The question of ‘is teen drug abuse dangerous’ should be answered with a pretty emphatic yes, but also needs to be slightly more fully explored this as there can sometimes be a broader question involving alcohol or possibly some other type of substance abuse.
Anyone charged with looking after a teenager or adolescent is likely to be aware of the possibility that they may be susceptible to either being involved with taking drugs or alcohol, or they may hang around with people who are.
One should always be very wary of generalising about the things, but it is also a good idea to highlight one or two things that may be helpful.
Anyone who has response policy for looking after any teenager or adolescent, who suspects that team drug abuse maybe present in their lives, first and foremost has a responsibility to seek help.
This means helpful themselves in terms of how they deal with it, and help for the teenager or adolescent to deal with what is a drug problem.
Teen drug abuse
The stigma of drugs normally does not differentiate between a type of drug, and often includes alcohol.
There are some people who would argue that teenagers and adolescents will experiment with drugs, alcohol and sex, and the majority of them will grow out of it and lead fairly normal healthy lives.
That is a view that to an extent may be true, but not a view that anyone with responsibility for looking after a child of any sort can actually indulge in.
It is worth having an understanding of the nature of drug abuse and alcohol abuse or alcoholism, and realising that whilst some people it may simply be a phase, for a lot it won’t be, and in fact will be an indication of a much more serious problem in terms of a susceptibility to alcoholism or drug abuse.
The reality is that if a teen drug abuse problem is taken seriously at the outset, and dealt with in a loving and compassionate way, then not only can the life of the teen be straightened out, but also potentially any long-term problems with drugs or alcohol can be addressed early on in their lives.