Drug Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Drug Control - Essay Example But even in these new types of programs, the harmful status of marijuana continues to be diminished as it is becomes more commonly recognized among both youths and their parents that marijuana poses at most the no more of physical, psychological and social threat as hard drugs. However, harder drugs such as methamphetamines and cocaine are a different issue and should be viewed as such. All available resources should be used to keep these drugs out of the hands of teenagers, the most vulnerable group because they are easily influenced and suffer a greater potential for lifelong damage. Perhaps a more reasonable approach such as the decimalization of the soft drug marijuana and tighter controls on more dangerous substances should be considered. The teenage years are the time period when people transition from naive children to socially knowledgeable adults. During this part of life, most persons have feelings of insecurity because they are developing at a swift pace both physically an d psychologically. A teens need to belong within a group is powerful during this period and, along with the fact that they do not yet have the decision-making judgment of adults, often leads to bad choices including choosing to use hard drugs. Teenagers are naturally inquisitive, one of the justifications given for this age group experimenting with drugs. They also are inclined to become bored easily and experience recurrent emotional highs and lows, all probable factors in teenage drug use. Hard drug use increases the chance that teenagers will contract a social disease, become pregnant, perform inadequately in school and attempt suicide as this paper will examine. Adolescents are in a more vulnerable life circumstance than are adults because teens are still developing in every facet of their lives. Regrettably, it is this same group that has the most access to drugs as schools have become prolific illegal drug stores. Statistics collected by the National Institute on Drug Abuse de monstrate that schoolchildren have easy access to drugs and alcohol. â€Å"The average age of first alcohol use is 12 and the average age of first drug use is 13. Almost two-thirds of all American young people try illicit drugs before they finish high school† (Anderson, 1996) The relationship between hard drug use among teens and an increased occurrence of sexual activity is a broadly accepted reality by both researchers and the general public. Many studies have time and again demonstrated an association between unsafe sexual behavior and drug use by teenagers. Drug users are more prone to take risks than do teens that don’t use drugs. This may be an obvious assertion but a tendency to take unnecessary chances with their health combined with a lowering of inhibitions while on drugs and the inherent need of all teens to feel accepted by their peer group leads to increased sexual activity. This problematic circumstance also enhances the chance of teens having multiple se xual partners, having sex at an earlier age and decreases the odds that they will utilize contraception than those that do not use marijuana. â€Å"Teens 15 and older who use drugs are five times more likely to have sex than are those teens who do not use drugs and teens who have used drugs are four times more likely to have been pregnant or to have gotten someone pregnant than teens who have never† (The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 1997). Teenagers are more emotionally unstable younger children and adults