Every town in the world, whether small or large, contains different problems that need attention. In the United States, some states experience the issue of teenage substance use, which leads to cities experiencing the problem as well. If teenage substance use does not receive the proper attention it could harm teenager’s health, families, friends, and possibly harm innocent people in the community. In my hometown of Hardinsburg, Kentucky teenagers who use different substances can damage their families, their friends, and innocent people. Luckily, people in my community strive to end teenage marijuana use. People like city and county police, social worker, principals, and our local coalition for change. Substance use among teenagers in Breckinridge …show more content…
While I attended high school, I saw many situations and learned to deal with those situations in my way. Some of my classmates would talk about trying to find drugs, so they could smoke it or drink it later that day. They talked about getting it from their parents or other family members. The people who received drugs from their parents would invite friends to their house to try drugs. In fear of losing a friend, most people would give in to the pressure and try it. Also, people would sell it at school and teenagers would sell it to other teenagers outside of school. The teenagers who used drugs did not come from a specific race. “Forty-three percent of the sample was female, 31% was African-American and 64% was Caucasian” (Ridenour 638). Teenage substance use affects grades and school attendance as well. According to a study based on substance use and school student attendance, they found that “During quarters of substance use, the median number of days of marijuana use was 20, whereas the median was 5 or fewer days for each other drug category. Of the many strong negative relationships between substance use and school attendance during the follow-up quarters, the sharp relationship of stimulant use to school attendance is notable; stimulant use is 59% more common among those not attending school” (Engberg 101). The number of people selling drugs to teenagers continues to grow because teenagers keep …show more content…
The Breckinridge County Coalition for Change makes pamphlets in local doctor offices and schools that show and describe the side effects of marijuana, smoking, drinking alcohol, and cocaine but most people do not look at the pamphlets. The members of this organization consist of the high school and middle school principals, the county sheriff and deputy sheriff, city police chief, judge-executive, social service workers, and other leaders in our community. This organization does not do what they need to do to lower or prevent teenage substance use. Students Against Destructive Decisions attempts to help high school students choose the right choices and stay away from drugs. I participated in this organization in high school, but we never did anything to help prevent teenage substance use. Our state Senator Mitch McConnell helped pass the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which “tackles substance abuse on multiple fronts, whether that is through enhanced prevention, education, treatment and recovery programs, or aid to law enforcement” (McConnell 11). The state of Kentucky received 6.125 million dollars from the federal government for local prevention programs. In an article released by Governor Steve Beshear’s Communications Office about Kentucky receiving 6.125 million dollars for drug prevention programs says “The program provides new grants of up to $625,000 over
The content of this paper is an interview with Laura Crain from the McHenry County Substance Abuse Coalition. In the paper I touch on the history of the Coalition and how its evolved throughout the years. The coalition has a lot of involvement with the community in various counties. The work on a larger scheme rather than on a one to one basis. This interview covered the mission and goals set for the Coalition. Laura discussed with me the influences internal as well as external that affect the Coalition. Another thing we discussed was the struggles that come along with running an organization like this. I also touched on my personal experience and my thoughts regarding my internship.
Drug use affects every sector of society, straining our economy, our healthcare and criminal justice systems, and endangering the futures of young people. This needs assessment is performed to identify what additional services might be needed to
My hometown is Morgantown in Butler County Kentucky. It is the picture perfect small town that you would see in a movie. However, what the movies don’t show is the underlying community health problems that every small town or community has. After reflecting back on my hometown I have come to the conclusion that Morgantown gets bad a reputation due to individuals who make poor or unhealthy life decisions. Morgantown is suffering from drug and alcohol abuse not only adults, but minors as well. According to Mackenzie and Pinger (2015), “…control of behavioral risk factors alone-such as lack of
The appeal that a life of drug-dealing and consumption provides for young adults is very powerful. It is a way for them to become successful fast, and the promises of a lavish lifestyle are predominant. It comes with many risks, however, such as incarceration, addiction, and even death. Drug related charges are the most common of all charges relating to juvenile recidivism (Grunwald et al., 2010), and these problems are rooted in culture, environment, education, and socioeconomic status of those individuals and their
Since this problem will continue its course, I think it is important to address this to everyone. Many people don’t realize this, but people experiencing substance abuse didn’t start as drug dealers. Substance abuse is no longer a habit that exists in urban areas; it is expanding in rural areas. To eliminate these health disparities and reach health equity, we must strive to bring awareness. With continued government help and increased community-level effort, we can unite to defeat substance abuse and eliminate health disparities that never cease to exist in the United
The district I decided to analyze was Marysville Joint Unified School District. I have had the pleasure to teach in this district for almost a year now. As a physical education teacher, it is important to understand the health habits of my students. If students are not taking care of their bodies the chances of them living a long time diminishes. After analyzing the survey, I noticed that in this district there are major signs of drug and alcohol use. Over their lifetime 43% of 11th graders have used alcohol and 34 % have used marijuana. 29% of the 11th graders have drunk alcohol 4 or more times and 23% have used marijuana 4 or more times. This made me why these percentages are so high at such an early age. I wanted to see parent involvement
In today’s society there is an enormous amount of research being conducted throughout the world. A great many of those studies are occurring on Universities and campuses, in this paper, analysis of one such study will be reviewed. The article is an evaluation of a Juvenile Drug Court Program in Lexington, Kentucky. The data that is coming from the Bureau of Justice suggests that juvenile courts process a higher volume of cases today than at any time in the past (Hayden, 2012) These statistics represent the trend in persistently high rates in use of illegal substances among adolescents in the United States and subsequent juvenile court involvement.
A drug is a substance that alters the mind, body or both. Drug use is an increasing problem among teenagers in colleges today. Most drug use begins in the preteen and teenage years, the years most crucial in the maturation process (Shiromoto 5). During these years adolescents are faced with difficult tasks of discovering their self identity, clarifying their sexual roles, assenting independence, learning to cope with authority and searching for goals that would give their lives meaning. Drugs are readily available, adolescents are curious and venerable, and there is peer pressure to experiment, and there is a temptation to escape from conflicts. The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer
The Prevention of Marijuana Consumption through Education and Social Support group is designed to serve high school adolescents. The group is a psychoeducational group that offers information on marijuana, while also allowing space for the participants to process their emotional and psychological reactions and experiences to the topic (Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney, & Strom-Gottfried, 2016a). The group was intentionally designed as a psychoeducational group so that the leaders can offer educational materials and coping skills while also leaving space to process the students thoughts and emotions on the subject as well (Hepworth et al., 2016b). The freedom to openly discuss the information taught, instead of simply digesting the information and leaving,
The use and misuse of illicit drugs in today’s society can be blamed on both individual, and societal factors. With the use of societal factors researchers can show the effect for a larger population, and provide better information of the population. Blaming the individual for developing the addiction will not fix issues that lie in society that worked against the individual, the underlying issues of poverty and addiction, many scholarly articles mention bad neighborhoods, low income, and loose family ties with future drug use. I will be using evidence from articles involving both teen and adult drug use and addiction, as the effect on society is noticed in both age brackets. “Substance use is considered a problem by individual addicts who seek treatment, by institutions within society (such as the police or the medical system) that deal with substance use and its consequences on a day-to-day basis, and by national organizations such as governments or supranational organizations, such as the International Narcotics Control Board (a United Nations agency located in Vienna). (Adrian) I will be using scholarly articles to explain the sociological reasoning behind drug use, with theories involving low-income neighborhoods, leading to lessening of family involvement which can lead to drug use. “Drug abuse affects a community 's living conditions and economy, its youth, and the environment for crime.” (Watts)
Drug use is an increasing problem among teenagers in today's high schools. Most drug use begins in the teenage years, these years are the most crucial in the maturing process. During these years adolescents are faced with the difficult tasks of discovering their self identity, clarifying their sexual roles, assenting independence, learning to cope with authority figures and searching for goals that would give their lives meaning. Drugs are readily available, adolescents are curious and venerable, and there is peer pressure to experiment, and there is a temptation to escape from conflicts. The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer pressure, curiosity, and
As daunting as the reality of drug use is, we can’t get around the truth that drug abuse is extremely prevalent on our college campus and other campuses across the country. In the past few years, daily marijuana use grew to a whopping 11.8% of college youth in 2015. This striking statistic doesn’t include any use of non-medical prescription drugs, cocaine, synthetic drugs, or hookah either. Even high schoolers in recent years have reported in various surveys that they have easier access to obtaining marijuana and painkillers like Vicodin than just tobacco or alcohol. One of the big factors
Among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, 9.8 % are estimated to be current users of illicit drugs, with 4.9 % using drugs other than marijuana. Nearly three quarters of students have started to drink alcohol and nearly half (47%) have tried using an illicit drug (not including alcohol or tobacco) by the senior year of high school.” (Hassan, Harris, Sherritt, Van Hook, & Brooks, 2009)
Even though both sides of the argument have opposing viewpoints, they share some common interests. Both sides agree that the number of students that use illicit drugs is increasing throughout the nation and needs to be address. Both sides want the number of high school students using drugs to decrease. They also want what is best for high school students and their health. Both sides have different approaches on how to solve the increasing drug problem in high school; however, they both feel the need to address the issue at hand. They both want to decrease the amount of illicit drugs used by high school students.
It has been discovered that most people who struggle with drug addiction began experimenting with drugs in their teens. Teenage drug abuse is one of the largest problems in society today and the problem grows and larger every year. Drugs are a pervasive force in our culture today. To expect kids not to be influenced by the culture of their time is as unrealistic as believing in the tooth fairy (Bauman 140). Teens may feel pressured by their friends to try drugs, they may have easy access to drugs, they may use drugs to rebel against their family or society, or they may take an illegal drug because they are curious about it or the pleasure that it gives them.