According to the National Youth Network, 1.1 million young adults between the ages of 12 and 17 meet the clinical diagnostic criteria for drug dependence. Teenagers who are at risk for substance abuse may be depressed, have low self-esteem, feel lonely or have a family history of substance abuse. Signs of teen drug abuse may include the deterioration of physical appearance, increased sercetive behavior, difficulty with concentration, agitation, association with known drug abusers, and unusual borrowing of money from family and friends.
Problems Experiencing Natural Rewards
Many drugs of abuse work through the dopamine reward system. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, that nerve cells in the brain use to communicate with each other. The brain responds to rewarding stimuli, such as throwing the winning pass on the football team or earning a good grade in school, by releasing dopamine. Drugs such as amphetamine and cocaine also cause the release of dopamine, but in much higher amounts than what occurs from natural rewards. As a result, over time, the brain responds to these floods of excess dopamine by decreasing the number of dopamine receptors or decreasing the amount of dopamine that it makes. When this happens, dopamine is not able to activate the reward circuitry very well, and a teenager's ability to feel pleasure and rewards are dampened. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA, dysfunction of the dopamine reward system after using drugs can cause a teenager to feel lifeless, depressed and joyless.
Loss of Control
Over time, as a teenager abuses drugs, he may stop feeling normal when not taking the drugs. In other words, being high on drugs becomes the norm, and not being high is uncomfortable. Continued drug abuse alters the brain in such a way that drug use ceases to be voluntary and transitions into a compulsive drug-seeking behavior. The teenager may feel a physical need to be high, or may continue to take drugs despite unpleasant physical and social side effects.
Persistant Side Effects
Sometimes, negative side effects may persist even after stopping drug use. For example, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as MDMA or ecstasy, causes a high feeling that lasts for 3 to 6 hours. Negative effects of ecstasy use can include feelings of depression, sadness or anxiety, as well as memory difficulties after the drug wears off -- sometimes for several days. In users who take ecstasy regularly, the effects may last even longer.
Death
Drug abuse can lead to overdose and death. Tolerance develops with prolonged drug use; this happens when a teen needs higher doses of the drug to achieve the high she is used to. Overdoses can happen when a teen increases the dose by too much. Another way that drugs may cause death is through unknown substance interactions or contamination, because there is no quality control for illicit drug manufacturers. According to the Phoenix House American Council for Drug Education, when certain ingredients that are used to make drugs are difficult to get, drug makers may substitute with any number of substances, some of which may be toxic.
