Substance abuse/chemical dependency in African American adolescents
Substance abuse refers to drug and alcohol abuse. Misuse of these illegal substances is rampant among the youth. The most commonly abused drugs include cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and meth. Some of the legal drugs also used contain alcohol, prescribed medicine, and nicotine. Research shows that substance abuse is more rampant in African American youths (Beatty, 2007). Some of the main reasons these people tend to abuse drugs are peer pressure, accessibility, affordability, and stress. The abuse of substances has significant effects, including addiction, health complications, violence and crime, depression. This article addresses these factors and outcomes caused by these substances.
One of the significant factors contributing to substance abuse among African-American youth is peer pressure. Most people are abusing substances, whether legal or illegal, were introduced by their peers. To fit in, some decide to join the group. When they go to parties, these substances are readily available, and some are willing to share. If the habit continues, one may become addicted and start experiencing adverse effects. Substance abuse is also normalized within society since most people are casually using them. Thus, many people are exposed to them from a young age, and as a result, they end up picking up the habit themselves.
The second factor is the ease of accessibility. As young people, many African-American youths are exposed to these substances. Some pharmacies are willing to sell prescription drugs without a written prescription. As a result, many young people have access to substances. Also, youths, even below the legal drinking age, have access to alcohol since it is available at home, and most drinking joints pay little attention to such matters. Others are even aware of and have access to illegal substances such as meth and marijuana through adult dealers and traffickers. This access results in curiosity and, eventually, abuse of these substances. Most of these substances are also sold at affordable prices and thus easy to get.
There is a significant misconception around the world where people believe that substance abuse helps ease stress. This belief is not real, but many people think it anyway. As a result, many African American youths find themselves in this group trying to deal with pressure from work and school, poverty, and emotional issues such as stress. Thus, abusing substances has become common, and even people introduce the habit to their peers when they present their cases. Sometimes, people use drugs to escape their problems, and when this becomes a habit, people may get hooked and unable to function without them.
Using these substances has long-lasting consequences. One of them includes addiction to substance abused. When the person abuses these substances for a long time, their bodies become used to the substance to not function without them. Thus, they become highly dependent on the substance, and it becomes a necessity. Study shows many African-American youths who abuse drugs are already addicted and therefore continue using these substances regularly (Sanders, 2016). The main problem with addiction is most of these substances are obtained illegally, and they try to hide these facts from their families. Lack of guidance and someone to note these issues results in increased dependency on the substance and may eventually cause serious harm to the user.
The second issue is health complications. A study carried out shows that people who abuse substances at a young age have a higher chance of developing health issues later in life. These drugs cause a lot of harm to the body, and these harmful toxins may stay in the body for years, even after the person has stopped using it. Some of the main issues include lung cancer and other complications for smokers—liver cancer and cirrhosis for alcohol abuse, heart problems. Substance abuse makes the youth be at a higher risk of acquiring the stated diseases (Sanders, 2016). Abusing these substances lower the user’s immunity and, as a result, make the body unable to fight infections.
Another issue directly related to substance abuse is crime and violence. Most of the substances abused affect one’s cognitive skills. As a result, some people become violent or vulgar, resulting in violence. Also, the higher percentage of substance abusers among the youth are dependent on their parents for financial support. To satisfy their urges to use these substances, they steal and commit crimes to get the money. Statistics show that most prisons are full of African-American youth, and the highest percentage has been arrested and charged on drug-related cases. Also, since the drug business is illegal, most issues such as debts owed and other arguments end up as fights and may even lead to death in some cases.
Another long term effect of substance abuse is depression. After using for a long time, some side effects such as hallucinations are felt. However, the harmful toxins in those substances mess with one’s cognitive abilities and may cause permanent damage to the user’s brain. Also, the stress and guilt hit back after all the fun is over. As a result, a person may end up depressed. This issue mainly affects those who use these substances to deal with stress in real life. The emotions and fear may be too overwhelming and lead to depression.
Many African-Americans are struggling with this issue but are afraid to speak out. Others are not even aware of the harm these substances cause them and the destruction taking place in their lives. However, those aware are afraid of stigmatization and admitting they have a problem. As a result, they often keep using these substances and falling deeper and deeper. Another issue is parents who use these substances. As a parent, whatever one does, the children think it is right (Bell-Tolliver et al., 2012). Therefore, if children watch their parents using these substances, this is normalized in their minds and may use them. Thus irresponsible parents to African-American children may play a vast role in the abuse of substances by the youth.
In conclusion, many African-American youths are using different substances without understanding their effects. This substance abuse is instigated by the environments they are brought up in. If the peers and parents abuse these substances, one may easily use them since they normalize the act, and these substances are available. Most African-American youths are brought up in such an environment and thus quickly find themselves falling for these habits. Also, as researchers say much African-American youth face many challenges compared to their peers of different ethnicities. Some tend to use these substances to deal with pressure and stress. However, they end up more in-depth into their problems. Substance abuse has long-lasting adverse effects on the lives of users.
References
Beatty, L. A. (2007). Introduction. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 6(2), 11-13. https://doi.org/10.1300/j233v06n02_02
Bell-Tolliver, L., Kramer, T. L., Lynch, C., & Small, J. (2012). Young African American perceptions of substance use in rural eastern Arkansas communities. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 11(3), 199-213. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332640.2012.701568
Sanders, M. (2016). Substance use disorders in African American communities. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315540665