Peter Piotrowski

WOC
10/28/14
Guth/Baran

Teens who smoke marijuana daily are more than 60% less likely to complete high
school.(Ingraham pg.1) This problem is serious because the teens won't be getting the
education they need. There are many causes and ways to help teens with substance abuse. A
very serious issue affecting teens is the causes of drug abuse, but there are also ways to help
teens with this problem.
One thing to know about substance abuse is that there are many causes. First of all,
according to The Washington Post 2014 Bad Outcomes for Teen Pot Users by Christopher
Ingraham there are many bad outcomes for doing drugs. Teenagers who smoke marijuana
daily are more than 60% less likely to complete high school than those who never use. Theyre
also 60% less likely to graduate college and seven times as likely to attempt suicide. The quote
says if teens smoke pot daily they wont get the education they need and wont go to college.
Theyll not want to do sports anymore and it can cause memory loss and hurt the part of the
teens brain where they make new memories. Secondly, the article says,According to the study
there are are significant relationships between cannabis use and high school graduation,college
graduation, suicide attempts, cannabis dependency and other illicit drug use. For instance a
person who uses cannabis less than monthly would have slightly lower odds of graduating from
high school or getting a college degree compared with a person who doesnt use at all. People
who use cannabis are less likely to finish high school or get a college degree than those who
never use. Teen who use probably wont get a good education or job when they graduate.
Another reason, Ingraham says, Researchers gathered data on the frequency of cannabis use
among 3,725 students from Australia and New Zealand and looked at the students development

outcomes up to the age of 30. they found clean and consistent associations between frequency
of cannabis use during adolescence and most young adult outcomes investigated even after
controlling for 53 potential confounding factors including age, sex,ethnicity,socioeconomic
status, use of other drugs,and mental illness. Smoking cannabis can cause teens to use other
drugs and it could really hurt their brain and it can make them do things they don't want to do.
These are the bad outcomes of substance abusers.
Although substance abuse is a common problem for teens there are ways to help
overcome it. First of all, according to 2014 Dow Jones and Companys articlePreventing
Overdose Deaths by Arian Campo-Flores and Zusha Elinson, The program so far has resulted
in 125 overdose reversals said Executive Director Robert Childs. Deaths from heroin and pain
medications totaled 712 in North Carolina in 2012 according to the state department of health
and human services. The quote says the program can help teens overcome their overdose and
not die from it. Secondly, the article says, Nationwide overdose deaths from painkillers such as
oxycodone rode 23% to 16,917 from 2006 to 2011, according to the centers for disease control
and prevention. Those due to heroin, which is related to the opioid drugs, jumped 110% to 4,397
over the period The number of drug overdose is going up over time and there are ways to
prevent it like going to get help from a counselor. Another reason, Campo and Elinson also
writes, There are now 24 states, along with the district of columbia that have passed laws
expanding access to naloxone said Corey Davis, deputy director of the Network for Public
Health Laws southern region, who tracks such policies. The measures vary, but common
provisions include allowing doctors to prescribe naloxone to a drug users friends and family,
and removing legal liability for prescribers and those who administer the medication. The quote
says doctors arent allowed to give people certain prescriptions because they can overdose.This
helps because people wont be overdosing as much. These are the ways teens can get help and
overcome substance abuse.

There are many bad outcomes for teen substance abusers but there are ways for them
to get help. Drug abuse is a problem teens are struggling with, and even though there are many
causes there are also ways for them to get help. People should care about this issue because
teens could die from overdosing. People around the community should get them help or start a
club so the teens can talk about it.