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Essay Name       : 1082.txt 
Uploader         : Alex M
Email Address    : 
Language         : English
Subject          : Drugs
Title            : Drug Abuse Among American Teens
Grade            : 10
School System    : High School
Country          : USA
Author Comments  : This is a great essay explaining why teenagers get involved in drugs using some sociology terms
Teacher Comments : 
Date             : 11/2/96
Site found at    : Friend
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Drug Abuse Among American Teenagers

	Drug abuse in America is a major problem. Especially among teenagers. Drugs have hurt the lives of nearly 40 percent of all teenagers in America. Either with health problems, DWIs, highway crashes, arrests, impaired school and job performance. These drugs that teenagers use range from Alcohol, LSD, Marijuana, and even Cigarettes. Most of the teenagers that are involved in drug abuse have either, broken families,  parents that are drug abusers, a unstable environment where they are constantly moving from place to place, or there parents aren't exactly making a lot of money and they are never around because they are trying to make enough money for them to survive.  But even to most ordinary teenager can have a drug problem depending on there friends, and relationship with there family.	
	These teenagers turn to drugs because they have no where else to turn. There family members aren't ever around, or hardly ever around. Some teens may have there parents around, but they too are involved with drug abuse, giving little or no attention to there children. They may have dropped out of school, or aren't meeting the standards set for them to meet, giving them a sense that they aren't worth anything. So what do they do? They turn to drugs, thinking that it will take all there problems away. They soon discover new friends with the same outlook on drugs as they have. And now they have a place to turn, a place where they will not be rejected or put down, a place where nothing matters, everyday is a good day. Until they finally just fall apart.
	The reason most teens get involved in drugs is because they have what's called a low inner and outer containment. Inner containment is what people believe is right and wrong, like your beliefs and morals. These ideas are taught to you at a young age by your parents, and other people in your life that are important to you. If your inner containment is low, meaning that you don't have people that have put ideas into your head about what's right and wrong, then your chance of being a drug abuser increases. Outer containment is like the law, teachers, friends, and family. If you have a lot of people around you that are constantly telling you drugs are bad, you will be less likely to get involved with the drugs because you don't wanna let these people down. But if you don't have very many people around you like teachers say if you dropped out or something. Then you don't have anyone telling you not to do drugs, which means you will probably do them. But if you have a strong social bond (i.e. attachment to parents, school, church, etc.) you will be less likely to become deviant because you don't want to let them down.
	If a person has a low inner and outer containment, they probably don't feel to great about themselves either, and feel as if they are lost in society. They look for someone to lead them, or look for a way out. When a person doesn't know what to do, they are more prone to get involved with deviance. This theory is known as Anomie.
	Differential Association ties in with the containment theory also. It means that people will learn to be deviant (i.e. drug abuse) by the examples sent to them by important people in our lives. These important people could be parents, and family. When you grow up you always look to your parents as a role model, and everything they do you want to do. They develop ideas in your head also about what's right and wrong, these ideas are constructed realities. If a teenagers parents are involved with drugs, the teen or child will observe that and think that it is OK for them to do the same thing, because they think it must be normal, after all the parents do it, why can't they? Another example of Differential Association would be with friends. If some of the teenagers friends are involved with drugs, the teen is more likely to get involved with them because of peer pressure from them. They also have a need to fit in with them and they will do anything to gain that acceptance. Along with Differential Association comes Differential Reinforcement. Reinforcement is what a teenager would get from his peers. Lets say the teen starts doing drugs like the rest of his friends, and they start praising him for doing it. The teen will want to continue doing it so that he continues getting praised. 
	The next theory that can cause deviance or drug abuse among teens is known as labeling theory. This is when a teenager gets labeled as being a drug abuser, and then they continue to use drugs because everyone around them treats them the way the label says they are. The teenager will view them treating them this way and start to think that they must be that way, and conform to it. This is known as Thomas Theorem. Pretty soon the label will takeover there life, and everything they do will be because the label says that that is how they must act. Giving them a master status to follow.
	Merton has another explanation of why teens get involved in drugs. He calls them innovators. Innovators accept the goals of being successful but try to get them through disapproved means. The goal in this situation is that a teen wants to be happy. And if a teenager is a part of a broken home, or is depressed they may look to drugs thinking that if they use them they will become happy. Which could explain why some teens get involved.
	Some teenagers have also been oppressed by society, an have no choice but to be involved with drugs. How this works is that the economy system is setup so that some folks will never have very high paying jobs. And if this happens it effects the children's parents, giving them less chance to make a lot of money. and if the parents aren't making very much money they have to get more jobs to support there family. So if the parents are never home to be with there children, then the child's inner containment goes down and thus the deviance goes up. Make sense? Hope so...
	As you can see there are many things that can cause drug abuse to occur with teens. But what can people do to stop this from happening? There are lots of things you can do to prevent everything I just talked about from happening. 
	Family experiences have a strong influence on whether young people develop drug problems. Strong family bonds and effective communication between parents and children may help protect children from the many social and emotional factors that trigger drug abuse. If parents would just talk to there kids about drugs, and the problems that occur from drug use the amount of drug abuse in America would go down. Parents also need to know the signs and symptoms of drug abuse, and if any of them occur they should seek help.	Teenagers face strong pressures from their peers to use drugs. If people would take them the time to teach them how to make sound decisions, and how to communicate more effectively will help them resist peer pressure to use drugs. Starting programs that offer ways of having fun without having drugs is also another way of showing teens that drugs is not the way to go. And that you don't need them to have fun. The school system can help to. By setting up educational programs like D.A.R.E in schools will help keep children away from drugs. Teaching them the consequences of drug abuse. But schools cannot do it alone, they have to be backed up and supported by parents. 	Doctors, and counselors can also help prevention of drug abuse. By offering information about drugs, and setting up rehab programs for those involved in drugs. Churches are a great source for help in the problem in drug abuse, they already setup  drug-free activities, also they provide youth and families identify and solve problems before they can worsen and be complimented with drug abuse. Local businesses have an important role to play in prevention. Businesses can sponsor programs for the youth, and donate materials and services for programs that help teenagers stay away from drugs. The mass media provide messages that shape and reinforce people's beliefs and attitudes about alcohol and other drugs. The media play an important role in prevention because they reach millions of people. Radio and television stations can cover prevention news stories, interview prevention experts to inform the community about effective prevention approaches, and broadcast public service messages to promote prevention. As you can see there are a lot of things you can do to prevent drug abuse. I think that the only way to stop drug abuse is to seek out prevention.  
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