Drug Use Among Teenagers

Essay by Jason ColganHigh School, 11th gradeA-, December 1996

download word file, 2 pages 4.0

It has some good information about drug abuse. Teacher said it was a good paper and deserving of the grade

Drug Use Among Teenagers

~~~ While I was conducting my research, I located the actual survey results and decided to include them with this essay. (I included them at the end of my essay). ~~~

The three main drugs that are used among teenagers are Marijuana, LSD, and a variety of inhalants. The use of these drugs seem to be of an astronomical amount according to the survey conducted by the University of Michigan.

Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried,

shredded flowers and leaves of the hemp plant (Cannabis Sativa). You may hear marijuana called by street names such as pot, herb, weed, boom, Mary Jane, gangster, or chronic. There are more than 200 slang terms for marijuana.

Sinsemilla (sin-seh-me-yah; it's a Spanish word), hashish

('hash' for short), and hash oil are stronger forms of

marijuana.

All forms of marijuana are mind-altering. This means they

change how the brain works. They all contain THC

(delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in

marijuana. But there are also 400 other chemicals in the

marijuana plant.

LSD

LSD is very potent: the effective dose is measured in micrograms (ug) -- however, the lethal dose is literally thousands of times that, making the drug essentially non-toxic. LSD can be administered a number of ways, the most common: orally through paper, sugar cubes, on a piece of gelatin, or by pill; intravenously; or intramuscularly. A

standard dose with noticeable hallucinogenic effects is about 100-200 ug. The intensity of the trip is proportional to the size of the dose -- it is interesting to note, though, that the duration of the trip seems to stay the same at higher doses (Freedman, 1984).