pressure. The period of time when adolescent’s insecurities start, isusually when they want to be liked which makes it difficult saying no. Anotherreason is if the parents abuse alcohol or drugs they will start following theirparents’ behavior, that is what they’ve learned.
Another reason is just for Curiosity,just to try new things. How bad teens want to find out what it feels like toget drunk or high. Drinking a few beers or smoking with friends “one time” couldlead to every weekend. The biggest reason youth uses drugs and alcohol is tonumb the pain there going through. People who struggle with emotional pain areespecially vulnerable to alcohol and drug abuse. They know that getting high orgetting drunk will provide them with a way to escape. For example, a teenliving in a home environment that has many problems may lead them to drugs to makeit a little more bearable.
Youth doesn’t use alcohol or drugs thinking they couldbecome addicted. They think at the moment they are just experimenting, havingfun with friends, or trying to escape their mind from a bad life.When a person does a pleasing activity, thebrain processes different types of pleasure in the same way. Each of thesepleasurable activity’s cause neurotransmitter dopamine torelease into a cluster of nerve cells below the cerebral cortex.Because this part of the brain is closely tied to pleasure, it’s referred to asthe brain’s reward system. The reward system is present in the brain to assurethat people repeat life-sustaining activities, like eating food, drinking waterand mating. When people take drugs or drink alcohol, it sends the system intooverdrive. Drugs cause a huge spill of dopamine in the brain, more than youwould experience during eating or other natural rewards.
Tolerance is when someone doesn’t react to adrug the way they did the first time they used that drug. So they take a biggerdose of the drug to try to reach the same effect as when they first used it. Dependenceis when a person stops using a drug, and then their body goes through withdrawal,which is symptoms that happen after you stop using the drug. Most people whotake a prescription medicine every day for a long time can become dependent.
Whenthey go off the drug, they need to do it daily to avoid withdrawal discomfort.
