Drug abuse is something that has been normalized today. From teens to adults its seen anywhere and everywhere. Drugs starting from vapes, weed, cigarettes and such can be seen being used by teens all around the world. There is no strict law prohibiting them from doing so, shop owners also started taking advantage of teens getting addicted to vapes and weed that they started neglecting state laws to sell the items to underaged people only so that they can make a profit out of it. Drug abuse also starts from home when young kids see their parents being exposed to it, they themselves want to see or know how it feels to smoke or drink. Some people simply turn to drugs because they wany to cope with stress or depression as they think that’s the only way to cope with problems. I personally think that there should be must stronger law enforced when it comes to selling vapes, weed, or cigarettes to anyone especially teens because even if it is being sold as a profit for business the effect it is leaving behind on teens isn’t good.
Teens have seriously become addicted to drugs such as vapes, cigarettes, and weed. Despite having negative effects on their body, they tend to neglect them and continue to feed their addiction. In the article “Teen Drug Abuse” it talks about some common reasons why teens turn to drugs “A mental or behavioral health condition, such as depression, anxiety or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)” (Mayo Clinic staff, pg -1). It’s saying that teen who have experienced anxiety and/or depression usually go to drugs as a way to cope with their problems. The article also states that teens turn to drugs as “a desire for social acceptance.” Smoking and drinking have become a new way to make friends or be included in a friend group. If you’re not smoking or drinking, then you get called the not “cool” kid and get made fun of for not living your life in a fun way. There are many more reason to why a teen would turn to drugs such as peer pressure, family history of drug abuse, low self- esteem or feelings of social rejection. Kids nowadays want to try as many new things as possible such as smoking and before they know 1-2 hits from a vape end up getting them addicted to Nicotine. Families are also sometimes the cause of why kids such a young age know soo much about drugs as the parents are freely showing them what they are smoking or drinking and doing so around the kids makes willing to try it as well giving them the mental approval of if their parents can do it so can they. Parents should be more careful about what they are introducing to their kids at a young age.
With addiction comes consequences of the addiction and exposure to nicotine and alcohol also has many side effects. As stated in the previous article they also mention few side effects of drug use the two main ones are “Drug dependence. Teens who misuse drugs are at increased risk of serious drug use later in life. Mental health disorders. Drug use can complicate or increase the risk of mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety.” (Mayo Clinic staff, pg -1). With nicotine entering teens systems there are changes that take place in their bodies that goes without them noticing. Drug dependence in other words addiction happens unknowingly as they teen continuously keeps smoking or drinking without having any limitations. School performance can also be affected by drug use as there can be a decline in academic.
There are also various side effects of drugs intake such as “Cocaine — Risk of heart attack, stroke and seizures, Ecstasy — Risk of liver failure and heart failure, Electronic cigarettes (vaping) — Exposure to harmful substances similar to exposure from cigarette smoking; risk of nicotine dependence, Marijuana — Risk of impairment in memory, learning, problem solving and concentration; risk of psychosis — such as schizophrenia, hallucination or paranoia” (Mayo Clinic staff, pg -2).If the intake of these drugs have exceeded to the point that the human body can’t support itself anymore, they would have to go through a drug withdrawal process which can cause them to feel sick to the point where they think going back to their original drug usages will be much better as they will have symptoms such as unable to sleep, mood swings, aches or pain, anxiety, loss of appetite and so on.
In relevance, there are other articles that also point out major connections to drug use. In “Making a bad thing worse- adverse effects of stress on drug addiction” it states similar points and elaborates them in few words making it comparable with my earlier source. It states “Individuals with stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and depression, often engage in some form of drug use. Furthermore, exposure to chronic stressful life events, such as physical or sexual abuse is linked to an increase in nicotine, alcohol, and cocaine usage. Recently, a study demonstrated that the greater the physical abuse in childhood (i.e., the longer it lasted), the more likely the subject was to develop drug addiction later in life.” (Jessica N. Cleck and Julie A. Blendy, pg – 5) As previously stated in my last article teens resort to drug usage due to stress, anxiety, and depression.
Another quote from “Making a bad thing worse- adverse effects of stress on drug addiction” would be as follows “Nicotine is believed to be the primary factor responsible for the addictive properties of tobacco use.” (Jessica N. Cleck and Julie A. Blendy, pg – 6) Nicotine is the additive property in cigarettes and vapes which ends up becoming addicting in the end and is hard to get rid of once in becomes an unconscious habit. Things such a vape, cigarettes, and alcohol should be kept away from teens and kids until they reach a proper age, as it is not good for their bodies or mental health.
In conclusion, there are more cons of smoking and drinking then there are pros and if not kept under control it can become life threating, teens are misusing drugs and adults are letting them do as they please there should be much more of a stricter law in the states for anyone and everyone who wants to buy anything of such. Because everyone says I’m not addicted to it or I have it under control nothing to worry about are the ones who are subconsciously take hits after hits from their vapes and if it were to go missing for even a minutes its life they can breathe because they so addicted to the nicotine that the thought of getting it taken away or losing it scares them.
Course Reading
In the poem “The Bridge” by G Yamazawa he talks about how his dad’s accent isn’t the clearest how there’s somewhat of a language barrier between them as he was born here and his dad speaks broken English. In his poem he states “speaking Japanese is like a walk in the park. I imagine speaking English is like climbing a barbed wire fence” Yamazawa is using metaphoric language to tell us how difficult it is for his dad to speak English the proper way, but Japanese is smoother than butter from him tongue. He says that his dad spent more time cooking then trying to learn proper English as he knew it’ll be the money that’ll feed his family by cooking rather than English that he’ll learn.
Bibliography
Cleck, Jessica N., and Julie A. Blendy. “Making a bad thing worse: adverse effects of stress on drug addiction.” Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 118, no. 2, Feb. 2008, pp. 454+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A174617139/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=8368e138. Accessed 18 Dec. 2022.
Course reader “ The Bridge” By G Yamazawa
