About 44% of students have had at least one cigarette and around 72% of students drink alcohol by the end of their senior year in high school. Teenagers are often stereotyped as the main abusers of drugs and are the obvious source of under aged drinking. Plenty of people wonder why they start these habits so early and what really sets them over the edge to turn to drugs or alcohol. In the end, people need to think more about how these things will affect kids’ lives and the big impact they have.


What are the actual reasons for teens taking the path of illegal drugs, smoking, and alcohol? Well quite a few have similar feelings that they go through, for instance, depression or stress that can be caused by problems at school or with family and friends. This has a tremendous impact on their decisions with drugs and alcohol. They assume that using drugs is the best way to relieve stress and sometimes even help them fit in with certain crowds of people. Teenagers are greatly affected more by alcohol than most adults. They need to overcome their problems instead of turning straight to drugs.


“We have long known that nicotine is extraordinarily addictive and that youth can become addicted extremely quickly,” Cheryl G. Healton says. Cheryl is the president/CEO of the American Legacy Foundation, a foundation that attempts to help youth stay away from tobacco. A huge amount of tobacco companies are aiming towards younger potential buyers. Tons of children don’t actually realize what the consequences are. By high school people should defiantly know everything they need to know about drugs and alcohol, but kids as young as fourth or fifth grade most likely don’t. The subject doesn’t need to go into much detail; they just need to be informed that it is not the right way to go.


Teenagers often develop an addiction earlier in life which can be hard to get rid of as an adult. We really need to stop the problem from the root, children. More and more teens everyday are being affected by illegal drugs, smoking and alcohol. If we don’t try and stop these problems now, they’re only going to get worse. If it does get worse, there will be more health problems, increased drug usage, and more teen depression. As of now, the future for all children starting these habits doesn’t look good. There are bad examples being set for kids and for their sake they need to end.