A recent interview with Dr Carol Boyd revealed some interesting yet obvious facts about the current trends in drug addiction affecting our country. For years most professionals have known either by working in the field of substance abuse, their own personal experience or both that most substance abuse starts at an early age, sometime as young as 10-11 in some areas. However the majority of addiction cases usually start between 12-17 years of age based on scientific studies and usually around 14-15 years of age based on my experience.
There are several reasons this occurs and factors that play a part are the activities of the child. For instance the less involved parents are and the more unmonitored freedom youth have plays a huge part in substance abuse activities. The age that the youth is allowed this un-chaperoned freedom determines what age poor and uninformed decisions are made by teenagers. The earlier this new found total freedom and independence occurs plays a significant factor when substance abuse occurs in teens.
Parents often feel less restricted and looking for a break when it comes to allowing their children more freedom to attend the movies with friend, got to the mall shopping or whatever. These are obviously the times when kids make bad decisions thinking they will never turn out like those loser drug addicts that commit crimes, degrade themselves with prostitution, or end up in jail or dead.
The surprising new evidence most of our addicts are being prescribed drugs they are addicted to add to my argument legalizing drugs is not the answer. Yes more effective ways could be used combating the war on drugs, and I feel those that stand to profit from the war on drugs never want it to end or we would have better results. Many jobs and livelihoods depend on being able to fight the war on drugs, and as long as that is the case, it’s not going to end, but legalizing drugs is not the answer.
Many professionals agree and validate the findings of Dr Boyd’s research whose interview can be seen at the The Partnership at Drug Free.org. Having the already known information based on scientific evidence further enables mental health professionals, counselors and peer leaders to educate parents about their role in the outcome of their children. Knowing nearly 40% of those addicted to prescription drugs are under the age of 18, according to the interview. That’s an alarming amount considering there are tens of thousands of prescription drug addicts in this country.
Adding to the concern for me is knowing 7,000 youth between the ages of 12 and 17 will try a prescription drug each day. These are staggering numbers and can only be stopped by making those responsible for their distribution accountable for the drugs final destination. All of these drugs have an origination point, and if their manufacturers are not held liable then the ability to curb such senseless deaths is severely weakened. This number surpasses the number of kids smoking marijuana.
