A certain amount of risk-taking is a normal part of adolescent development. The desire to try new things and become more independent is healthy, but it may also increase teens’ tendencies to experiment with drugs. The parts of the brain that control judgment and decision-making do not fully develop until people are in their early or mid-20s. This limits a teen’s ability to accurately assess the risks of drug experimentation and makes young people more vulnerable to peer pressure. Because the brain is still developing, using drugs at this age has more potential to disrupt brain function in areas critical to motivation, memory, learning, judgment, and behavior control.
Youth substance abuse impacts families in a major way, in addition to the tremendous risk to the youth’s health, substance abuse affects school performance and social participation, and compromises the overall quality of the youth’s life. Preventing youth substance abuse is one core mission of the Community Builders Network. With a combination of support from other community organizations and policymakers, our collective efforts can help prevent youth substance abuse.
Substances that are often abused by our youth are marijuana, opioids, alcohol, prescription medications, tobacco, and other illicit drugs. These substances disrupt the developmental process occurring in the brain, affecting decision-making and can lead to dangerous risk-taking behaviors.
Youth may have many distinct reasons for deciding to try/use drugs. Often the reasons are to fit in, to feel better, to experiment, or to perform better in academics or sports. For some youth, lack of parental supervision, early childhood trauma, peer influence, or prenatal exposure may also be contributing factors.
Signs of substance abuse in youth/teens:
- Losing interest in favorite activities
- Not taking care of their hygiene
- Eating more or less than usual
- Spending a lot of time in isolation
- Lying and/or stealing, cheating
- Consistently being in a bad mood
- Fatigue, sadness
- Having problems in school-socially or academically
Resources
- https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/parents-educators/conversation-starters
- https://www.samhsa.gov/talk-they-hear-you
- https://youth.gov/youth-topics/substance-abuse/evidence-based-programs-youth-substance-abuse-prevention-and-treatment
- https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/fentanyl
- https://johnnysambassadors.org/
- https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/emerging-tobacco-products/e-cigarettes-facts-stats-and-regulations
