kids in the butt :: essays research papers

Substance Use and Ab usage Among Children and Teenagers During the past some(prenominal) years, there has been a renewed national concern ab proscribed do drugs scream, culminating in the current "war on drugs." In this review, we emphasize that rase though child or teenage drug use is an item-by-item behavior, it is embedded in a sociocultural context that strongly determines its section and manifestations. Our focus is on psychoactive substances both licit (cigarettes and alcohol) and illicit (e.g., halter and cocaine). We feel that it is critical to draw a distinction amongst use and abuse of drugs and to do so from a multidimensional perspective that includes aspects of the comment (drug), organism (individual), response, and consequences. Our selective review of substance use and abuse among children and adolescents covers epidemiology (patterns and consequence of drug use), etiology (what generates substance use), prevention (how to limit drug use), sermon (i nterventions with drug users), and consequences (effects and outcomes of youthful drug use). In this abbreviated review, we selectively prove the recent literature and current status of substance use and abuse among children and adolescents. Our focus is on psychoactive substances both licit and illicit, including cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and other drugs. We read the use and abuse of substances by children and teenagers from five perspectives epidemiology, etiology, prevention, treatment, and consequences (see Rogers, 1987 , for additional overviews and references). The United States is a drug culture. Drugs are used commonly and acceptably to wake up in the morning (coffee or tea), get through the stresses of the day (cigarettes), and depressurize in the evening (alcohol). The Marlboro Man and the Virginia Slims woman are widely seen models, and licit drugs are pushed to remedy all of the ills one may facestress, headaches, depression, carnal illness, and so on. Children face a monumental task of sorting out the many images and messages regarding both licit and illicit drugs. Adolescents are quite technical at spotting hypocrisy and may have difficulty apprehensiveness a policy of "saying no to drugs" when suggested by a confederacy that clearly says "yes" to the smorgasbord of drugs that are legal as well as the range of illicit drugs that are widely available and used. A fewer words are in order on the distinction between use and abuse of drugs. This differentiation is critical to such diverse topics as societal justification for limiting access to drugs (whether By legal or other means) or for considering psychological intervention.