Thousands and thousands of teens die from drug and alcohol abuse in the United States. “Underage drinking kills 80,000 Americans each year and takes more than $220 billion dollars from the economy.” Even though teens don’t use drugs or just use small amounts, overdose death rates are on the rise as well as teens self-medicating deaths.

Teen substance abuse in America is high,“21% of teens have used some kind of illegal drug by the 8th grade” and “36% of teens have used alcohol at some point in their life. By the 8th grade 36% of teens have consumed alcohol, 15% have smoked cigarettes, and 16.5% used marijuana.” Teens also try to self -medicate themselves.

Teens use prescription pills to help solve problems in their life. “ 60% of teens who abuse prescription drugs get them free from friend, family, and relatives.” “More teens die from prescription drugs than heroin and cocaine combined.” “Painkillers, Depressants, and Stimulants all have a powerful effect on the brain.” “ Every 25 minutes someone dies from a prescription drug overdose.”

Several people might say that drugs and alcohol can only do bad things, but drugs and alcohol help relieve stress in people’s life. Teens that consistently learn the risk of drugs from their parents are up to 50% less likely to use drugs than those who don’t. There are also a lot of programs that aware teens of what alcohol can do to your body, how prescription pills can affect your body too.

In conclusion, although teens don’t use drugs or just small amounts, substance abuse is on the rise for two main reasons. First, teens self-medicating is more “deadly than heroin and cocaine combined”. Most importantly, overdose death rates are increasing In America. Teens using drugs to solve problems are not working and because of that they get addicted and die from an overdose.


http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2012060800&type=hitlist&num=0

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/consumer/10216.html

https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-teens-and-drug-use

http://www.in.gov/bitterpill/faqs.html