Happy Herb from Hell

I have been so busy the past few days with school. I finally got through the blood and cariovascular unit in Anatomy & Physiology,  and I am done done done with my research paper for english! 3 more units in A&P and a few chapters left in math and I'll officially be done with  my junior year, thank God. This school year has been even more of a hell hold than usual. Anyways, this is my paper I wrote for my english about teenage drug abuse and the negative effects of it on their bodies. I though, live above the influence.

   Statistics from recent studies reveal that 27 percent of teens misuse some drug each month. These misused drugs include marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, and methylenedioxymethamphetamine otherwise known as Ecstasy, as well as prescription and over-the-counter medicines (teenzeen.org). Drug abuse in teenagers can stunt brain development in terms of intellectual capacity, emotional stability, and social behavior. Often teenagers get into doing drugs at a young age, some even before junior high, believing that they are just doing it now, they will not do it forever, and they can stop at anytime. "I know I am addicted. I crave weed, I think about getting high all the time… I Have tried other things but I keep coming back to weed. You cannot die from weed, you cannot overdose from it. I will change sometime, but not now" (Stewart 83). Many teenagers believe what the teenager above said. They think that marijuana is just a fun drug, relieving everyday stresses. Little do teenagers realize marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco use are the leading causes of drug abuse in adulthood.

   A case study was completed around the year 2000 on a 15-year-old girl. Jodi was nine years old when she used her first drug, marijuana, and by age 11 was using it regularly. Before Jodi started drugs, she was a good student who worked hard and did not get in trouble. After drugs, Jodi's concentration shifted from school to drugs. "I was missing so much that when I was there I did not know what they were talking about. My life became about getting high with the older kids." (Stewart 91). Jodi had to repeat seventh grade three times due to the amount of work and school days she missed due to her skipping school to do drugs. Marijuana was a gateway drug for Jodi, leading her to become a major drug abuser. When Jodi was 12, she was then introduced to a new drug called speed. At one point in Jodi's teenage life, she tried acid also. She swears that she is not addicted to either speed or acid, but then admits she really isn't sure. "Maybe I am, I'm not sure," she says. "But I think I could live without them. Mostly it is the weed I could nott live without. I feel different when I use drugs; things are better when I am high. I like to laugh, but I do not do that much when I am not high." (Stewart 99). Jodi admits to being addicted to marijuana, but she does not think that she has hit the point of no return yet. She thinks that it is not the drug itself that she craves, but the way it makes her feel, because it makes her feel really happy and really silly, and it gives her a "peace of mind". The truth of the matter is she is at the point of no return, because she openly admits that she cannot live without marijuana, and when someone cannot live without a toxic substance, they truly addicted. Trying to stop smoking marijuana is just as difficult, if not harder, than trying to stop smoking cigarettes, because one thing they both have in common is that they are highly addictive, and when you are addicted, it makes it extremely difficult to stop using.

   Alcohol and tobacco are the most common drugs that are readily available because they are legal. Although they are illegal for young kids, it is easy to obtain them through an adult early on, which creates availability and use that leads to abuse of alcohol and tobacco products. Subsequently the start of substance abuse occurs subsequently because of peer pressure and wanting to fit in. Once kids start to abuse alcohol and tobacco, they find that the drugs seem to relieve some of the stress and pressure in their life. "In surveys, teens often report using marijuana and other drugs to not only relieve symptoms of depression, but also to 'feel good' or 'feel better,' to relieve stress and, help them cope" (Nasso 125). Even though teens believe it makes them feel better, it is actually harming them. "Weekly or more frequent use of marijuana doubles a teen's risk of depression and anxiety. Depressed teens are more than twice as likely as their peers to abuse or become dependent on marijuana" (Nasso 125). Therefore, teens should not use marijuana to relieve symptoms, as it will only make things worse for them, even if not in the present, it will have a much bigger impact on their adult life then they realize.

   Smoking cigarettes is generally the first step towards drug abuse. "Teens who smoke cigarettes are 14 times likelier than those who do not to try marijuana" (Merino 117). Some studies indicate that 55 percent of teens who are current cigarette smokers report more than half of their friends use marijuana, compared to only three percent of those that have never smoked. Smoking cigarettes seems harmless to many teenagers, but from the statistics above, it is one of the most harmful things that could lead a teenager to abuse drugs. "Among teens who have tried marijuana: 57 percent smoked cigarettes first, 29 percent have not smoked cigarettes and 13 percent smoked cigarettes at about the same time or after they tried marijuana," (Merino 118). Some teenagers start substance use with alcohol and cigarettes. After that they can progress to using marijuana. Consistent use of marijuana can then propel most teens to using harder drugs and serious substance abuse such as cocaine, speed, methamphetamine, and even household cleaning products.

   Certain situations can increase the desire to smoke in teenagers and also increases their desire to use illicit drugs. A lot of teenagers often feel the symptoms of depression, which is not always a bad thing. It is part of your body and mind adjusting and growing up. When you combine depression and drugs though, it does not make the feelings disappear like most teenagers think drugs do for them. Doing drugs when depressed only exacerbates their symptoms and puts them in this cloudy haze that merely delays coping with the reality of their life. "Recent studies show that marijuana and depression are a dangerous combination, using marijuana can worsen depression and lead to more serious mental health disorders like schizophrenia, anxiety and even suicide," (Nasso 125). A lot of teenagers think of marijuana as being a natural herb that is not harmful to their bodies. In reality marijuana actually contains many of the same cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco. "Puff for puff, the amount of tar inhaled and the level of carbon monoxide absorbed by those who smoke marijuana, regardless of the THC content are three to five times greater than among tobacco smokers." (Merino 63).


   What sets marijuana apart from cigarettes and makes it even more dangerous is the tetrahydracannabinol (THC) it contains and how it affects the brain. While drug abuse can definitely affect your body emotionally, it affects it physically as well. Unlike most of the other tissues in your body, tissues in the brain cannot regenerate themselves. Most people know that using marijuana kills brain cells, but when you take a deeper look into it, it is so much more complex and dangerous than just killing brain cells. When teenagers use marijuana, chemicals travel through the bloodstream and quickly attach to nerve receptors in the brain. The main ingredient in marijuana is THC, and when it is smoked the THC attaches itself to the THC receptors in the brain. The hippocampus controls memory, emotions, and balance. The hippocampus is also the part of the brain that has the most THC receptors. It communicates with other brain regions that process new information into long-term memory. In a brain under the influence of marijuana, new information may never register and may be lost from memory. "The National Institutes of Health regards drug addiction as a disease of the brain. As the abuser takes more and more drugs, the way the brain works will change. Its functions have become abnormal," (Marcovitz 32). Unfortunately, drug use does not only affect the brain, it affects the entire body. The body changes over time, and most illicit drugs contain ingredients that affect all other parts of the body, in both the long term and short term. Drug use speeds up your heart rate to 160 beats per minute, the normal heart rate is 80 to 90 beats per minute. It dilates the blood vessels in the whites of the eyes and tints them red, it creates feelings of panic accompanied by sweating, dry mouth, and trouble breathing. Daily cough and more frequent chest colds are also more common in those who abuse drugs. "Brain imaging studies performed on long-term drug abusers show that, in many cases, the brain has actually undergone physical changes. After years of drug abuse, the parts of the brain that control judgment, decision making, learning, memory, and behavioral control have show deterioration," (Marcovitz 32).


   Most teenagers that are against drug use, living above the influence, only have the research side of their arguments against drug use, they do not have actual personal experience with it, which, in my opinion is the reason why most other teenagers do not take seriously how drugs are so toxic to your body. I have always been against drug use, but it was not until this past Summer of 2010 that I truly realized the impact of being under the influence of something. I had knee surgery and my doctor prescribed me the narcotic Vicodin, which is an opiate, to help with the pain after I went home. If you asked me what happened the week after my surgery, I would not be able to tell you a single thing that happened. All I remember was feeling like I did not have control of my body or my emotions, and to be honest, it was the worst feeling I could have ever felt. I was legally high. I kept a journal before and after surgery, and my entry of the day after my surgery, May 5th, tells it all. "Today was a blur. Too much drugs…" (Personal Journal Marla Harris). Yes, it is true that when you are high reality just seems so far away, and you just feel happy, but when I was on those pain relievers they never really took all the pain away, and it made me feel depressed and hopeless. Another entry just a week later reveals how consuming the feelings are, how everything seems to be magnified. "This pain just does not leave me; it consumes me, physically and mentally. I cannot escape it, I cannot hide from it, I cannot run from it. It traps me. You think it is starting to get better because you feel like you have so much more energy, and it does not really bother you like it had been, but it is only deceiving you because then it hits you again, harder than before even, and you come crashing down, and all the tears along with you," (Personal Journal Marla Harris). I cannot even imagine how teenagers enjoy being high, how all they care about is being high. It is ridiculous. "Those addicted to marijuana, after an early feeling of exhilaration, soon lose all restraints, all inhibitions," (Marcovitz 15). When they wore off, I was right back to where I was before I took them, nothing was fixed, nothing felt better, and I was just in the same painful, miserable state that I was in before I took them.


   Drug abuse also affects personal relationships, much more than people would think. It creates this constant battle between two people, and eventually they want to quit using for someone else. Unfortunately, they cannot quit for someone else, you cannot make someone do something they do not want to do, they have to want to do it themselves. They must quit for them and no one else. This has been evident in one of my personal relationships, a long-time friend, James. It is hard to see someone whom you care about completely throw their life away at such a young age. James agreed to an interview. I know that he has done drugs since he was 13, he will be 16 this year 2011. He started with alcohol and tobacco and then from there he moved to marijuana and he finally progressed to trying hard drugs like crack cocaine and Ecstasy. I asked him if he had ever done anything while he was under the influence that he would not normally do, that he regretted. "I have been arrested for being under the influence and disturbance, and carrying a knife that I regret. I may be addicted to marijuana, but in my mind that is not that important," (James Interview May 5 2011). James, as well as Jodi from the case study earlier, does not believe that smoking marijuana is dangerous. He says the same thing, that he will probably quit eventually, but not now. "I have quit everything except marijuana. In my mind marijuana is not a drug. It's just as bad as smoking except when u smoke cigarettes you do not have the side effect of loosing brain cells, you lose your life," (James Interview May 5 2011). He skips school all the time because he thinks he just is not smart enough, when in reality it is because he is addicted to drugs. This is an example of another woefully misguided teenager in denial.


   A huge problem with teenagers is they believe they are invincible. They do not have a realistic sense of their own limitations and mortality. Granted, generally nobody dies from a marijuana overdose, but it starts there and leads to harder drug abuse, and finally addiction. The combined side effects of drug abuse including, emotional, physically, mental, and social can lead to an adult life of depression, psychosis and repeated failure in school, jobs, and relationships. "If we can get a child to 20 without using marijuana, there is a 98 percent chance that the child will never become addicted to any drug. While it may come across as an overemphasis on marijuana, you do not wake up when you are 25 and say, 'I want to slam meth!'" (Marcovitz 30). While marijuana may initially provide a feeling of euphoria and a sense of happiness, in reality continued use leads to abuse of harder drugs and can spiral into a life filled with failures, disappointments, and ruined relationships, a journey that simple starts with use of the happy herb from hell.