Considering the availability of drugs in the community we live in, they are becoming more and more common among teens. Even though I haven’t been personally affected by drug use, I know that there is no way to escape it. In the society we live in, everyone can be influenced into drug use by many factors, such as peer pressure or social standards, which inflict on what we do with illegal substances and prescription drugs.  

According to a survey conducted in 2013, peer pressure is the most excessive cause that leads to the initiation in drug use. It is the leading factor, however not the reason most children continue after being exposed. Family issues are the main contributors to the continuation of drug use. Another survey conducted in 2005 presented that 6.3 of kids with divorced parents tend to have done drugs at least once during the ages of 13 to 18. (High School and Youth Trends). The rate in which drug use is growing is truly astonishing and there’s little we can do to stop it. Many teens continue doing drugs because they think that society will label them as “cool”, and therefore they will do whatever is possible to maintain this status.

I have asked some of my acquaintances why they choose to do drugs, and the answer has been mostly generic: “I don’t know for sure why I started it, I guess to show off to my friends, and after the few first times it was disgusting, but I still continued and was too hard to stop. It was all about who was cooler and could get a better street reputation, but then it became an addiction, something that even if I wanted to, couldn’t get rid of”. I can’t say I find it a very appropriate reason for the continuation of drug use, but it is a real problem. It is unnecessary in the lives of teens, however as I mentioned before, teens become prey in a world of peer pressure and proceed to leaving that world with difficulty.  

Not many minors can escape the prison that drugs put them in and there are few ways that we can help them. In teens who abuse illegal substances, there are always problems in the family no matter how much they may try to deny it, and if the family figures out the teen is associated with drugs they are the ones who try to put a stop to it. It is very hard for family members to do something when their child, or sibling, won’t open up about their drug issue. It’s unfair to the family and the individual but the truth is something that we can never escape.

Drug use affects families and individuals in  many ways but one thing that we can conclude for sure is that it only has negative consequences. It limits the ability for teens to think. Peer pressure is one of the most influential factor in drug use initiation. There is no way in which we can completely halt teens from doing drugs but we can prevent certain people by eliminating the social ideal that drugs are cool. To conclude teens have a high risk of taking drugs due to their availability.