Addiction in Adolescence
Drug abuse in the United States has caused a significant addiction among adolescents leading to death as a result of self-harm. Statistics have shown that adolescents use tobacco, inhalants, and marijuana (Wong, Hall, Justice & Hernandez, 2015). As a result, addiction has exposed them to some acts such as unprotected sex, leading to death. Adolescents are exposed to stress, which may progress to trauma when they contract life-threatening infections as a consequence of addiction. Therefore, research has shown that adolescents are exposed to anxiety and post-traumatic disorders in their course of drug abuse (Knopf, 2016). Thus, to curb the issue of addiction and resilience among adolescents, counseling is an essential approach. Counselors are knowledgeable in identifying the problem at hand, making it a priority, and solving the issues through a recovery approach. The counselors can equip adolescents with skills that can help them evade peer pressure. The skills include learning with drug cravings, curbing offers from friends, and the ability to challenge wrong motives.
Religion is a vital protective aspect of human life that helps adolescent to overcome addiction and drug abuse. The impact of ideas taught in religion has been evaluated and found to have reduced the number of adolescents who engage in drug abuse. Religion teaches morality and rebukes drug abuse as it contributes to immorality (Glenn, 2014). Therefore adolescents who are subscribed to spirituality find it easy to overcome peer pressures. Local news revealed a massive number of adolescents battling depression to be addicted to drugs in my village (Triggle, 2019). They have been taking the drugs with a motive to reveal themselves from stress in schools, and they have been unable to overcome the challenges of peer pressure. They also show a relationship between addiction among the youth and how they relate to depression in old age (Wong, Hall, Justice & Hernandez, 2015). Most adults who battle depression have an association with drug addiction, especially marijuana, while adolescents. The number of adolescents using drugs has been on the rise, with most of them being welfare youths as compared to community youths (Fettes, Aarons & Green, 2013). They have been associated with the lifetime consumption of marijuana and tobacco. The government differs from society in the aspect of the use of some drugs. The ancient belief that every member of society should take marijuana has been outdated, but some communities still subscribe to the theory. Therefore, the media calls upon society to drop their traditional nom of using cannabis as part of the growth in children to reduce future risks.
In conclusion, drug abuse is a pandemic that has a significant impact on the well-being of society. With the increased use of drugs among the youth, they have been addicted, drawing them into more health complications such as cancer. Therefore, much research has been conducted on the impact the drugs have caused to adolescents, how they strive to overcome them, awareness created towards the challenge, and the steps society takes to overcome the problem. Future studies should focus on the other issues in adolescence use of drugs such as warning signs that show the youth have started using drugs. The adolescents change their dressing code, depression, unrest and changes in sleeping and eating habits showing the effect the drugs have begun posing to them.
References
Fettes, D., Aarons, G., & Green, A. (2013). Higher Rates of Adolescent Substance Use in Child Welfare Versus Community Populations in the United States. Journal Of Studies On Alcohol And Drugs, 74(6), 825-834. doi: 10.15288/jsad.2013.74.825
Glenn, C. (2014). A Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Spirituality and Resilience with Emerging Adult Childhood Trauma Survivors. Journal Of Spirituality In Mental Health, 16(1), 37-50. doi: 10.1080/19349637.2014.864543
Knopf, A. (2016). Childhood trauma heightens risk for teen drug misuse. Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, 28(33), 4-6. doi: 10.1002/adaw.30683
Triggle, N. (2019). Don’t be complacent on cannabis, parents told. Retrieved 10 April 2020, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47215806
Wong, D., Hall, K., Justice, C., & Hernandez, L. (2015). Counseling individuals through the lifespan (pp. 168-207). Sage Publication.