I have witnessed drug and alcohol abuse in many young people. I discovered more young people using drugs and alcohol when I was in the sixth grade. I am now twenty-one years old and still see it nine years later. Back then I lived in East Chicago Indiana when I experienced almost every young adult I met either smoked marijuana or drink alcohol. They thought it was cool to put themselves in those type of bad situations. I dodged every bullet that was fired at me. My peers tried their best to pressure me but I didn’t let that convince me.
I had all types of bad thoughts about those who did those things. I’m pretty sure their parents didn’t know anything about them drinking or smoking. Being positive is the key. Never let anyone push you to do negative things in your life. My parents taught me to be a leader not a follower. Today young children turn out to do and be things without going through preadolescence. About nine years ago in Jr. High school I was surrounded by many bad decision makers. So many young people that I grew up with, turned out being the ones that wanted to experience drugs and alcohol.
I had so many negative thoughts to the point where they begin to dislike me. They tried their best to make me do it, but I was smart enough to know it wasn’t the right decision. I was taught that if you didn’t want a bad reputation, to just do the right thing. In the sixth grade I was shy so just imagine what pressure I went through. Once I went to the seventh and eighth graded it had got worse. It got to the point where they were smoking before coming to their first period class and had the school smelling horrible.
The teachers knew that some were smoking and started reporting it to the principal. Putting yourself in bad situations is not a good idea. Once you commit to something it’s hard to get away from it. Smoking and drinking could really turn into an addiction. Those two are something you don’t want to ruin your life with. When smoking it’s hard to get a job, hard to function to stay on the right path. Smoking could also abuse you in bad ways because there are different types of marijuana and cigarettes that give different feelings to the body.
Individuals who start smoking at a young age have higher age-specific rates for all types of tobacco related cancers, linked primarily to their earlier exposure to the harmful toxin from cigarette. Regular smokers smoked on average about 36 cigarettes per week. Factors strongly associated with smoking include being female, being older, risky behaviors (drinking alcohol, drug use, truancy), and having friends and family who smoke. Boys and girls were equally likely to have drunk alcohol. The proportion of pupils who had drunk alcohol increased with age from 12% of 11 year olds to 74% of 15 year olds.
For younger children it is generally thought that parents and other family members play the key role in forming their initial understanding of alcohol, but as children grow older and begin to socialize more, peers start to have an increasing impact on their attitudes, choices and behavior. There has also been an increase in the attention paid to the impact of commercial advertising and social networking on drinking behavior. Alcohol consumption, amongst both adults and young people, remains a key area of concern for the government.
Boys and girls were equally likely to have ever taken drugs, and the same was true for drug use in the last year or in the last month. As in previous years, smoking and drinking alcohol were strongly associated with drug taking. Both regular and occasional smokers were more likely to have taken drugs in the last year. Compared with non-drinkers, pupils who had drunk alcohol were more likely to have taken drugs in the last year. As of today many pupils do not care whether it’s healthy or beneficial to their life. From this day forward I will and do not want to experience drugs and alcohol and will tech my son not to.
