The families of teen drug users are affected in these ways:
With more single mothers and an absent father and more divorces this is difficult enough on children. Some children feel they are responsible for the divorce and often parents don't take the time to explain to them that it is not their fault. We must always bear this in mind, teenagers and all other drug addicts are not born naturally addicted to drugs. In fact, it is surroundings that changed them. We may not think that we are not actually involved, but the truth is, every one of us plays an important role as their "surroundings".
- Children to teens have more peer pressure and magazines, movies, TV, the Internet don't always help their self esteem or, in many cases confuses the teen as to how to act and how to look rather than the truth. Plus, it is this adolescence phase that every human must go through, especially when their hormones are raging, we cannot help to prevent those unwanted pressure completely. We can only hope that every kid is strong or smart enough to prevent them. However, those who are parents can help and assist them as at the end of the parents are still the best and the earliest teachers to their students to grab their post.
- Some teens start out with lesser drugs such as Marijuana, but what most teens or parents do realize is that Marijuana is much stronger than it use to be or could be laced with other addictive drugs; perhaps alcohol and the most unsuspected drug of all ... what's in mom and dad's medicine cabinet .. prescription drugs!
- Monkey see, monkey do! If the parents party, drink too much or even smoke Marijuana or do prescription drugs themselves their teens are more apt to follow in their foot steps.
- Parents are so busy working to put keep a roof over their heads and food on the table they often are too tired to see how their child or teen is reacting and before they know what hit them their teen is out of control. Parents wonder why 'Jim' is acting moody, belligerent, sassy and refuses to cooperate. Why their teen may run away or do poorly in school.
- Children of all ages can get into the revolving door of drugs and then don't know how to get out of it. By this time the child or teen may be so into drugs that it is difficult for the parents to know what to do.
- Children/teen drug users can destroy a whole family by their arguing; stealing money for drugs; being violent both verbally and physically and abusing their own parents to their siblings. They often run away for days on end leaving the parent(s) worrying themselves sick.
- There are now good programs to go too for parents called 'Intervention' and the early a parent(s) child is treated the better chance they have of making it to sobriety.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_drugs_affect_the_families_in_America#ixzz25SJ9NsSo
How Drugs Work
The brain contains many billions of cells, which are joined together at synapes - junctions at which they communicate through one-way signals. These signals are transmitted within the brain and enable actions such as a movement of the arm to happen. Cells communicate with each other using transmitters, which are contained in the vesicles (represented by the pink circles). An electric signal is sent down a cell, triggering the release of transmittors, which travel to the receptors of the receiving cell. When the receptor receives a transmitter, it changes shape and triggers another electric signal in its cell and the process begins again, continuing the communication between cells.
Drugs are essentially poisons. The amount taken determines the effect.
A small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds you up). A greater amount acts as a sedative (slows you down). An even larger amount poisons and can kill.
This is true of any drug. Only the amount needed to achieve the effect differs.
But many drugs have another liability: they directly affect the mind. They can distort the user’s perception of what is happening around him or her. As a result, the person’s actions may be odd, irrational, violent, inappropriate and even destructive.
Drugs block off all sensations, the desirable ones with the unwanted. So, while providing short-term help in the relief of pain, they also wipe out ability and alertness and muddy one’s thinking.
Medicines are drugs that are intended to speed up or slow down or change something about the way your body is working, to try to make it work better. Sometimes they are necessary. But they are still drugs: they act as stimulants or sedatives, and too much can kill you. So if you do not use medicines as they are supposed to be used, they can be as dangerous as illegal drugs. Normally, when a person remembers something, the mind is very fast and information comes to him quickly. But drugs blur memory, causing blank spots. When a person tries to get information through this cloudy mess, he can’t do it. Drugs make a person feel slow or stupid and cause him to have failures in life. And as he has more failures and life gets harder, he wants more drugs to help him deal with the problem.
What happens to the transmitter
Once the transmitter has served its purpose, it will either be broken down by enzymes or be transferred back to the nerve ending and reused (this second option is called re-uptake).
Many neurological disorders are caused by the imbalance of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin in the brain. For example, the "dopamine hypothesis" suggests that schizophrenia is linked to abnormal levels of dopamine in the brain. Drugs such as anti-depression narcotics affect a user's mood by using chemicals to change the movement of transmitters like serotonin between cells.
NEWS-Tulsa world
Alcohol, drugs affecting large numbers of teens in Oklahoma
By the end of the small-group session, it was apparent that all 15 teenagers in the room had been affected in some way by alcohol or drug use, either by abusing substances themselves or by watching friends or family members struggle with addiction.
Stories about peer pressure, loneliness, depression, experimentation, family history of addiction, and even rape and suicide attempts were talked about without fear of judgment Tuesday during Tulsa Community College's Teen Recovery Day.
According to the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, nearly 6 percent of Oklahoma teenagers - or about 20,000 - are in need of treatment for alcohol or drug addiction.
2007 state estimates of substance use among 12- to 17-year-olds
Question: However, why is this "drug civilization" taking over the world through teenagers? Is there a "root" for it? If so, how are we going to overcome it?
Answer: People take drugs because they want to change something about their lives.
Here are some of the reasons teenagers have given for taking drugs:
- To fit in
- To escape or relax
- To relieve boredom
- To seem grown up - Instead, short sighted, I could say.
- To rebel against somebody. Example, parents maybe? Sometimes just to attract their attention.
- To experiment. Some teenagers may think that drugs are not addictive. However, once tried, forever addicted.
They think drugs are a solution. But eventually, the drugs become the problem and their biggest mistake.
Difficult as it may be to face one’s problems, the consequences of drug use are always worse than the problem one is trying to solve with them. The real answer is to get the facts and not to take drugs in the first place. Before taking drugs, ask yourself this question: Is there other alternatives that I can take other than this? ; Will I be dragging others into hot water? Exp: Parents... By asking ourselves this questions, we might find a way out instead of a dead end.
Effects
DRUGS DESTROY CREATIVITY
One lie told about drugs is that they help a person become more creative. The truth is quite different.
Someone who is sad might use drugs to get a feeling of happiness, but it does not work. Drugs can lift a person into a fake kind of cheerfulness, but when the drug wears off, he or she crashes even lower than before. And each time, the emotional plunge is lower and lower. Eventually, drugs will completely destroy all the creativity a person has.
