Our bodies are wonderful things that, to make the most of our lives, we need to care for. They have their own ways of taking food and making energy or needed chemicals for health and functioning.
They allow us to enjoy life by experiencing emotions, situations, and relationships. The most important and lasting relationship is the one we have with ourselves, and only we are responsible for every aspect of that relationship.
Modern chemistry is wonderful in many ways, because we have prescription drugs to help our bodies heal. Pharmaceutical advertising paints glorious pictures of healthy happy people using their products.
We have become accustomed to visiting doctors to solve our physical difficulties.
But even when closely monitored, drugs may have side effects just as dangerous as the medical conditions themselves.
Taken inappropriately, prescribed or not, drugs can damage or kill people.
Anyone thinking otherwise is only fooling themselves.
Reasons For Illicit Drug Abuse
Drug users are everywhere, from rich and privileged to poor and destitute.
Rehabilitation centers and prisons are filled with addicts who need their substance-of-choice to cope with their lives.
No matter how anyone rationalizes taking drugs without prescriptions, there is really only one reason for doing so: they are trying to change their "reality" and escape from something.
People use: tranquilizers to reduce anxiety; hallucinogens for entertainment and escape from conditions and stress; opiates to remove physical pain or sensations; stimulants to overcome depression, lethargy or boredom.
Drug users never really escape or avoid the responsibilities and realities they cloak in substance abuse fogs, because they do nothing to change the situations that exist in their lives.
They fail in their primary relationship.
Unique Problems of Teenagers
The first problem is in the bodies of teenagers.
Teens experience wild swings of biochemistry, because their bodies are trying to physically mature. Hormonal surges create inner stress which translates into difficult relationships with others, because no one knows what a surge will do or when it will happen. Teens live in a chronic and acute state of physical, mental and emotional stress, learning how to deal with aspects of life they may not be equipped to face. Facing problems and solving them is a way to develop skills they need as adults.
Unfortunately, the escape into drugs can seem appealing as a way to avoid difficulties, consequences or emotional reactions of others.
Unfortunately, with an instable biochemistry, the effects of drugs can be unpredictable and dangerous.
The second problem is in the psychological development of a teenager's mind.
Decades of research support the existence of an egocentric thought process that teens have.
Teens have limited life experiences. They don't anticipate consequences of their actions, because, at that exact moment in time, they know they are safe. They don't understand what could happen, because they don't know or understand the possibilities.
Few have a direct experience of death other than elderly or very ill relatives or acquaintances.
For all intents and purposes, they have the illusion of invincibility because they are young, recover quickly from accidents or illnesses, and have their lives ahead of them.
Statistics
States, federal agencies, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and law enforcement keep statistics on use, hospitalizations, suicides, death by poisoning, and other results of substance abuse.
Statistics are usually aggregated (grouped together), so it is almost impossible to review published data to find the numbers.
Even if there were thousands of deaths related to drug use, the odds of dying may be similar to those of winning a lottery. Some people will always think the risk is worth it, because it makes using drugs more exciting.
Are 7,356 deaths in the United States any more important than one (your own)?
No, you may not die, but you may "kill" your future.
Even some "minor" drugs alter judgment and decision making.
Drugs can cause irreparable harm to the body: liver or kidney failure, lung or heart problems, or brain damage.
Brain damage affects everything in your life: physical ability and movement, friendships and marriages, job performance and the ability to keep a job, financial and physical resources, and where and how you live.
If you have any doubt about what drugs can do to your brain, visit http://www.
amenclinics.
com/brain-science/spect-image-gallery.
Conclusion
We each must live with ourselves, and the healthier we are, the better our relationship will be.
Are you willing to risk your future or your family's happiness and finances (lawyers' fees to avoid prison, drug rehabilitation, drug overdoses and funerals can be very expensive and affect many others) just so you can have what might seem a harmless "experience"? Is your drug experience worth being that one accidental death from drugs?
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