Sex, Drugs, and Death by Tammy L. Anderson

Author:Tammy L. Anderson [Anderson, Tammy L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9781136164767
Google: 8__eTKXN1rYC
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-08-06T03:40:01+00:00

Conclusions

Our society cares an awful lot about young people’s consumption of alcohol and other mood-altering substances. We can measure this by the mountains of annual data collected by federal agencies and the researchers they fund. From these numerous costly surveys, we learn some pretty compelling things, most of which are historically consistent, mixed with a few that are novel to the 21st century. First, alcohol is the most frequently and heavily used mood-altering substance by teens and young adults and it leads to more social, public health, and financial problems than any other mood-altering substance. Second, marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug and that has remained the case for a very long time in our society. Most teens have tried marijuana and many are current users. Yet, only a few of them progress onto the harder drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, and engage in serious crime. However, for these few, early marijuana use leads to harder drugs, addiction and crime because drug use, abuse, and dependence are tied to identity needs, cultural norms, social opportunities, and a whole host of environmental factors that make drugs and the deviant lifestyle surrounding it both appealing and necessary to youth.

As teens mature into young adults, they encounter other issues with substances. Some of these, like the non-medical use of prescribed drugs, are new trends and time will tell us more about their consequences on society. In the mean time, we learned here that substance use is especially problematic for young adults when they are engaged in leisure activities outside of the home in places like bars and nightclubs. There, it is mostly the over-consumption and glorification of alcohol use—like in the film Superbad and so many others—that leads to rape, stalking and harassment, and physical assault.

Suicide is yet another area in which the substance abuse behaviors of teens and young adults are problematic. We turn our attention to it now, beginning with some recent stories of teen suicide and how widespread it is in our society.

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