Author: VISIONS

Addictive drugs are dangerous substances. In addition to the financial and legal impact of an illegal dependence, nearly all addictive drugs contribute to short-term and long-term physical and mental health consequences, from decreased cognition and memory loss to severe organ damage and cancer. 

Substances are especially dangerous to teens, who often have lower tolerances to these drugs, and get “hooked” much more easily due to an immature and developing brain. It is more than a little concerning, then, when surveys show that about one in 20 8th graders and one in 13 12th graders have admittedly used an illicit substance aside from marijuana in the past year. Even more worrying is the fact that about one in ten teens aged 16-17 have engaged in binge drinking in the past month alone. 

First-time use does not cause addiction. But it’s important for kids to understand the effects that drugs can have, how they work, and why they’re so destructive. It’s also important to consider how to convey that message without making things worse. Anti-drug messaging rarely works, and too many anti-drug campaigns have resulted in the reverse of the intended effect. 

It’s nothing new to suggest that keeping kids away from drugs (and drugs away from kids) is a good thing. But what actionable steps can parents and communities take to really reduce the rates of substance use among teens?

In this article, we’re exploring how to reduce substance abuse among teens.

It’s All About Reducing the Risk

What causes drug addiction? The truth is that there is no universal cause – but there are correlating risk factors that contribute to the likelihood of early use and continued drug use in teens.

These include stressors at home and in the environment, poor parent-teen relationships, victimization at school, a history of mental health issues, a family history with addiction, drug availability (based on the neighborhood, or drugs at home), and trauma. 

We know from experience that you cannot scare teens into avoiding drugs. Most anti-drug PSAs only served to scare teens who weren’t going to be using drugs to begin with, while getting those who have had experience with drugs to do little more than roll their eyes, laugh, or walk out of the room.

Teens who have tried drinking or have had pot won’t take your campaign seriously when you warn them that their brain is being turned into scrambled eggs, when the worst they’ve had to deal with was a bad hangover or strange cravings. 

But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be done. Examining the risk factors that contribute to substance abuse and addressing these problems – through counseling, better access to mental health programs, reducing the availability of drugs in the neighborhood, and destigmatizing mental health problems such as childhood trauma and depression – can help make a statistical difference in the amount of drugs teens take, and the rate at which they take them. 

In addition to addressing the risk factors, it’s important to boost the protective factors. Protective factors are circumstances that generally improve a teen’s resilience to drug use and addiction. These include strong ties to the community, authoritative parenting (not to be confused with authoritarian parenting), no drug use at home (including drinking and smoking), and healthy coping mechanisms for daily stressors. 

Teens are unlikely to get their hands on cocaine or crystal meth. But they are more likely to get their hands on party drugs, prescription medication (through friends or family), alcohol, and marijuana. 

Effective Strategies for Reducing Substance Abuse Among Teens

Not all prevention-based programs are a failure. There are effective anti-drug campaigns, including ones that center around how drug use means more dependency, rather than the independence that teens crave. 

Another angle that schools and communities have used effectively is to spend their time educating teens on how to save each other in the case of a medical emergency – educating teens in the use of naloxone (an opioid antagonist used to treat overdoses), explaining the signs and symptoms of alcohol poisoning, or rehearsing first aid. 

In addition to arming teens with useful knowledge to prevent tragedies, these roleplaying events may also dissuade some teens from continued drug use, especially with reports about how more and more fentanyl overdoses are killing teens and adults alike.  

Support mental health initiatives, including local political movements dedicated to expanding the budget on mental health education, counseling programs, mental health resources such as group and individual therapy, and local organizations that offer support groups for mental health issues (including addiction). These initiatives are important for teens who have nowhere else to turn to, and who might be the most likely to turn to drugs. 

Tips for Parents and Caregivers

A parent’s role in preventing drug use cannot be overstated. Parents and caregivers can significantly impact their teen’s chances of drug use by nurturing their relationship with their teen, establishing clear rules and boundaries at home, and being a good role model when it comes to drug consumption and sobriety. 

Risk-taking is a normal part of growing up as a teen. While parents cannot reasonably shield their teen from all risk, they can observe their teen’s behavior and actions, and be on the lookout for signs of teen drug use. 

A teen’s life isn’t over because they had a few drinks before they turned 21. But drugs are a slippery slope, and there are countless individual reasons that may contribute to a person’s willingness or lack of resilience against drug use, whether between peers or at home. If you think your teen might be using drugs, then an early intervention is your best play. 

Talk to them. Ask them about their habits. Avoid judgment or confrontation, so you don’t put them on the defensive and shut them down. Understanding the scope of your teen’s drug use is important to figuring out your next steps – whether that means sitting down with a counselor or thinking about serious drug addiction treatment. 

Why Do Teenagers Use Drugs

Here’s some good news for parents. The percentage of teens reporting general drug use in the US has remained low in 2022, following a drop in figures over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. While this generation has historically been less likely to use drugs than previous generations, lockdowns seem to have further disincentivized drug use among teens. 

But that doesn’t mean teens don’t use drugs at all. Alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana remain the most popular, the latter two usually being consumed in the form of e-cigarettes and vaping liquids. Other illicit drugs, from cocaine and heroin to prescription pills, have seen drops in usage, but have also become much more dangerous in recent years due to fatal additives like fentanyl, a synthetic opioid with an extremely low median lethal dose. Meanwhile, designer drugs with unknown qualities continue to hit the streets. 

Whether it’s drinking or pills, parents are right to worry about whether their teens might feel compelled to use drugs in the future – and why. 

Thankfully, there’s some more good news for parents here. Parental influence is a significant factor in a teen’s likelihood to use drugs. Your attitudes toward drug use, your parenting style, the quality of your relationship with your teen, and your own history of drug use or continued substance use (including alcohol) help shape your teen’s attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors. Understanding why teens use drugs to begin with can help you improve your teen’s resilience towards drugs and reduce their chances of addiction in the future. 

Addressing Peer Pressure

Teenagers may use drugs to fit in with their peers or to impress others. For decades, peer pressure served as a crucial focal point in the discussion around teen drug use. Yet in too many cases, peer pressure is used as a central scapegoat, allowing a teen’s actions to be blamed on “a bad crowd” more than anything else. Today we know that there are many factors that influence a teen’s decision to use drugs, and their peers are just one part of the equation. 

For one, a teen’s peers are often a result of their parental influences. In other words, teens are likely to pick peers that fit with their existing personalities and world view, which is shaped by their home environment – either in support of their parents, or to spite them. 

Secondly, research shows that teens are more likely to act the way their parents might, than favor what their peers do. Teens look to their parents for guidance, first. If parents abdicate from their responsibility to role model for their teens or elucidate the topics of addiction and drug use, they look to their peer group. 

Finally, teens experience more pressure at home than they do from their peer environments. The pressure to perform can be a major stressor that influences a teen’s decision to use drugs, whether to enhance performance (“smart drugs” and academic or athletic drug use) or serve as an outlet for stress. 

This isn’t to say that peer pressure isn’t important, or that a teen’s choice of peers is entirely within the control of the parents (it is not). But it is important to point out that peers and parents play crucial roles in how teens view drugs, and their likelihood to try them, and that parents wield greater influence than they often expect. 

Stress and Mental Health

Sometimes, teens turn to drugs as a way to cope with stress or to self-medicate existing and common mental health issues such as anxiety or depression. 

Stress is an underrated and crucial risk factor for drug use in teens, and can include academic or athletic pressure, relationship troubles, stress at home, victimization, sexual identity, or inherent stressors, such as mental illness. 

Cases of anxiety and depression can also greatly complicate addiction treatment. A co-occurring substance use disorder, or a dual diagnosis, requires a special treatment plan that addresses both conditions together. 

Lack of Education and Awareness

Most teens know what booze is, or that weed gets you high, whether through movies, the Internet, older siblings, peers, or parents. But most teens might not be aware that marijuana usage, especially modern marijuana, bred for unnaturally high THC levels, can exacerbate existing or latent symptoms of schizophrenia, trigger episodes of psychosis, or cause cardiac problems, including arrythmia and heart attacks. Teens might also not know the difference synthetic and natural marijuana, and how severe the side-effects of synthetic marijuana can be. 

Most teens might not be aware of the dangers of fentanyl, a common additive in street drugs due to its high potency, and the how quickly fentanyl can cause an opioid overdose. 

While teens know that cocaine is a powerful and expensive stimulant and a status symbol in many circles, they might not know how often cocaine causes heart failure, or how regular cocaine use can burn the sinuses, and even cause lasting tissue damage around the nose and throat. 

Finally, the snowballing effects of addiction need to be emphasized. Tolerance is one of the key characteristics of long-term drug use, and the degree and rate at which it builds differs from person to person. This can massively affect the financial impact of drug use: for some people, just a few months of cocaine use can lead to a point where amounts that used to last a full five weeks might be fully used up in a week or less. 

Arm yourself with the facts. Use official sources and avoid bringing hyperbole into your arguments. Teens can often tell when they’re being lied to, and they’ll often fact-check you, if only to seize the chance to prove you wrong. When it comes to drug use, the facts are more than enough to support the argument that illegal drug use can ruin lives. 

Drugs can be exciting. They’re forbidden, dangerous, and often feature in the “high life”, whether it’s through movies, TV shows, or music. 

Furthermore, even if you emphasize and re-emphasize the legal, physical, and emotional consequences of illicit drug use, teens are less concerned with risk than adults are, and possess a diminished capacity to truly process the long-term impact of their actions. 

If your teen has been using drugs, getting professional help is key. Treatment for teen drug abuse includes immediate detox and long-term sobriety, group support, psychological counselling, and a reintegration into sober day-to-day living. 

The general downward trend for teen drug use has thankfully held steady. This generation has been more reluctant than previous generations to try drugs, and the COVID-19 pandemic further facilitated a dramatic decrease of reported substance use across all demographics, a trend that held steady even in the following year, as schools reopened, and social distancing recommendations were withdrawn. 

But in a country with well over 20 million adolescents, cases of drug use, such as cannabis, alcohol, and nicotine, number in the millions. To put things into perspective, an estimated 11 percent of eighth graders, 21 percent of 10th graders, and 32 percent of 12th graders reported any form of illicit drug use in 2022. 

About one in five teens in the 10th, and one in four teens in the 12th grade vape nicotine. About 30 percent of 12th graders have had marijuana in the last year. Over half of all 12th graders have had alcohol in 2022. 

There’s still a difference between drug use and drug abuse. But teens are even more at-risk for addiction than adults. Research shows that early drug use often correlates with addiction later in life, because teen brains are still in development, and more susceptible to addictive substances. While teen addiction is treatable, prevention is always better than a cure. 

Why Do Teens Use Drugs?

There’s very little to wonder about when it comes to why teens use drugs in the first place. In addition to being less risk-averse than adults, teens naturally seek independence and are more likely to defy or disagree with figures of authority. 

In other words, even though they know that drug use can lead to serious negative consequences – legally, physically, and mentally – teens have the privilege and the curse of not caring as much as the average adult. 

Not all teens are openly rebellious or seek to stick it to the man. But in addition to the allure of the social taboo, one of the primary dangers of an addictive substance is that it is addictive. It feels good to be drunk, to be high, to be on a good trip. At least, for a while. And when that feeling wears off, many people pay a great deal and are willing to go risk much to feel it again. 

After all, drug use – and drug addiction – are hardly monopolized by adolescence. All age groups are affected by addiction, with certain drugs capturing different demographics. Younger people are more likely to use ADHD medication improperly or without a prescription, while older people are more likely to misuse prescription painkillers. And across all age groups, alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine remain the most popular drugs. 

Yet teens are exposed to a uniquely high level of risk when using an addictive substance. The areas of the brain most affected by addiction – particularly those involved in decision-making, risk assessment, and motivation – are also heavily affected by the continued release of dopamine and other feel-good neurotransmitters when taking drugs. 

What Are the Biggest Risk Factors for Teen Drug Abuse?

Risk factors for teen addiction can be divided into two camps: internal factors, and external factors. Internal factors include genetic predisposition and mental health. 

Teens with a history of alcohol use in the family may be more likely to struggle with alcohol use. 

Teens with a history of mental health issues may be more likely to use drugs as a coping mechanism. 

LGBTQ+ teens are more likely to face discrimination and rejection in their communities, and become at-risk for substance use. 

External factors include a teen’s environment, from factors such as socioeconomic status to victimization at school, to their peers at school, or their parents’ attitudes towards drug use and addiction. 

Sometimes, there is an overlap between the internal and external factors. Parental drug use is often a predictor for teen drug use, and a traumatic event at home or at school can negatively impact a teen’s self-esteem, personality, and mental health. 

But just as there are risk factors that make an addiction more likely, there are also important protective factors. 

What Are Protective Factors Against Drug Abuse?

Protective factors help defend a teen against drug abuse by reducing the chances that they will take drugs, or continue to take drugs. They include:

• A stable and loving home environment. 
• Ample education about the effects of drug use, and an understanding of the relationship between mental health and drug use. 
• Healthy coping mechanisms against teen stressors. 
• Availability of mental health resources and counseling for concerns regarding anxiety, depression, or drug use. 
• No access to drugs at home, including easy access to alcohol or prescription medication. 
• Strong integration into the community, or positive feelings of “belonging”. 
• A strong self-esteem. 

Just as risk factors do not doom a person to addiction, protective factors do not guarantee sobriety. Addiction can affect anyone. Finding help as soon as possible is important. 

Recognizing the Warning Signs for Teen Drug Abuse

Different drugs have different acute effects on a teen’s mind and body. Stimulants like cocaine, meth, or ecstasy severely reduce drowsiness and can induce a manic state. Drugs like alcohol cause dizziness, impaired coordination, slurred speech, and memory blackouts. 

Keeping an eye out for drug paraphernalia might help you narrow down your teen’s drug usage. Look out for: 

• Reused and hidden plastic bags. 
• Bongs or pipes. 
• Rolled bills. 
• Used needles. 
• Rolling paper. 
• Small mirrors with white powder. 

In addition to physical paraphernalia, drug use can cause changes in a teen’s behavior and personality. Watch out for: 

• Increased irritability
• Paranoia
• Sudden weight loss/weight gain
• Massive drop in grades and attendance
• Sudden change in friends
• Insomnia
• Unusual behavior (violence)
• Frequent blackouts

Setting Up an Intervention

If you are worried about your teen’s behavior, consider bringing it up with their doctor. Medical professionals are trained to screen teenagers and adults for signs of drug use, and refer them to mental health and addiction specialists to seek treatment. If your teen refuses to acknowledge their problem despite clear evidence, consider speaking to a professional about an intervention for a treatment program. 

We’ve heard and seen the analogies about teen brains and scrambled eggs. But what really happens when a teen takes drugs – and is it any different than if an adult uses them? 

To understand and answer that question, we need to differentiate psychoactive from non-psychoactive compounds, understand what really sets the brain of a 16-year-old apart from that of a 36-year-old, for instance, and isolate why teens are really at a higher risk of long-term drug use and addiction than their parents, or older generations. 

In this article, we take a closer look at one of the more common questions we hear from parents – how do drugs affect the brain of a teenager?

The Developing Teenage Brain

The age of majority in most states across the US is 18, but the human brain does not simply finish “cooking” the moment you wake up on your 18th birthday. In fact, estimates for brain maturity in matters of executive functioning and decision making lie around the age of 25, while emotional maturity – learning to manage your moods to the best of your neurological abilities – may take as long as your mid-thirties to peak. The human brain continues to mature and develop long after puberty, long after our bones have fused, and our bodies have hit their physical prime. 

For the context of addiction and drug use, understanding that it is specifically the part of the brain dedicated to executive functioning and motivation that hasn’t fully developed yet is important. This is the part of the brain that is ostensibly the most sensitive to addictive drugs, and it is the part of the brain where the neurological mechanism for addiction largely takes place. 

It is also the part of the brain that learns to assess risk. Teens are inherently less likely to think about the consequences of their actions, even if they possess all the cognitive faculties needed to think ahead for more than a few moments. 

It’s not just that they don’t care – their mind does not place as much importance on what happens tomorrow than the mind of someone substantially older. 

Practically speaking, this means that teens are simply more likely to consider using drugs even after knowing the risks, and that teens are more susceptible to the addictive nature of drugs. 

This helps corroborate studies that show that teens are more likely to struggle with addiction later in life, the earlier they’ve had first contact with an addictive drug. 

It’s important not to take these studies as proof for a single explanation for addiction in teens, however – other factors are also important. We can’t forget that mental health, financial stability, a healthy teen-parent relationship and strong community bonds are all relevant factors and predictors for a teen’s likelihood to struggle with addiction. 

Teens who start drinking much earlier, for example, are also more likely to have it worse at home than teens with happy families. Yet at least some of the blame can be placed on the way the teen brain works – and it’s one of the reasons we might want to discourage teens from experimentation. 

Drug Use and Teenage Mental Health

Teen mental health is another important factor, and one that unfortunately goes both ways. Teens that use drugs often are more likely to struggle with symptoms of poor mental health. Similarly, teens diagnosed with a mental disorder, such as anxiety or depression, are more likely to start using drugs. 

Among teens with existing mental health issues, certain drugs act as an appealing, yet maladaptive coping mechanism. Anxious teens might like the loss of inhibition they feel when drinking, despite the fact that alcohol makes anxiety symptoms worse in the long run. Teens with depression may still feel euphoric when using drugs, a sensation they haven’t otherwise been able to experience for months or years, in some cases. 

Meanwhile, drug use itself has a negative effect on cognition as well as mood and mental health. Long-term drug use contributes to depressive symptoms. It’s a dangerous cycle. Thankfully, the damage isn’t permanent – provided you seek teen addiction treatment. 

Preventing and Treating Drug Use in Teenagers

Prevention is better than a cure, and this is doubly true for addiction. While treatment rates have improved over the years, addiction is very difficult to recover from. Some people posit that it’s a lifetime struggle to stay sober – for others, even years after recovery, the memories of addiction remain a dark time. 

When teens are addicted, taking the long-term into consideration is important. Don’t be alarmed if your teen struggles to stay clean, or relapses. In many cases, it’s part of the process – learning to identify triggers and potential factors that contribute to an ongoing addiction risk and improving a teen’s coping skills. 

The Importance of Education

Many people have heard of the failures of DARE. But that doesn’t mean that teaching kids about drugs is a fool’s errand. The proper approach is needed – as well as the right context. 

Scaring kids into hating drugs doesn’t seem to work very well. 

Others recall that DARE programs were undermined by the fact that they would involve police officers holding long lectures that would exaggerate the effects of drug use and apply a no-tolerance policy to any form of drug abuse – despite the use of certain drugs as medication, the rampant alcoholism in the police force, and other clear hypocrisies that teens of the time (and teens today) were well aware of. 

Honesty is the best policy. If your teen’s school does not employ a successful addiction prevention program led by treatment specialists, then talking to a mental health professional about refining a few talking points of your own can be helpful. Don’t be tempted to make up stories, go into gory details, or be biased in your interpretations. Teens appreciate when adults are straight with them – and are more likely to resist if they feel patronized. 

Take inspiration from anti-drug campaigns that did work. Good examples include the campaigns Be Under Your Own Influence and Above the Influence, both of which frame sobriety as counter-culture, as well as the smarter thing to do. 

Your teen will continue to grow into adulthood, make their own choices, and live with their mistakes. If those mistakes include drug use, don’t panic – chances are that they might try a few things, as teens often do, and move on with their life. But if the habit sticks, then treatment is the next step – and an important one. 

Even short-term drug use can have consequences, whether it’s on your teen’s grades, their mood and behavior, or the legal ramifications and permanent mark on their record.

It’s important to act before things get out of hand, and that means seeing the signs of teen drug use as early as possible. Here are some of the most common signs of drug use in teens. 

Changes in Behavior and Mood

At their core, addictive drugs are mind-altering. This means they induce a different state of mind, usually one that involves joy or euphoria, together with a sense of calm, or an immediate boost in energy and excitability. 

But these short-term effects – that is, the “high” – can lead to long-term issues with your teen’s mental state. Feeling good for a little while is one thing, but what comes up must come down. Research tells us that the more a person uses certain addictive drugs, the more their brain changes to compensate for the regular use of these mind-altering substances, and the changes they elicit in the production and release of neurotransmitters like dopamine. 

In other words, your brain produces less and less of the stuff that helps regulate your mood and make you satisfied, and relies more and more on drugs to compensate. This can fundamentally alter a teen’s baseline mood, making them sadder, more anxious, more irritable the longer they rely on drugs.  

Differentiating these symptoms from those of a separate mental health issue, such as depression, can be difficult. Look for other signs as well. 

Physical and Mental Signs of Drug Use

The telltale physical signs of consistent drug use differ from substance to substance. Frequent alcohol use, for example, will result in slurred speech, lowered cognitive abilities, memory problems, problems with coordination, and a much higher likelihood of high-risk behavior, including drunk driving and unprotected sex. 

Teens who have recently been drinking might not be aware of the smell of alcohol on their breath or on their clothing or might not have the foresight to hide it. In the long-term, alcohol use can cause sudden weight gain in teens, as well as heart and liver damage, even at an early age. 

Like alcohol, marijuana use can be physically identified in teens through smell and certain physical characteristics. Reddened eyes are a common one. While high-risk behavior is rarer, marijuana use does increase the risk of being in a car accident due to delayed reaction times. 

Stimulants affect the heart and, depending on how they’re taken, might cause frequent indigestion or nasal congestion, even nosebleeds. Psychedelics are not generally addictive, but do increase the risk of acute episodes of psychosis – and may be uniquely dangerous to teens with a family history of psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia. 

Keep an eye out on your teen’s physical condition, mood, and behavior. Sudden changes – even if they’re presumably positive at first, such as a complete shift towards manic productivity – should be taken seriously and looked into. 

Social Withdrawal and Changes in Friendships

Drug use can change you, and it can change the people you tend to hang out with. Friends, relationships, and social interaction are often some of the first casualties of long-term addiction. 

Aside from making entirely new (and potentially suspicious) friends, long-term drug use and addiction can escalate a teen’s social withdrawal to the point of total isolation. 

Poor Academic Performance and Attendance

Drug use does not always go hand-in-hand with delinquency or academic failure – after all, some addictive drugs are used explicitly as “study aids”. But when drug use turns to addiction, it can become hard to continue to be dedicated to your studies. 

Long-term drug use and addiction can affect both cognitive faculties – i.e., thinking skills – and memory, making it more difficult for teens to pay attention, retain information, and succeed in test-taking. If your teen is having a hard time at school, then it might not be a good idea to jump straight to drug use – but it may be a sign, nonetheless. 

Run-Ins With the Law

One of the clearest signs of teen drug use is an arrest for drugs – or other criminal behavior that, upon further asking, was intended to fund an ongoing drug hobby. 

Secretive Behavior

Teens are naturally inclined to vie for independence and privacy, and it’s normal for them to keep secrets from you. But if they’re regularly disappearing to go off and be alone, excuse themselves from family gatherings and events multiple times a day, and are constantly lying about where they’ve been or what they’ve been doing, then you may have yourself a set of red flags. 

Drug Paraphernalia

Another clear sign of drug use is the appropriate drug paraphernalia – this includes bags with remaining traces of used drugs, an injection kit, an alcoholic flask, or bongs. 

Resistance to Help

There are many reasons teens who struggle with addiction resist help. For one, they might be denying their drug use, even after the cat’s out of the bag. Teens can be stubborn sometimes.

Another reason might be that they feel that they can’t get better, or that things have gotten so bad that they don’t feel they deserve to feel better. In these cases, professional help is crucial. Drug use can take a serious mental toll on a teen’s mood and behavior, eliciting feelings of depression and shame. 

What To Do Next?

Teenage drug use and addiction is a complicated topic. It’s tempting to try and find something or someone to blame, but it’s not always that easy. There are a lot of factors that contribute to a teen’s willingness to try drugs, and their likelihood of getting addicted. Right now, you need to focus on what to do next. 

• Don’t Wait for Rock Bottom – it’s a myth that you can only help someone when they’ve truly “hit rock bottom”. If your teen is addicted, they need help. Don’t give up on them. 

• Seek Professional Help – this is not something you should be taking on alone. Talk to a mental health professional or an addiction treatment specialist. 

• Plan an Intervention – convincing your teen that they need to get help is always easier said than done. An intervention can be an important first step towards treatment. 

• Consider Inpatient Treatment – professional inpatient treatment programs help teens transition into a safe, drug-free environment to learn to cope with their cravings and recover from addiction, before transitioning back into day-to-day living through group therapy and outpatient programs. 

It’s always best to accept that it’s not really anyone’s fault – especially not your teen’s – and that the next step should focus on getting them the medical and psychiatric help they need. Work with compassion, understanding, and your love for your child.