According to Nawi et al. (2021), in 2016, 5.6% of the world’s population of age range fifteen to sixty-five at least utilized drugs. Drugs are supplements for good health if used in reasonable quantities while following qualified doctors’ guidelines. However, there are instances that drug use is bizarre. The bizarre drug use is known as drug abuse and is high among younger generations (Nawi et al., 2021). The effects of drug abuse are threats to socio-economic and collective development. Therefore, it is paramount to identify the cause-root of drug abuse, especially among teenage, to curb such a health problem. Consequently, various literature has been developed to postulate the risk factors leading to teenagers’ drug abuse. Several risk factors are identified across a spectrum of literature; some risk factors overlap. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022), the risk factors for drug abuse by adolescents can be effectively managed by prioritizing the most prevalent risk factors as follows: substance abuse history in the family, parental view of the behavior is standard, poor parental guidelines, parent (s) abusing drugs, and absence of support towards teenager gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Drug abuse is a health issue that eminent itself in a person after exposure to various stimuli. In my opinion and from lived experience, I believe drug abuse among youths is triggered by the environment (availability of drugs and peers) and parental neglect. Through such keen observations, I have realized that in my neighborhood, the number of individuals with retarded growth or multiple symptoms of drug abuse is decreasing, especially among youths. The cause of the reduction could be strict government policies, increased social security benefits to needy families, and the use of evidence-based policing in curbing illicit drug businesses. As a child, drug corners and stores were easy to locate, but as I grew, drug outlets were decreasing in number, reducing the availability of drugs to youths. Generally, I have identified trends in the decrease in teenage drug abuse. Through research, I could extract statistical data from two sources that, on analysis, prove my observation to be valid. Statistical data from SAMHSA (2014) indicates that the rate of drug use prevalence among youths in the age bracket of twelve to seventeen was 8.8%. However, recent statistics show that the prevalence is 8.33% (NCDAS, 2023). The two sets of data show that there has been a reduction in drug use prevalence among teenagers in the past decade, concurring with my lived experience.
Nevertheless, drug abuse is still a health issue that needs sound policies, social practices, and strategies to be controlled. Drug abuse is rampant, but the degree varies with drug type. The major contributor to a drug being frequently abused is its ease of acquisition. Therefore, drugs that can easily be acquired, such as illicit drugs, are frequently abused. Considerately, I rank Cocaine and Marijuana as the illicit drugs that are being abused. Prescribed drugs are less abused as their circulations are significantly controlled by the government and medical practitioners.
The fight against drugs will have a positive outcome if the strategies employed are proactive. Prevention mechanisms are of utmost importance in this scenario because drug abuse is accompanied by addictive nature, making it an uphill and resourceful undertaking to cure. As youths’ active hours are primarily spent in schools, prevention measures or programs must be school-based. Therefore, preventing teenage drug abuse includes implementing school-based programs such as Fast Track (RHIhub, 2020), targeted programs, and universal programs (National Crime Prevention Centre, 2022).
Fast Track is an evidence-based approach directed towards children enrolling in kindergarten to protect them from indulging in drug abuse activities through grade ten. The program incorporates various interventions as the child grows through the grades. The major interventions associated with the program are child tutoring, teacher-led sessions, home visits, and parent training groups. The program concept has been used in a particular scenario leading to positive results. Evidence shows that the program reduced the development of substance abuse disorders among youths, binge drinking, and alcohol consumption (RHIhub, 2020).
The targeted program comprises the Schools Using Coordinated Community Efforts to Strengthen Students project and Project Toward No Drug Abuse (TND). Targeted programs are considerately designed for specific youth groups, for instance, youth at high risk of indulging in drug abuse activities or of a particular age range. The programs offer varied interventions, ranging from parent programs, prevention education series, social skill training, and role-playing exercises. Both the programs under the targeted program have been tested to be efficient. For instance, the TND program proved to facilitate a reduction in alcohol use and hard drug use among teenagers (National Crime Prevention Centre, 2022).
Universal programs consist of two categorical programs. The two programs are Project ALERT and project life skills training. About Project ALERT, it is a drug abuse prevention mechanism that is popular among middle-class schools. The program focuses on high-risk youths and curbing three drugs (alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes) abused. The intervention scheme of the program workout in eleven classroom sessions with three subsequent booster sessions in the following year. The program intervention scheme is designed to aid students in drug abuse awareness and enable them to create sound emotional and social decisions to overcome peer pressure on drug abuse. Generally, the program aims to impart students with the strength of knowledge in resistance behavior to withstand any pressures of drug abuse temptations. Project ALERT program has proven successful in ensuring youths are not engaging in risky drinking. Evidence shows that projects ALERT students’ alcohol consumption reduced by twenty-four percent after an 18-month evaluation (National Crime Prevention Centre, 2022).
Teenagers are a fragile population as they are more impulsive, and any treatment that is not suitable will facilitate their antisocial behavior instead of curing them. Therefore, any means to treat a teenager should consider that they are still developing and can adequately change. Thus, I would propose treatment interventions such as medical therapies and subjection to the criminal justice system. Therapies are the most benign mechanisms in treating a drug abuse effect such as SUD development in youths in that youths have the mental characteristics to continue learning and unlearn the unwanted knowledge through gaining an insight into reality. Therefore, I highly recommend cognitive-behavioral therapy as the primary treatment approach to drug abuse effects in youth. I would recommend subjecting the youth drug abuser to the criminal justice system. Juvenile jails, in most cases, are fitted with rehabs. When a child is exposed to difficulty and solitude plus rehab services, there is evidence that they constantly reshape their behavior more than those who have not been subjected to juvenile rehab. The primary reason I would prefer the approaches in treating juveniles is that both tend to redefine the youth victims’ lives and expose them to a transformation path in the most salient way.
References
Rural Health Information Hub. (2020). Prevention Programs for Youth and Families. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/substance-abuse/2/prevention/youth-and-families
National Crime Prevention Centre (Canada). (2022). School-based drug abuse prevention: promising and successful programs. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/sclbsd-drgbs/index-en.aspx
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. (September 4, 2014). The NSDUH Report: Substance Use and Mental Health Estimates from the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Overview of Findings. Rockville, MD. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-SR200-RecoveryMonth-2014/NSDUH-SR200-RecoveryMonth-2014.htm
National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics (NCDAS). (2023). Drug Use Among Youth: Facts & Statistics. https://drugabusestatistics.org/teen-drug-use/
Nawi, A. M., Ismail, R., Ibrahim, F., Hassan, M. R., Manaf, M. R. A., Amit, N., … & Shafurdin, N. S. (2021). Risk and protective factors of drug abuse among adolescents: a systematic review. BMC public health, 21(1), 1–15.
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2022). High-Risk Substance Use Among Youth. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/substance-use/index.htm#:~:text=Risk%20Factors%20for%20High%2DRisk%20Substance%20Use&text=Poor%20parental%20monitoring,delinquent%20or%20substance%20using%20peers
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