Educating Teens About Drugs and Alcohol

Drugs and alcohol can take a toll on the human mind, and misuse can lead to a host of life problems. The adverse effects of using mind-altering substances, most often become apparent in adulthood. However, there is a statistically significant number of adolescents and teenagers who – in short order – present many of the criteria for having a use disorder.

While there exist treatment centers dedicated to treating minors living with addiction, the majority of people currently in recovery sought help in adulthood. A straw poll of individuals sitting in 12 Step groups and the like, would show that a high number of people began using at a young age. What starts as experimentation, usually due to unhealthy influences, can morph into a severe problem fairly quickly.

Few people understand just how significantly alcohol, and drug use, can impact life. When young individuals first start using, they don’t suffer remarkable consequences, they often experience the opposite. Experimenting can be an avenue to finding acceptance among teens who struggle to find connections with their peers. For these youngsters, substance use can even be a means of becoming relatable. Attending parties, imbibing and smoking pot, after all, has long been associated with the “cool kids” in school. A common misconception that is a sure path, for some, to feeling broken later in life.

Once a substance use problem develops, it is simple for teens to brush it off as being not that big of a deal. And, drug and alcohol use continues for years to come. Since most addicts and alcoholics learn how to disguise their issues early on, mental illness can continue unchecked for years. When considering that trend, it is vital that steps are taken to ensure every adolescent and teenager has the facts about drugs and alcohol.

National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week

Young people are often times simultaneously precocious and reckless. A sense of invincibility is pervasive among young people, and they rarely like to be told how to Be. They know that adults drink alcohol and smoke marijuana, and that knowledge can lead one to think he or she can too. What they fail to understand is that scientists know that drugs and alcohol can do significant harm to the developing minds of teenagers. Researchers also tend to agree that the younger substance use initiation begins, the more likely such people are to struggle with a use disorder later in life.

It is vital that experts impress upon young people the dangers of substance use and abuse. When teens have the facts, they are more likely to make more educated, and safe choices. In observance of National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week or NDAFW, Celebrate Hope would like to encourage everyone to have a hand in spreading the word about substance use. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) firmly believes that together, we can SHATTER THE MYTHS® about drugs and alcohol!

Events have been taking place across the country and over the internet to bring young people together with experts in the field of medicine. The hope is that through discourse, some of the more common misconceptions can be dispelled. For more information about this important observance, please click here. We invite you to watch a short video on the subject below:

If you are having trouble watching, please click here.

Faith-based Addiction Treatment

If you are a young adult, whose substance use is impacting your life in negative ways, then Celebrate Hope can help. Our Faith-based Addiction Treatment center combines comprehensive, cutting edge recovery services and Christian counseling to foster lasting change.

Smartphones May Impact Teen Substance Use

Everyday millions of Americans of practically every demographic spend an inordinate amount of time on their smartphones. Between checking for the latest news and playing games, there are countless ways to waste time on the pocket-sized devices. In recent years, many experts have raised concerns about our reliance on smartphones. It cannot be denied that they are sometimes used to distract us from the really important life issues, whether that be responsibilities or our mental state. For some people, smartphone use turns into dependence and even addiction. With that in mind, we would be seriously remiss if we failed to mention that smartphones may actually be doing some good when it comes to drug and alcohol use.

With the United States in the continued grip of an opioid addiction epidemic, it is hard to pinpoint areas of progress when it comes to substance use and abuse, until you take a look at teenagers. Research has shown that teens are trying and using drugs and alcohol less and less over the last decade. “Monitoring the Future,” is an annual survey which essentially takes a snapshot of teenage (eighth, 10th and 12th graders) drug and alcohol use. The most recent findings indicate that past-year use of illicit drugs (excluding marijuana) was the lowest in several decades.

While education and prevention can account for some of that progress, it would seem there are other factors at play that could be responsible for the decline. Researchers have theorized that smartphones could be one of the major causes for a drop in teen substance use rates, The New York Times reports. They point out that the downswing of drug and alcohol use coincides nicely with the significant increase in smartphone use.

The director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Dr. Nora Volkow, has plans in the works to research the correlation between smartphones and substance use reductions, according to the article. Interactive media is, the director of NIDA describes, “an alternative reinforcer” to
mind-altering substances, “teens can get literally high when playing these games.” Dr. Volkow will share the findings with a group of scholars this spring.

Dr. Volkow’s theory is “highly plausible,” said Dr. Silvia Martins, an expert on substance abuse at Columbia University. “Playing video games, using social media, that fulfills the necessity of sensation seeking, their need to seek novel activity.”

We will continue to follow this interesting story in the coming months. Whatever the findings are, they will surely be of interest to those working in the field of addiction, or for those recovering from it. Parents will likely have a vested interest in Dr. Volkow's findings, as well.