Drug use is generally considered a negative and highly harmful act for health that can lead to a large number of consequences for those who take them. However, some are accepted in society and others are assumed to be habitually consumed by many groups without qualms. A fact that directly collides with the values promoted socially and represents an obstacle to the maturation process of minors. Today we attempt to answer the question: Why do teenagers use drugs?
Despite being in a stage of physical and intellectual development and formation, young people and teenagers are the most prone to drug use. This is confirmed by the study Drug Abuse in Adolescents and Youth and Family Vulnerability conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs (UNODC). According to the document, they are also the group most vulnerable to substances of all types, including legal, illegal, and pharmaceutical-based ones. Therefore, it is vitally important to understand why teenagers use drugs. Since, at this stage, they are at an age when their identity is not yet fully developed.
Factors That Increase the Risk of Drug Use
Given that teenagers are a very diverse and heterogeneous social group, there is a wide variety of variables that condition their behavior and the reasons that lead to the impulse to consume. Among the most common are easy accessibility to drugs, predisposition, family problems, and psychological disorders. On the other hand, there are other factors exclusive to minors that increase their likelihood of taking drugs and that explain why teenagers use drugs. These are directly linked to their growth period and their need for physiological, psychological, sociological, and emotional development.
The factors that increase the risk of consumption among teenagers are:
- Sense of invulnerability: The hormonal changes their body experiences at this stage are the reason for adopting specific behaviors. This leads them to believe they have more strength than normal and that they can control every aspect of their life. This creates risk behaviors that lead, for example, to drug use or not using contraceptive methods in sexual relations.
- Curiosity: Adolescence is a period of changes and continuous learning. Therefore, it is common for any minor to want to experience new sensations and discover certain aspects of life that are forbidden to them.
- Imitation: Both young people and teenagers take their parents, or the people living in their home, as a reference and behavioral model for their development. Therefore, both habits and beliefs can be transferred through social coexistence.
- Desire for independence: Their need to live new experiences, distance themselves from family problems, or find their own identity leads them to move away from the home environment to fulfill their desires. For example, strengthening bonds in other places or with people their age with whom they can identify.
Consequences of Drug Use in Teenagers
The consequences of drugs are many, are high-risk, and increase in severity over time. Maintaining the habit of consuming toxic substances repeatedly or in high doses leads to rapid physical and psychological deterioration of the person who consumes. Being in a stage of development and growth, teenagers who take drugs are exposed to a much higher level of danger due to the greater magnitude of their effects.
The most common consequences of drugs are:
- Damage to the respiratory system: Very common in cannabis use.
- Cardiovascular problems: Problems such as altered heart rate, tachycardia, hypertension, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, hemorrhages, arrhythmia, or ischemic heart disease may occur.
- Brain injuries: Neuropsychiatric alterations, neurotoxicity, and risk of cerebral infarction occur, among others.
- Effects on the organism: Problems related to deterioration of the dental system, loss of smell, sinusitis, perforation of the nasal septum, insomnia, convulsions, renal insufficiency, rhabdomyolysis, coagulopathies, and hepatic insufficiency appear, apart from others of a more advanced nature.
- Psychological impacts: Episodes of memory disorder, reduction of cognitive abilities, psychomotor alterations, anxiety disorders, panic, depression, suffering from schizophrenia and psychotic episodes may be experienced, among other consequences.
Symptoms to Identify When Teenagers Use Drugs
When consuming drugs, young people and teenagers experience sudden changes in their behavior, and gradually, in their habits. To detect them, it is advisable to pay attention to them whenever possible to know when the moment of drug use has occurred. However, this is a fact that must be relativized with their young age. Since, during adolescence, hormonal, emotional, and social alterations also occur that can lead to physical and psychological changes.
Some of the symptoms of taking drugs are:
- Irritability
- Frequent mood changes toward negativity
- Hyperactivity
- Slow and/or incorrect pronunciation
- Red eyes, dilated or pinpoint pupils
- Changes in behavior, such as unethical actions, telling lies, excuses, or committing minor criminal acts
How to Prevent Drug Use in Teenagers
Without a doubt, knowing why teenagers use drugs is a very large subject of debate that must be subjected to in-depth analysis. However, it is a common fact that occurs daily in reality and must be avoided to the maximum degree possible. Although maximum effort is invested, this situation will not be eradicated, but teenagers can be helped to become aware of drug use and its consequences. They themselves must make the decision whether to take them or not.
Some tips to prevent drug use in teenagers:
- Talk about drugs and their effects with the teenagers themselves
- Initiate prevention campaigns in their closest environment
- Involve their most influential environments, such as the home, school, and other educational centers
- Do not lie, hide the truth, or withhold any type of information about drugs when conversing with minors
CCAdicciones is a center for treating dependencies and addictions. Through our professional therapists we can help a child quit drugs. Contact us!
