a lowered ability to be happy. Alcohol can cause liver and heart problems and can be addictive. Cigarettes can cause cancer, deterioration of the teeth, reduced lung capacity and early wrinkle formation. These are effects for both adolescents and adults, however a developing brain of an adolescent is more impressionable and fragile. Teenagers are a lot more susceptible to be victim of long term effects from consuming harmful substances.
Teenagers can be drawn to drugs for a variety of reasons. Drugs can help relieve stress and forget problems, they can be fun to use for some people, and some teenagers are pressured into using drugs by friends or people around them. While drugs may provide a short-term solution to these problems, or may be enjoyable to use, they can cause far worse long-term problems that aren’t very fun. There are many other ways to solve hard problems and relieve stress, and until we make these solutions more known and widely available, this problem cannot be