We must eliminate drug abuse among the youth

Substance abuse has been a scourge that many nations have been facing for a long time. This has been rampant among the youth compared to the adult population because the youth account for a considerable portion of the people in the society. Drug abuse has attracted the attention of different groups in the nation including the governments, parents, non-governmental organizations and other interested parties because they all understand that the society of tomorrow depends on the youth of today. Without appropriate, the community is doomed for failure because of the detrimental effects of the drugs. The problem is not confiscated to the young people of a particular area or from a certain locality alone but cuts across the board, and that is the reason it should be handled from all corners of the world if the youth are to be saved from the menace. Drug abuse has many adverse effects. The paper aims at divulging into some of the reasons and how to prevent the issue among the youth for a better tomorrow.

Effects of drug abuse among the youth.

There are no good effects related to drug abuse. Many of the results are bad, and they include damaging the developing brain, the probability of addiction, prolonged health risk, risk on behavior, social development and to severe extend leads to premature deaths of the youth.

Damage to the developing brain

The brain is the engine of human beings and directs all things individuals do. However, the brain that a newborn baby comes with to the world is not sufficient to direct and help them to maturity. It is evident that how babies conduct their affairs is different from how adults are supposed to do, and that is courtesy of development in the brain. A person’s brain is continually developing from the day they are born up to the age of around twenty-five years to help them respond to environmental stimuli appropriately. Many factors influence brain development as a person grows among them how they are natured, challenges they face intellectually and what they eat among many other things. Various researches have been conducted on how the brain is affected by drugs. Mainly, alcohol being one of the common drugs taken by the young general affects the brain and its crucial parts that are critical in development. Specifically, it affects the prefrontal cortex which is a vital part of the brain that is in charge of decision making and controls activities like planning and reasoning.

Drugs lead to addiction

Drug addiction among the youth is the tendency of the youth not to be able to live and conduct their daily affairs without consumption of the substance. According to the study done by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, there is high probability on the youth that begins taking alcohol before attaining the age of 15 years to become more addicted to the drug compared to those that start after the age of 21 years. That is because the teen brains are at a phase where it desires new experiences. Additionally, the effect is severe at this stage because they are the experimental stage and cannot be able to moderate because moderation comes as a person grows older.

Long-term health problem

Developing long term health complications is an apparent effect of drug use because the more one consumes substances into the system, the body immune system is weakened. Consequently, they are inclined to experience high health consequences compared to those that don’t abuse the drugs. Some of the effects include liver cirrhosis, lung cancer, dementia among many others including being generally weak. The earlier one begins abusing the substance, and it implies that they will be in the game for an extended period and more content will be in the body causing more damage.

Behavioral health risk

Despite the drugs affecting the health of the teens that consume them, it also has a direct relationship on how the youth conduct themselves behaviorally. Additionally, there is also some risk that comes with rot in the behaviors of these persons. According to studies done on this matter, there are over 5000 teens below the age of 21 years that consume alcohol. Moreover, there have been many accidents that have been caused by drunk youth accounting for deaths of more than 1900 children annually. Drunkenness has also lead to cases of assault that have been reported. Some of the youths have ended up being infected with severe diseases due to their behaviors when drunk. All these behavioral problems emanate from substance and could be prevented when the menace is tamed.

Ways in which young people using drugs can be treated.

There are many ways the youth currently in substance abuse and those that are at risk of drug abuse can be treated to become responsible people of the society. Some of them include early intervention and treatment.

Early intervention

The youth can be saved from developing into dependency on the drugs at the initial phase of drug abuse. This is one of the best ways of handling the issue because it is cheap and less involving than when the problem is left to be catastrophic. Here, those that have begun experimenting can be advised and detailed information availed to them concerning the dangers of what they have started indulging. However, the advice ought to be objective, and pieces of evidence also provided to them which will discourage them from continuing with the vice. The focus should be changed from a reactive to more proactive where even those that have not begun taking the drugs are advised according. This will help save many from falling victims of drugs abuse.

Treatment

There is little information available on how treatment to drug abuse among children will be administered. However, there should be efforts targeted at the construction of centers designed to specifically offer therapy to the young generation taking part in drug abuse. It because of the scarcity in treatment areas for children that some children are having problems in accessing treatment before it is too late because the majority of the equipment available only concentrate n adult population. Moreover, mixing the children with these adult population will only worsen the situation for them as they will think they are on the right track given that some adults are also abusing the substance. The treatment of the young should also be incorporated in the legislative agendas on this matter to help make sellers of content to young people to be held capable and punished.

Conclusion

It is evident that drug abuse among the youth is a menace and has to be addressed with urgency or we risk losing the future generation. The drugs affect their brain development, social behavior, affects their health among many adverse outcomes. Various suggestions have been provided to help solve the issue, but early intervention is more crucial towards addressing the problem unlike handling it when they are already deep into it. Given that the teens are an integral part of the society, they should be prevented from drug abuse, and it should be a collective responsibility given that all youths are susceptible.

 
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