Discussing Peer Pressure, Schools` social norms and reasons teeagers are high drug users-with info from websites and the proper citing

Essay by Floorpunch12High School, 11th gradeB+, April 2005

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A drug is a substance that changes the mind and body. Drug use is the increasing problem among teenagers today.

Most drug use begins in the preteen and teenage years, these years most crucial in the growing process. During these years teens are faced with difficult tasks of discovering their self identity, discovering independence, learning to cope with authority and searching for goals that would give their lives some sort of meaning.

Drugs are easy to obtain, adolescents are curious and vulnerable, and there is peer pressure to experiment, and there is a temptation to escape from the troubles of everyday life. The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer pressure, curiosity, and availability. Drug addiction among adolescents in turn leads to depression and suicide in some cases . One of the most important reasons of teenage drug usage is peer pressure. Peer pressure makes drugs seem popular, makes you have a fear of being an outcast, and since everyone is doing it, it is the "cool" thing to do...right? Wrong. Peer pressure represents social influences that effect teens, it can have a positive, or a negative effect, depending on person's group of friends and if one can follow one path of the other. People might try drugs just to fit in the social norms, even if a person had no intentions of using drugs they may do it just to be considered cool by there friends.

Today, drugs are considered to be an acceptable social activity by many teenagers. If parents are involved with children on a day-to-day basis, they will more than likely know when the child starts to take drugs because of the big changes going on in their lives. There are many positive alternatives to...