The truth of the matter is that there are more and more teens
smoking and abusing drugs than ever, and more join every day
than those who quit.
According to the National Population Health Survey, done by
Health Canada, 15 out of every 25 teens are now smoking. Thirty
per cent of all teenage females smoke, and 28% of all teenage
males smoke. However, even though there are more teenage girls
that smoke, males smoke more cigarettes every day than females.
Everyone knows that every day, there are teens using and abusing
drugs. But does anybody really know the intensity of this problem?
Sure, every now and then on a corner you can see a group of teens
smoking, but does it end with cigarettes? Oh no. Marijuana, cocaine,
hashish, and heroin are all common drugs and are commonly used
and abused by young people in today's messed-up world. The problem
with these drugs, aside from the obvious, is that they are becoming
more and more common.
In late September, there was a raid on a home in St. John's,
Newfoundland. Police bust into a man's home and found eighty-one
marijuana plants and watering and ventilation systems. The net
worth of that much marijuana would be about 250,000 dollars.
A great deal of those drugs may have been sold to or found their
way into the hands of teenagers.
Today's youth don't seem to know the health hazards of these
drugs. Three drops of pure nicotine, a key ingredient in cigarettes
and many other drugs, has enough strength to kill a full-grown
man. These teens may be aware of the fact that they are putting
themselves in danger but what they don't know is the real and
almost fatal danger that they put themselves in.
A prime example of this is rock cocaine. About two sniffs
of this, one of the most dangerous of drugs, has enough strength
to kill almost anyone. It is amazing that any heavy drug abusers
survive their smoking, sniffing and injections, abusing these
powerful drugs.
More emphasis is put into youth anti-smoking campaigns than
any adult anti-smoking campaign, and with good reason. Getting
teens and youths off drugs now may save them in the future. The
battle for the cleansing youths of drugs has been an uphill one,
that is, if the anti-smokers are even winning.
The scandals involving baseball player Mark McGwire and many
other famous sports stars may possibly encourage many more teenagers
to start doing drugs. McGwire used performance-enhancing drugs
and wound up breaking a record for the most home-runs in a season.
There are more youths and teens smoking and using drugs now
than ever before and hopefully this piece of writing will actually
attract some attention to the problem. |