“On average, 6,027 teens use prescription drugs every day to get high for the first time” (DEA). Adolescents abuse prescription drugs more than any illicit drug, except for marijuana. Even though the overall drug use among teens has decreased nationwide over the years, the new issue that is on the rise is teenage use of prescription
This is nearly a 50% increase in a two year period.2 2. The trend of taking painkillers for nonmedical purposes is increasing most in the 18-26 age 3. Among children aged 12-17, almost 12% of the population surveyed said they had used prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes. 4. Talking more specifically about painkillers, Opiod painkillers, like Vicodin, OxyContin, and Demerol cause more drug overdoses than heroin and cocaine combined.
Hymowitz explains that even though numbers of suicide remain small, it has more than doubled in the last thirty years. The use of drugs and alcohol among tweens is increasing as well, but she uses in eighth graders in her example which means children from the ages 13 to 14 so this statement does not apply to tweens. So, should the reader trust that the statistics are accurate, or could they be the author’s invention? These last few topics are brought up very briefly throughout her article. With these topics being brought up very briefly it makes the article appear very
How does it feel to be bullied? Well it does NOT feel very well. For some cases, it leads to suicide. Statistics show that… Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts.
Prevention of Teen Pregnancy: The Benefits of Sexual Education Programs In the United States, the rate of teen pregnancy continues to remain the highest in the developed world with approximately 26.6 births for every 1,000 adolescent females between the ages of 15-19 this past year. This totals to an unfavorable measure of 274,641 infants born to young women in this stage of life. Although prevention programs continue to grow and become more available throughout the states each year, their approach to influencing minors is questionable. Most engage in an abstinence-only education and believe that having teens refrain themselves from sexual intercourse is the only way to put a stop to unwanted pregnancies. Practicing abstinence may be the most utterly method for minimizing this rate, but it’s an irrational method.
If the goal of the marijuana prohibition is to discourage use, it has done all but succeed. In 2011, 47,000 8th, 10th, and 12th graders were asked to take part in the "Monitoring the Future" survey. This is a survey that asks questions regarding personal drug use. The results indicated that for the fourth year in a row, marijuana use has increased in teens. Even more shocking, daily use has hit a 30-year high amongst high school seniors (Marijuana Use).
This month a Rand study that followed 3,400 people from seventh grade through age 23 reported that those who had three or more drinks within the past year, or any drink in the past month, were likelier to use nicotine and illegal drugs, to have stolen items within the past year and to have problems in school. In a report issued last December, the American Medical Association found that teen drinking -- not bingeing, just drinking -- can seriously damage growth processes of the brain and that such damage "can be long term and irreversible." The AMA warned that "short term or moderate drinking impairs learning and memory far more in youth than in adults" and that "adolescents need only drink half as much to suffer the same negative effects." This exhaustive study concluded that teen drinkers "perform worse in school, are more likely to fall behind and have an increased risk of social problems, depression, suicidal thoughts and
They say that we are down below 13 million now. So that is a significant decrease, 50 percent as far as drug users.”4 In Australia had one of the largest prevalence of amphetamines at 21 percent in 2008 is starting to show a decrease in use from 27 percent testing positive in 2007.4 In Russia Eighty-seven thousand people were arrested for drug related crimes in 2006 – an increase of 24 percent over 2005. "5 In the United Kingdom the statistics show "In general, the quantity of seizures has been rising in the United Kingdom, cannabis being the most seized drug. In 2009, 12,690 kg of cannabis resin, 18,162 kg of herbal cannabis and 764,184 cannabis plants were seized across the UK “6 The ‘War on Drugs’ seems to be working, however at a very slow pace. Commissioner Kelly
Alcohol: Underage drinking in the United States is widespread problem. Alcohol is ranked the highest for most abused substance within the United States, posing many problems for the youth. Some of the reasons one under 21 might drink is due to peer pressure, increased independence, or stress. The numbers can be alarming as by age 15, already a third of teens have had a drink, and then by 18, 60 percent of teens have had a drink. What is more frightening is 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the United State is by 12 to 20-year olds; most of the time these people can get a hold of alcohol for free.
Decrease in Juvenile Crime In 2001, according to the FBI, juveniles accounted for 17% of all arrests and 15% of all violent crime arrests (Snyder, 2003). In the late 1980s, juvenile violent crime arrest had a substantial growth then peaked in 1994. However, between 1994 and 2001, the juvenile arrest rate for Violent Crime Index fell 44% and as a result, the juvenile Violent Crime Index arrest rate was the lowest since 1983 (Snyder, 2003). Furthermore, in 2001, the rate of juvenile arrests for Violent Crime Index offenses that included forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault and murder declined for the seventh consecutive year. The juvenile arrest rate for each of these offenses has been declining steadily since the mid-1990s; for murder, the rate fell 70% and manslaughter arrest rate fell 40% from its 1993 peak through 2001.