Teenagers and Marijuana usage

Marijuana abuse today is a major cause for concern in juveniles and has a negative effect on society at large. Teenage marijuana abuse is the symptom of many other problems in a teen. Marijuana abuse in teens is often not recognized when something can be easily done about it. Parents need to be more involved in their children’s lives and make them aware of what marijuana does to their body and the consequences of having/smoking it. In this paper I’m going to explain why teenagers use drugs and what the major consequences for using it are and also how it can affects a person life.

What is marijuana? Marijuana is a green, brown or gray mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). You may hear some people call it by street names such as Mary Jane, pot, weed, gangster, or chronic. Marijuana is used in many ways. The most common method is smoking it rolled into a cigarette called a “joint” or “nail”. It also can be use in a water pipe called a bong. One can even use it in tea or mix it with food.

It was stated in a 2009 survey called Monitoring the Future, about 7 percent of 8th graders, 16 percent of 10th graders, and 21 percent 12th graders had used marijuana in the month before the survey. Marijuana use declined from the late 1990s through 2007, with a decrease in past-year use of more than 20 percent in all three grades combined from 2000 to 2007. I never knew how many teenagers are using these drugs and they and most are just entering high school. I feel that most teens lack confidence and give into peer pressure easily especially when it come to being accepted into certain groups or clicks in high school. Some teenagers feel if they use drugs it would make the look popular and cool and everyone would like them. If they see other teens doing then they feel that they should also do it in order to fit in with the other teenagers.

Another reason teen’s use marijuana because they see older people and even family members use and they probably think its okay for them to use it also. Other teen’s want to use it because on the music that they hear on the radio, music videos and also on the movies and TV shows. A good example of a rapper that uses marijuana is superstar Lil Wayne, in his music he is mostly talking about is smoking weed and getting money. I know for a fact almost every teenager love Lil Wayne and once teen’s see this for themselves they will think its okay. This has a really big affect on teenagers today. These teenagers feel as if rappers and family members smoke weed then they think they should be able to do it also. I think that everyone is smoking weed or using some kind of drug because they probably feel like it’s not harmful to them.

Most teens use marijuana out of curiosity. They hear about it in school and wonder how it will make them feel. Peer pressure, the influence of other family members, and disagreements with parents is some other major reasons teens use it. The influence of peers and family members is a major reason why teens decide to smoke marijuana. When pressure is put on most teens, they have a major desire to become accepted, or fill some type space where they think they need to be at, and they really don’t need to. I have a little brother and my mother and I both know he smoke weed for a fact and he is only sixteen years old, but no matter what we tell him he does not listen to either one of us. One of the reason my little brother told our mother the reason he smoke weed because she stressing him out, by always yelling at him and accusing him of doing things he know he is not doing. When my mother told me that I laugh and said are u serious I couldn’t believe he used that excuse like he that was really going to work on her. But even though our mother is a little hard on him that doesn’t give him the right to go smoke weed she’s just showing him is something call tough love. The real reason he smoke weed is because he sees his friends doing it so feel as he can do it also. My little brother really is a good kid he is just hanging with the wrong type of people. I really don’t think he’s using his head in most situations he just want to do whatever his friends are doing so he can feel cool and accepted. Instead of my brother being a leader and doing what others do and being pressured by his peers he wants to be a follower. I being his older sister can only do so much, but he does not seem to realize how smoking weed can really affect him in many ways.

Some teens will do anything to fill that space, and they will fall into drugs, sex, crime, etc. Other influences include anxiety, anger, depression, boredom, and a number of other things. The rate of marijuana use does not differentiate among race; the use percentage among all races is about the same. Some teens might feel depressed and feel like if he or she smoke weed things will make things okay. It was stated that teen’s girls that smoke weed think about committed suicide than teen girls that doesn’t smoke. Talking to teens about using any kind of drugs should start at home. Parents need to be aware that their teens are being exposed to drugs everywhere from what they hear on television to what they see everyday around them. It is up to the parent to tell teach their teen’s right from wrong and the consequences of using drugs. Parents need to be more open with their kids and explain detail to detail why using drugs is unacceptable, but a parent can’t explain and tell them not to do it and they are doing right in front of their children face. All parents have to set an example for the young children and teenagers in this world today. If it doesn’t start from home there is no telling what these teenagers are doing when they are not at home with their parents.

Most teenagers think that smoking weed isn’t going to harm them it’s just something to relax their mind and make them feel good, but it is harmful and even can be deadly. Depending on the user’s experience on how strong the marijuana is and how much THC it has in it. Some people feel nothing at all when they smoke it and other may feel relaxed or high. It sometimes makes you fell thirsty and very hungry some people called this having the munchies. Others get a bad effect from smoking weed like suffering from a sudden feeling of anxiety and feeling paranoid always looking around like someone is following them keep looking over their back just going crazy. Some short terms effect of using marijuana are problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, trouble with thinking clearly, loss of coordination and increased in heart rate. Some of the long term affects of using marijuana is something called THC which is not good for the brain. THC finds cells in the brain with specific kinds of receptors called cannabinoid receptors and binds them together. THC interferes with the learning and memory that is because the hippocampus a part of the brain with ah funny name big job plays a critical role in certain types of learning.

THC also plays a role in some cancer, repertory immune and reproductive system. Some teens might not know this but some marijuana can cause cancer and it contains some of the same things in cigarettes and even more chemicals as tobacco. Studies show that someone who smokes five joints per week may be raking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smoke a full pack of cigarettes every day. Teenagers that also smoke weed often tend to develop some kind of breathing problems that cigarettes smokers have. There are some teenagers that don’t smoke cigarettes because it can cause cancer and health problems but smoking a lot of weed seems to have the same affects as cigarettes so it better not to smoke either one if a teenager wants to stay healthy at a young age.

Some teenager that smoke a lot weed will soon get tired of it because it won’t make them get high anymore and sooner or later teenagers will be smoking other drugs that is much stronger. That’s why it’s important for teenager not to be peer pressured into smoking weed in the first place. It only takes one person to start off using something stronger and next thing you know a person will be popping pills, smoking wet and sniffing powder to get a stronger high. It’s up to the parent to start now by talking to these young teenagers and making them aware of what’s going on. Some of the symptoms a person can tell if a you are using marijuana is being very dizzy and having trouble walking, being silly and giggly for no reason, eyes are very red and bloodshot and also having a hard time to remembered things that just happened. Marijuana can also have an effect on school and sports which plays a big role to teens. It can make teen most likely to make stupid mistakes that could embarrass you or even hurt yourself. Using marijuana a lot could start to lose energy and lose interest in how you look and how you’re getting along at school or work. It is a strong link between drug use and unsafe sex and the spread of HIV that can cause AIDS.

Other things that some teens are too naïve to realize that smoking weed can affect a person from driving. When a person smokes it messes up a person availability to drive. The person won’t have the correct timing and coordination to perform. For instance smoking marijuana may have trouble judging distances and have delayed reactions to sights and sounds that driver need to notice. It has shown in a study of patients who had been in traffic accidents revealed that 15 percent of those who had been driving in a car or motorcycle had been smoking marijuana, and another 17 percent had both THC and alcohol in their blood.

Although to our society peer pressure can't be overcome, peer pressure is just another issue that is dealt by us teenagers, and can only be overcome by us teenagers, therefore the only way peer pressure can be stopped is just to be yourself. This is why it is important for parents to stay on top of and understand what is going on in their teenager’s lives. When teens are making poor decision, such as using marijuana, it is crucial that parents show concern and follow through with consequences of using any kind of drugs. Helping out with teenager that have drug problems could give them a new perspective and a different mindset on life and how precious it is.