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response 13!

Page history last edited by Anisa 12 years, 4 months ago

Overcoming addiction is one of the most challenging and toughest cycles to break. Addiction has and continues to ruin people’s lives. Suffering from being addicted to drugs and alcohol has led many people to be self-destructive, be regretful, and just lose their individuality.  Addiction has been defined as “physical and psychological dependence on psychoactive substances (for example alcohol, tobacco, heroin, caffeine and other drugs) which cross the blood-brain barrier once ingested, temporarily altering the chemical milieu of the brain”. People that are addicted to drugs and alcohol unfortunately have lost a sense of the real world.   The purpose of this paper is to start a change and stop addiction against alcohol, drugs and, specifically some of the most apparent ones such as cocaine and nicotine. Our generation and teenagers today are faced with many tough challenges such as divorcing parents and peer pressure and this has led them to binge drink and follow a path that leads them to a negative direction.

Teen alcohol abuse is a very serious addiction and a very challenging problem to face.  Many teens today have been a victim of it. Although the law says that you have to be 21 to be able to drink, teenagers enjoy that experience to try it. Drinking alcohol in high school meant that you were better than everybody else, main point that teenagers drink is to fit in. At the moment it all looks perfect; they do not understand the consequences.  Addiction can affect teenagers for the rest of their life. There are reasons to why teenagers get involved in drinking and being addicted to alcohol. For example, if they’re parents are divorcing they find comfort in drinking because it relieves stress. Some do it to get attention and some do it to fit in, and some simply do it to be loved. Either way addiction can be a permanent damage, physically and mentally. Starting to drink at such a young age is damage to the brain and interferes to the developmental of certain parts of the brain. 

Being a teenager alone, is a tough enough struggle, and if drinking is involved in an excessive way than that struggle can get even tougher.  Teenagers get involved in drinking at early age by peer pressure.  Being exposed to alcohol at an early age, teens will likely try alcohol just for the experience they will gain. Starting to drink as early as 13 years old is a dangerous act because it will interfere with the developmental of the brain.  Many teens start drinking not with the intentions that they want to get addicted, but once they get that taste they don’t let go. Even though it’s a tough struggle for them if they do get into a situation whereas they no longer have control over themselves, the parent also loses that sense of hope and trust in their child.

There are a variety of treatment programs throughout the country that are designed to help teens overcome alcohol addiction. These programs focus on the behavioral and emotional issues that are a result of alcohol abuse and addiction in teens, and give teenagers the tools that will be necessary to overcome their substance abuse problems.  According to an article about 18 million people are addicted to alcohol. In order for them to function properly they need to drink alcohol. Drinking alcohol in a daily basis is a dangerous act that has led to addiction.

            Not only is drinking alcohol at such a young age illegal, but if caught you can get arrested and cited by higher authorities.   Alcohol addiction has led to many negative and life threating events, such as driving while intoxicated. According to Web MD about 4,000 teens are killed from drunk driving.  Those are innocent life’s that are taken away only because someone made a bad decision.  As many teens suffer from teen addiction, many suffer from drug addiction.

In addition to that, many teens as stated above get addicted to drugs because their friends are doing it. Any type of addiction that teens have been addicted is a negative consequence throughout their life, be it alcohol addiction or drug addiction. One is not better than the other.  One of the biggest factors to start drugs is from pressure. Drugs are something that when you start you cannot let go.  Many teens have suffered and will suffer and are suffering right now from drug addiction. As this story explains how one drink took this teens life in the wrong direction. “My story begins the summer before 7th grade—I was 11 years-old. My older brother, who was very popular in school and someone I looked up to, introduced me to opium. A week later, I began smoking marijuana. At first, I was only using drugs about three times a month. Then it became two times a week. By the middle of my sophomore year in high school, I was using daily and by my junior year, it was multiple times a day. After an injury that kept me from competitive gymnastics, I had to find something else to give my time to…something that could help me meet new friends”. Following up on this story it is sad to realize that all these young teens are so influenced by these drugs and only do it to because they want to fit in, they want to feel wanted or to be popular.  

When I turned 21 my friends and I decided to go to a bar where only people 21 and up were allowed. My best friend who is only 19 got in with a “fake” ID. The bodyguard did not even pay attention to her Driver License but rather the money that he had to collect before she entered. This is what needs to stop. Teens are getting alcohol and drugs easily and getting addicted because they the use of alcohol and drugs are exposed way too much in front of them. There is no more adult supervision out there. People care more about money than someone’s life or health.  

Parents in a teenager’s life are the most important factor.  Without communication, love and comfort a teenager will most likely take a wrong turn that will affect them for the rest of their life. From my research and friends I have come to the conclusion that teenagers drink for many reason, but the main reason is because they do not  get attention at home because the parents are either divorce or they do not have a father figure in their life. Parents need to realize that they are the main reason that will either make or break their teenager.  

Just like alcohol and drugs that are killers of our generation, smoking is somewhat an addiction that seems to trouble the teens. Cigarettes are very hard to quit after smoking for so long.

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