TEENAGE DRUG USE & ABUSE.   Term Paper ID:28436 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Discusses statistics, social/environmental/behavioral causes & effects. Prevention programs; punishment strategies. Paper Introduction: This research examines drug use and abuse by teenagers. The research will set forth the context in which drugs-related issues have arisen in the culture and will discuss causes and strategies for prevention of teenage drug use. There is a bewildering array of statistics associated with knowledge of teenage drug use, although cyclical patterns to teenagers' use of drugs were identified in the last two decades of the 20th century. In 1979, for example, 54.2% of high school seniors admitted to illicit drug use, while in 1992 only 27.1% did so. In 1997, the figure was at 42.4% (Teen, 1999). On the other hand, a 1995 study published by the Columbia University medical school reported that some two-thirds of American teenagers at least experiment with drugs before finishing high school, and that about one-third use an illicit drug besides marij Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Johnson, M. While Lyman, et al., acknowledge the view ofDARE advocates that studies have not compared the program with a policy ofnonintervention, they also point to "accumulating literature on DARE's lackof efficacy in preventing or reducing substance use" (1999). Schultz, S. R. Barbour, & J.A. Torr, J.D., Barbour, S., & Hurley, J.A. According to Hallfors and Watson (1998), the principal preventionmechanism in recent years at the federal level has been a mass-mediacampaign highlighting illegal drug use by adolescents, as well as increasedfunding of research into treatment and prevention. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Leshner, 1997, p.1), it is at the family level that prevention strategies have the greatesteffect. Schaffer, H.R. Repeatedcocaine use depletes the brain's dopamine supply--i.e., naturally availablereinforcement--which aggravates the addiction, even as the psychologicalattraction of the brain-chemistry rush persists. Retrievedfrom the World Wide Web March 2 , 2 , athttp://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol13N2/tearoff.html. Leshner, A.I. Parents teach not only byconversation but also by example. News, outranking siblings, teachers, and friends (Schultz, 1999, p. US Catholic, 63, 1 -17. Hallfors, D., & Watson, K. Clarke, K. Preventing drug use among children andadolescents. The researchwill set forth the context in which drugs-related issues have arisen in theculture and will discuss causes and strategies for prevention of teenagedrug use. Accordingly, the admissionof marijuana use by high school students must be considered in conjunctionwith the fact that advances in cultivation between the 197 s and 199 sstrengthened the concentration of marijuana's active ingredient, THC, bythirtyfold or fiftyfold, depending on which research is consulted (Leland,1996; Lewy, 1995). (1999, September13). However, the needfor preventive education on this issue seems great because of the highperceived social and physical costs associated with use and abuse of drugs.Johnson (1999) cites figures showing that illicit drugs represent a $67-billion drain in social, criminal, and health services every year, andattributes 1 , deaths in the 9 s to drugs. Drug abuse may also have a physical origin, in the shape of drug use.But this is a complex point. (2 , February 7). Foundations of physiological psychology. Additionally, the curriculum focuses on providing information about drugs, teaching decision-making skills, building self-esteem, and choosing healthy alternatives to drug use (Lyman & Others, 1999). (1999). In a 1999 survey of nearly 1 , parents and teens by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, teens who received antidrug messages at home were 42 percent less likely to use drugs. San Diego:Greenhaven Press. In late 1999, theParents' Resource Institute for Drug Education released results of a surveyof more than 138, adolescents that charted evidence of a slight declinein the use of drugs in recent years: Annual Marijuana Use Figures| |1995-96 |1996-97 |1997-98 |1998-99 ||Jr. Equally, parents areadvised to set limits, making clear " that even one infraction will bring apunishment--something with teeth, but still reasonable, like a temporarygrounding" (Schultz, 1999, p. 2d ed. "But hard numbers quantify that parental communication is the single most important thing we can do to prevent children from using drugs." Indeed, parents received the highest vote of confidence from 63 percent of the teens polled by U.S. Lynam, D.R., Milich, R., Zimmerman, R., Novak, S.P., Logan, T.K.,Martin, C., Leukefeld, C., & Clayton, R. Indeed, the complexities of both cause and preventionseem tied to one another. Pediatrics for Parents, 18, 5. Now the physiological impact of addictive drugsmay be progressive and cumulative, pointing toward cumulative psychologicaldependency. Edition 3, 76. 141). In 1979, forexample, 54.2% of high school seniors admitted to illicit drug use, whilein 1992 only 27.1% did so. 57). (1996, February 12). NIDAResource Center for Health Services Research. Federal agencies sponsoring some form of drug-use-prevention educationor other programs range from the Departments of Justice, Health and HumanServices, and Education to such agencies as the National Institutes ofHealth. It isstructured as a partnership between junior high and high schools and law-enforcement officials. As Torr, Barbour, and Hurley (1999, p. Chard, J., Lilford, R., & Gardiner, D. Project DARE: Noeffects at 1 -year follow-up. The intensive nature of the DARE program might be expected to haveachieved strong results, or at any rate to have accounted for the decliningdrug-use statistics among adolescents. Organization of drug preventionservices in the health care delivery system, literature review. Retrieved from the World Wide Web March 2 , 2 ,at http://www.apa.org/journals/ccp/current.../html. Parents' dilemma: If you did drugs as akid, how do you talk to your children about the dangers? Lewy, R. SanDiego: Greenhaven Press. (1998, June). (1996). Parents justdon't do it. Just as the causes of teen drug use and abuse are complex, so is theissue of prevention. Carlson, N. America behind bars. 238). 57). London:Blackwell Publishers. 13)comment in this regard, "ambiguity over how best to deal with drug abusestems in part from the complexities of drug addiction." What does seemclear is that the great majority of public funds targeted at the so-calledwar on drugs has been put in the service of treatment and/or punishmentrather than prevention. Looking beyond the nextpatient: Sociology and modern health care. Traditionally fiscal liberals now "questionwhat kind of bang for the buck the taxpayer is getting from billions ofdollars in government spending" (Moore, 1994, p. References Adams, K. Given the highly variable opinions of treatment and punishmentstrategies of response to teen drug abuse, it follows that preventionassumes greater importance. |35.8 |33.4 |32.3 ||12th Grade |37.9 |39.4 |38.6 |37.8 ||Total |24.8 |25.6 |24.2 |23.3 |Source: Parents' Resource Institute for Drug Education (PRIDE, 1999). Despite the moral suasion contained in federalprograms regarding the role that health-care professionals can play inshaping adolescent behavior with regard to drug use, these efforts arebasically unfunded mandates: "Prevention efforts have not been financiallyrewarded" (Hallfors & Watson, 1998). 2 8),stating that "antisocial behaviour is not a homogeneous entity" to whichone cause can be assigned. Pamphlet by: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1. Teenagers and drugs. "This may sound like soft advice," says Steve Dnistrian, executive vice president of the group. (1999). O'Brien and McLellan (1996) acknowledge the somatic predispositiontoward drug and alcohol addiction and state that repetitive voluntary druguse can eventually lead to involuntary drug addiction, but they add thateven the worst of chronic illnesses (e.g., arthritis, high blood pressure,diabetes) typically have multiple causes, includingenvironmental/social/behavioral ones. Drug abuse is a serious problem. Talk to kids about drugs? Peer pressure is implicated in use oftobacco, marijuana, and alcohol. The general social hygiene of the home undoubtedly figures into theefficacy of prevention measures undertaken there. Teen drug use. (1999). (1995). Police officers serve as classroom instructors inthe DARE program, while other drug-use-prevention information is covered inconventional health classes. (1998). Lancet, 347, 237-4 . News & World Report, 128, 56-8. O'Brien, C.P., & McLellan, A.T. Torr, S. Leland, J. Hurley (Eds.). What Kleber (1999, p. J.D. PRIDE survey reveals modest decrease in teen drug use. (1999, June). Kleber, H. They quote a columnist whosaid that the policy might not keep students from abusing drugs but would"teach them that they have no rights of privacy." On the other hand,proponents of the policy considered the preemptive testing of athletes tobe an incentive to abstain from drug use. (1995). Lancet, 353, 486-89. 4th ed.Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Advocates of lenientsentencing of drug offenders cite the "virtual extinction" of violencerelated to cocaine traffic in the 199 s, compared to the marked violence ofthe mid- and late 198 s (Clarke, 1998; Massing, 1996), as well as the highcost ($22, per year in California, says Clark) of maintaining oneprisoner, to show the folly of increased penalties in general. In 1997, the figure was at 42.4% (Teen, 1999).On the other hand, a 1995 study published by the Columbia Universitymedical school reported that some two-thirds of American teenagers at leastexperiment with drugs before finishing high school, and that about one-third use an illicit drug besides marijuana: "One survey found that 7percent used marijuana daily, 6 percent drank alcohol daily, and 2 percentsmoked cigarettes every day" (Kelber, 1995, p. Barbour, & J.A. Retrieved from the World WideWeb March 2 , 2 , at http://www.nida.nih.gov/HSR/da-pre/HallorsOrganization.html. Programs, media campaigns, and even laws that complicate ease ofaccess to controlled substances "are more effective when they areaccompanied by school and family interventions." That guideline appears tohave received at least anecdotal confirmation in a report cautioningparents that silence at home on the subject of drugs can have "direconsequences" (Schultz, 1999, p. (1996, December). Marijuana is tried, often together with alcohol. Inside the schools, one of the most high-profile prevention programsis known as Project DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). However, a longitudinal study ofyoung adults (average age 2 ) who had first been targeted by DARE in 1987-88 and were invited to participate in a 1 -year follow-up survey suggeststhat the program as a whole had a very limited and short-term effect onwhether and to what extent the survey participants had used drugs while inschool (Lyman & Others, 1999). However, the fact that evolvingsocial experience may have an impact on drug-use patterns is relevant tothe origins and causes of drug use by adolescents. Theprincipal requirement of the federal funding of state prevention programs,which comes in the form of block grants, is that states "spend at least 2 %of their total drug and alcohol program grants on prevention activities.These block grants are now the largest source of prevention funding forprograms outside of the schools" (Hallfors & Watson, 1998). But prevention programs, too, are a matter ofsome controversy. Comparison ofthe DARE group with a group of known drug abusers, such as thoserepresented in the statistics cited above, on the other hand, would tend toamplify its effectiveness as a drug-use-prevention strategy. Drug Abuse:Opposing Viewpoints. It isperhaps ironic that traditionally fiscal conservatives seem fully in favorof spending public funds to set up prison facilities; the Violent CrimeControl and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 allocated $1 .5 billion for prisonconstruction (Adams, 1996). 498). But if, as has also noted, family dysfunction is areliable predictor of illicit-drug use, then it would seem reasonable tosuggest that a "functional" family environment could exert an influenceaway from self-destructive behavior patterns associated with drug use. ||Sr. Hallfors and Watson addthat the structure of public spending on drug-prevention programs hasvirtually excluded the health-care system, even though health-careprofessionals are pretty much on the front lines of drug-treatmentinterventions and even though they may have trained others involved inprevention programs. Schultz says that experts caution parents against lecturing andproviding bad information about drugs, and notes that parents may not talkto their children about drugs because of what they perceive as thechildren's resistance to serious-issue communication. 56). 1. (1998, July). Drugs provide a brain-chemistry rush thatreinforces the experience of benefit associated with using them. Ifthe prevention strategies undertaken at home are effective, then it seemspossible to increase the majority of adolescents who do not use drugs, andequally possible to obviate the controversy over the efficacy programmaticprevention strategies. (1999). Tobacco and hard liquor are used after introduction to beer and wine. (1997, November). (1999, February). In this regard, Chard,Lilford, and Gardiner (1999, p. 56). In that regard, Farrington remarks that drug abusers find "thatcocaine can 'fool' the brain into releasing huge amounts of dopamine at onetime, producing a rush of pleasure" (Farrington, 1999, p. 2 ). The success oftreatment programs is also a matter of controversy, varying "according tothe type of drug and the variables inherent in the population beingtreated" (O'Brien & McLellan, 1996, p. Newsweek, 127, 68-9. Parental example has also been cited inthe case of teen use of alcohol. Schaffer agrees (1998, p. The Columbia University Collegeof Physicians & Surgeons Complete Home Medical Guide, 3, 141-2. There is a bewildering array of statistics associated with knowledgeof teenage drug use, although cyclical patterns to teenagers' use of drugswere identified in the last two decades of the 2 th century. 1. The efficacy of programmatic prevention of drug use appears to fallinto the category of a negative, which cannot be proved. Myths about the treatments ofaddiction. Despite evidence of statistical decline in the use of some drugs,there remains evidence of a persistent strand of drug-use behavior amongadolescents. Psychosocial factors comestrongly into play, including "comorbid" mental or physical conditions andthe quality of social and family support and help. The Columbia University College ofPhysicians & Surgeons Complete Home Medical Guide. 1785). "If there is alcoholism in the family,you need to explain to your children that they are at higher risk," Schultzreports (1999, p. Making decisions about children. 52) cite the 1995Supreme Court decision that upheld a controversial drug-testing program forathletes in Veronica, Oregon as a case in point. Unfortunately, these individuals may not realize that the vast majority of children, even without any intervention, do not engage in problematic drug use (Lyman & Others, 1999).The survey of former DARE students tends to suggest that the DAREintervention was inconsequential to behavior patterns of the majority ofthe students, who would in no case have been drug abusers. Resisting cocaine's tragic lure.Current Health, 25, 6-22. The focus of the DARE curriculum is on teaching students the skills needed to recognize and resist social pressures to use drugs. As a group, drug-prevention programs are offered in educational,social, and legal settings, the last-named being associated withincarceration, and overlapping, de facto, with treatment programs. Illicit drugs such as psychedelics or heroin may be used after, or in conjunction with, marijuana (Kleber, 1999)Kleber explains that the normal course of maturation causes those who mightuse illicit drugs while adolescents to stop doing so in their twenties,many never having reached stage 3 or 4. 1. 486) make the point that "social variablesremain the most important determinants of health." Social/environmental/behavioral causes of drug use have beenidentified in the literature. Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, 11, 3. Journal of Consulting and ClinicalPsychology, 67, 59 -593. (1999, August). Prison Journal,76, 461-467. Drug abuse. The punishment of nonviolent drug offenders hasbeen especially controversial in recent years. The same is true, they say, for bothdrug-use onset and drug-use treatment. A study sponsored by the University of Michigan Institute forSocial Research found that 55 percent of high school seniors admitted toexperimenting with illegal drugs, with some 4 percent admitting tomarijuana use, nearly 6 percent to inhalant use, 8 percent to LSD use, 6percent to cocaine use, 1 percent to heroin use, and nearly 6 percent touse of the drug with the "street" name of Ecstacy (Schultz, 2 ). 141) describes as "a clear-cut sequence" of druguse among adolescents has been identified, although there is noinevitability about the pattern of escalation: 1. High |13.6 |14.7 |12.5 |11. While peerpressure or exposure to peers may be a factor, there may also be a moregeneral dysfunctional pattern at work--bad parent-child relationships,parental drug abuse, domestic violence, and/or psychological distress ofsome kind (Kleber, 1995; Johnson, 1999). Drug Abuse: OpposingViewpoints. At the sametime, DARE has a high perceived value in the culture; it seems to work: [A]dults rightly perceive that most children who go through DARE do not engage in problematic drug use. Since1981, the US government has provided funding to drug- and alcohol-treatmentand prevention programs that are administered by state agencies. High |34. Addictivedrugs "stimulate the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens [sectionof the brain], a structure that plays an important role in reinforcement"(Carlson, 1999, p. Bull market in corrections. J.D. Hurley (Eds.). This research examines drug use and abuse by teenagers. Torr, S. In the case of illicit-drug use by teens(e.g., cocaine, heroin), the causes appear to be more complex. Torr, Barbour, and Hurley (1999, p. U.S. Beer and wine are the initial drugs used by teens. Farrington, J. These two positions are plainlynot reconcilable, but agreement on less dramatic prevention strategies hasproven equally difficult. 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