The Social Aspects of Teen Drug Abuse

The abuse of non-prescribed drugs is one of the most pressing problems of our time. This abuse is particularly concerning in regard to our young people. Not only is drug use counterproductive to the family and school environments, in many cases it is linked to criminal and deviant behavior. Both illicit drugs and alcohol fall under the classification of drug abuse and each presents tremendous problem for the youth as well as society. What many in our society fail to realize, however, is that our youth typically abuse many other types of substances as well. Common household solvents are one example of this expanded form of abuse. Regardless of the substance being abused, however, drug abuse is inextricably linked with many of the social problems we face today. Drug abusers all too often turn to crime to pay for their habits, they fail academically, and they fail in society as a whole. Drug abusers can become violent or engage in a variety of equally disturbing antisocial behaviors. The question of what triggers drug abuse among our youth, however, is not so easily answered. Nor is the question of what constitutes effective ...