Prescription drugs and Anti-Depressants are two very common drugs used by teens. The drugs are often already in the user’s home or can be easily prescribed by a doctor. This can make the teen feel comfortable with using them, and help legitimize their reason for doing so.
Teens also seem to believe that prescription drugs are safer and less addictive than street drugs because many people use them. Whether they are safer or not, addiction to these drugs has become a serious problem.
“It is not uncommon for abusers to exhibit drug seeking behaviors - going to several doctors...reporting lost or stolen prescriptions...in an effort to obtain their drug (toftampa.com).” Once a teenager has become fixated on these drugs, he or she will use any excuse in order to be given more. It becomes unhealthy for their body to constantly consume additional unneeded drugs.
Then, when the teen becomes bored with prescriptions or feels they aren't getting the satisfaction they crave, they turn to something slighty more extreme than what is in the medicine cabinet.
Marijuana is usually the first drug a teen turns to when buying drugs off the streets. It is the most common and easiest drug to get a hold of, and the teenager becomes introduced to a whole new territory.
Teens may turn to marijuana because they want to fit in, because they are stressed, or simply because they are bored. However, a very common reason is that they want the “high” people get when smoking it. Thus, addiction kicks in.
It seems that “[m]arijuana addiction is simply an uncontrollable urge to possess and use the drug. Those with marijuana addiction are not able to stop using the drug even if they wish (marijuana-addiction.net).” The addiction isn't necessarily within the body, but within the mind. As the user becomes more frequent in buying and using the drug, they gain an obsession with doing it more, and it becomes their main priority.
Smoking marijuana becomes more of a social pastime rather than an exciting illegal activity.
The drugs teens are exposed to in society can greatly affect how the rest of their lives turn out. Addiction is something that is not easy to break away from, which is why teenagers must do their best to stay away from drugs, and know there is always a better path.
It's true...even things that aren't CHEMICALLY addictive (like heroin or alcohol or nicotine or whatever) can sometimes just as easily become PSYCHOLOGICALLY addicting.
ReplyDeleteAnd the thing about psychological addiction is that it can apply to anything. I'm no expert on these matters, but is there much difference between a psychological dependence on cannabis and a psychological dependence on facebook? Maybe I'm completely wrong, but I'm guessing that no, there isn't. When we start to identify ourselves with the "drug" we're addicted to, no matter what it is, then it doesn't seem to me to matter whether that drug is a plant, a chemical, an object, a person, or something you see on a screen.
Like I say, that's just an opinion. I'm quite happy to be proven wrong...