An overview of Drug Abuse among Youths and Children
Talks about drug abuse have been part of the most trending issues globally from the ancient days up to date. It is one of the significant problems the world is experiencing. Most societies across the globe regard drug abuse as a vice that people should walk away from. Several adverse effects usually accompany abuse of drugs on the users, environment, and society at large. Initially, drug abuse was linked to older people. However, in the recent past, the abuse of drugs among teenagers has increasingly become common in our communities (Smart & Adlaf, 1991). Youths comfortably abuse drugs publicly at the presence of their elders. School-going students have also not been left behind. They form a more significant percentage of teens involved in drug abuse. The fact that the number of youths involved in drug abuse keeps on rising consistently from time to time creates a major worry about the future generation. This increase in drug usage among parents and teens, therefore, puts the world under a serious threat of future societies. The drugs affect the future of the children in several ways to the extent that morally brought-up children are declining. It is due to these worries that various governments and institutions, through researchers, have gone to the field to study multiple aspects of drug abuse among the youths and children. The studies will help to draw a plan of saving the future of teenagers and children. In this context, the focus is on drug usage among youths and children in Canada. As of now, there are several published research reports for the studies that have been conducted initially. This section, therefore, provides a review of some vital existing works of literature about drug abuse among children and youths.
Impacts to the youths and children
To begin, drug abuse can affect youths and children either directly or indirectly. Direct effects are those that affect the teens by directly abusing drugs while indirect are those that come up as a result of the usage from the parents or guardians. According to Schroeder et al. (2006), close to 6 million children live in homes with which parents abuse drugs. This incident exposes the children and the youths to potential harm to their lives. For instance, studies indicate that these children are at a high risk of developing various maladaptive behaviors. The comparison between children with drug-abusing drugs with those whose parents do not abuse suggests that the former experiences some internalizing problems unlike the latter, such as; worrying, sadness, low self-esteem, poor academic performance and so forth. Additionally, children living with parents who abuse drugs usually portray signs of depression, negative self-concept, anxiety, and other externalizing behaviors. Similarly, the usage of drugs at families may lead to chaos and poverty in families, factors that affect the lives of the youths and children. Broken families and poverty are some outcomes of parents’ abuse of drugs. As a result, the teens get psychological torture, which ultimately makes them drop out of school. Most of these teenagers, therefore, end up engaging in crimes to support themselves. However, it is not always automatic that all parents who abuse drugs make their children lead miserable lives.
Similarly, those youths and children who use drugs also engage in crimes and immoral behaviors. For instance, drug abuse makes most youths and children for engaging in sexual acts hence exposing themselves to infections such as HIV/AIDS. According to Somani & Meghani (2016), the rate of youths involved in drug abuse is alarming as a result of sharing needles. The injection of drugs is one of the potential exposure to various health conditions like HIV, lung cancer, and hepatitis. The ultimate results of the infections are death. Also, the youths who participate in criminal offenses such as terrorism, expose themselves to the potential risks of being shot to death or left with serious injuries. Studies indicate that drug abuse among youths is associated with; 51% assaults, 45% rape, 50% traffic fatalities, 51% thefts, 70% teen suicides, and 52% murder (Somani & Meghani, 2016).
Moreover, Grant & Bélanger (2017) points out that the use of cannabis among youths and children leads to structural and functional changes to the development of the brain, which eventually lead to damage. Researchers indicate that the development of the human brain continues to the early 20s. Therefore, the use of cannabis in the early 20s affects the youths’ brain development most as compared to the adults who have already developed their brains fully. In terms of brain structure, the use of cannabis leads to lower brain volumes, thinning of the cortex, different folding patterns, and less neural connectivity. Lastly, the substance affects decision making by youths. It impairs the youths’ judgment making them make bad decisions.
Prevention measures
Prevention of drug use among youths and children involves various processes. First, the youths should be taught about drug refusal skills, personal self-management skills, teaching about anti-drug norms, and general social skills. This knowledge will provide youths and children with information and skills for resisting drug usage, reduce the vulnerability of drug use influences, and decrease the motivation of drug use (Botvin et al., 2001). The purpose of this education program also helps to alter attitudinal, cognitive, and personality variables that play a role in drug and substance abuse. Besides, the program allows students to resist all forms of influences that could be present in the family. Similarly, the program helps an individual to choose the right group of peers to operate with. As such, youths and children will be in a position to engage in other activities during their free time, such as participating in sporting activities, reading novels, and participating in drama. On the other hand, the abuse of drugs among children and youths can be prevented through; observing and controlling the teens’ activities, providing support to the teens, setting a good example, and establishing rules and consequences.
Conclusion
Drug abuse is a significant global problem with several adverse effects on users and society. The abuse of drugs between the youths and children has significantly increased in the recent past. The abuse of drugs among young people leads to severe problems such as; physical and mental health damage. Similarly, the use of drugs by the parents also affects the lives of the children. The use of drugs among teens leads to death, an increase in crime rates, an increase in immoralities, an increase in infections such as HIV, and poor academic performance. The use of drugs among the youths can be prevented through the use of a teaching program that will offer youths and children with skills to resist the influence and decrease the motivation of drug use. Lastly, there is a need to put extra efforts in preventing the abuse of drugs among youths, children, and families to create an excellent future generation in Canada and the world at large.
References
Botvin, G. J., Griffin, K. W., Diaz, T., & Ifill-Williams, M. (2001). Drug Abuse Prevention Among Minority Adolescents: Posttest and One-Year Follow-Up of a School-Based Preventive Intervention. Prevention Science, 2(1). https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/41239757/Drug_abuse_prevention_among_minority_ado20160114-15436-wkgm84.pdf20160115-19908-1cxgbay.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DDrug_abuse_prevention_among_minority_ado.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20200228%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200228T003100Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=8d6e8b05d7fa950c1b16dc40c64b293cb3bb75e63806c665c8098c2c3fca6998
Grant, C. N., & Bélanger, R. E. (2017). Cannabis and Canada’s children and youth. Paediatrics & child health, 22(2), 98-102. https://academic.oup.com/pch/article/22/2/98/3793201
Schroeder, V., Kelley, M. L., & Fals-Stewart, W. (2006). Effects of parental substance abuse on youth in their homes. The Prevention Researcher, 13(4), 10-13.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle_Kelley/publication/234732525_Effects_of_Parental_Substance_Abuse_on_Youth_in_Their_Homes/links/5873082d08ae8fce49238a7c.pdf
Somani, S., & Meghani, S. (2016). Substance Abuse among Youth: A Harsh Reality. Emerg Med (Los Angel), 6(330), 2.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Salima_Somani/publication/306273115_Substance_Abuse_among_Youth_A_Harsh_Reality/links/57b6c06308ae19a365fd89c4/Substance-Abuse-among-Youth-A-Harsh-Reality.pdf