#26. Is Your Teen Addicted to a Drug?
The number of teenagers using drugs has continued to increase over the past few years. Usually, teens develop this habit after looking at one or both of their parents who use alcohol or drugs on a regular basis. For example, a high school girl might get into a dirty arrangement with her father who will supply her with alcohol if she agrees to purchase weed for him.
A large number of people out there do not necessarily consider weed and alcohol to be addictive drugs or harmful substances in anyway. That is why they will not really have any trouble if their child starts using them in the first place. But at the same time, there are many long term repercussions of this kind of attitude since the teenager mentioned in the above example may soon start dealing with illegal drugs and may also be charged for felony crimes under the law. She will also get the message from her parent that drinking alcohol for teenagers is perfectly fine and there is nothing wrong about it.
In this process, your child will become addicted to drinking, and the amount she drinks will continue to increase together with the frequency. This will be followed by falling grades and developing a social circle consisting of like minded individuals. Alarm bells will start ringing for both parents including the father who himself led her into this situation and you will be forced to take her for therapy. While your teenager might not realize the gravity of the situation at the moment, in the future they will realize what kind of trouble they have gotten into.
The example above is a more common scenario than you think. There are many instances when the teenage drug abuser also had a parent who used to rely on drugs themselves. The drug abusing parents think that since they are not having any trouble with their drug problem, their teenager will also maintain normalcy in the long run, since it will be taking place under their supervision.
According to statistics from federal agencies, 11% of all alcoholic products are consumed by people aged between 12 and 20, and more than 90% is consumed in binges. Up to 190,000 underage drinkers were admitted at hospitals due to reasons relating to alcohol consumption. Teenagers steadily progress from lighter drugs to much harder versions, and develop a severe addiction that ruins their emotional relationship and physical health, while they continue to feel great about themselves.
In fact, people are actually dying from drug addiction normally because of overdose and other drug related health complications. Another important thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the fact that drug users are normally not