|
More people are abusing drugs today than in any other time in history, and many of those people are youth. The connection between youth and drug abuse raises several questions, like: Why are young people at risk of drug abuse? Why do young people use drugs? What is wrong with doing drugs when people have been doing them for centuries? 
Substance abuse has many negative physiological health effects, ranging from minor issues like digestion problems or respiratory infections, to potentially fatal diseases, like AIDS and hepatitis C. Of course, the effects depend on the drug and on the amount, method and frequency of use. Some drugs are very addictive, like heroin, while others are less so. But the upshot is that regular drug abuse or sustained exposure to a drug - even for a short period of time - can cause physiological dependence, which means that when the person stops taking drugs, he/she experiences physical withdrawal symptoms and a craving for the drug. Drug abuse also causes brain damage. Again, depending on the drug, the strength and character of this damage varies. But one thing is clear, drug abuse affects the way the brain functions and alters its responses to the world. That is what psychoactive means, after all, something that acts on your brain. How drug abuse will affect your behaviour, actions, feelings and motivations is unpredictable. By meddling in the natural ways the brain functions, abusers exposes themselves to risks they may not even have imagined. Finally, drug abuse damages the ability of people to act as free and conscious beings, capable of taking action to fulfill their needs. How free drug abusers are when they have no control over their actions or reactions is debatable. What is unarguable is that by giving in to bio-chemical processes that are deviant, a drug abuser loses what makes humans admirable and unique. In the past, drugs were not as strong and potent as they are now. Even so-called "natural" or soft drugs like marijuana or "skunk" are many times more powerful than they were in the 1960's. Over the years, these drugs have been modified either biologically or chemically to create higher concentrations of the active ingredient - the thing that produces the "high". The argument for historical use doesn't justify drug abuse, because no one 200 years ago could have dreamed of the potency of the drugs that are available today. Further, when psychotropic substances were used in the past, it was within a fairly well structured social space that regulated use and behaviour. In today's social conditions, this structured space has been lost. Moreover, the very strength of modern chemicals is such that it renders social control ineffective. While it is difficult to give an accurate picture of the extent of drug abuse among youth because of the severe lack of information, we can look at smaller samples of young people in developed countries for some indication of the direction youth culture is taking. Since youth culture is increasingly global and emanates from the West, studying target groups in these countries can provide some hints about the new trends in drug abuse. These reports were prepared for the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, which is the governing body of UNODC. Youth and Drugs: A Global Overview (PDF)
World Situation with Regard to Drug Abuse, in Particular Among Children and Youth (PDF)
Prevention of the Recreational and Leisure Use of Drugs among Young People (PDF) http://www.unodc.org/youthnet/index.html |
