Addiction:
Substance Abuse
The
Hard Facts
After
one or two years of decline, overall illicit drug
use among high school students remained steady in
1999.
Inhalants
are more popular with younger students than older
ones and provide an increased danger due to unknown
personal reactions based on the amounts of substance
inhaled and the users’ health.
Prevention
must occur drug-by-drug, because knowledge of the
adverse consequences of one drug will not necessarily
generalize to the use of other drugs. Students’ beliefs
and attitudes are specific to each drug.
Over
half (55%) of young teens have tried an illicit drug
by the time they have finished high school.
More
than one third (37%) who have tried an inhalant have
done so as early as the 8th grade.
Males
have somewhat higher rates of illicit drug use than
females.
It
is not just in the city. In the last few years, the
use of a number of drugs has declined in the urban
(city) areas, leaving the non-urban areas with higher
rates of use.
Many
drugs are "cut" with or contain other drugs
within them. These combinations increase the danger
for an adverse reaction. This is especially true with
the drug known as Ecstasy.
Mixing
alcohol with drugs most often increases the risk of
harmful or adverse effects of that drug.
In
1999, over 500,000 serious drug-related emergency
room episodes were reported. 52,783 were students,
ages 12 to 17, representing over 10% of the illnesses
or deaths recorded.
Sources:
National
Institute on Drug Abuse, 2000
National
Center for Health Statistics, 1995
DAWN
2000, Drug Abuse Warning Network, Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration
CWK
Network 2000
