Describe adolescent drug experimentation. What types of school and community programs are the most effective?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Most teenagers who dabble in alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana are not headed for a life of addiction. These minimal experimenters are usually psychologically healthy, sociable, curious young people. But adolescent experimentation with any drug should not be taken lightly. Because most drugs impair perception and thought processes, a single heavy dose can lead to permanent injury or death. And a worrisome minority of teenagers move from substance use to abuse—taking drugs regularly, requiring increasing amounts to achieve the same effect, moving on to harder substances, and using enough to interfere with their ability to meet daily responsibilities. Unlike experimenters, drug users are seriously troubled young people.
School and community programs that reduce drug experimentation typically combine several components:
– They promote effective parenting, including monitoring of teenagers' activities.
– They teach skills for resisting peer pressure.
– They reduce the social acceptability of drug taking by emphasizing health and safety risks.
But given that adolescent drug taking is widespread, interventions that prevent teenagers from harming themselves and others when they do experiment are essential. Many communities offer weekend on-call transportation services that any young person can contact for a safe ride home, with no questions asked.