It has been said that American teenagers abuse drugs more than teens in any other country in the world; I think we all pretty much understand why. There aren’t too many things being done in the US to reverse this. Many people believe because so many teens are so secretive it is hard to tell whether a teen has a drug problem. I chose to blog about this because I feel like it hasn’t been addressed enough. I used to think it doesn’t matter if young people do drugs. They aren’t hurting anyone but themselves. It actually affects us all, whether they know it or not because this one person started to do drugs they could peer pressure someone else into it or convince someone it’s what everyone is doing.
I recently read an article from the Fox News website about Teen Drug Abuse. In this article they only discussed how much drugs affected the people taking them. They didn’t really get in to depth of how it affects everyone around them. It also doesn’t tell why teens are starting to do drugs as heavy as they are. Those are things the media look pass, the causes and prevention.
I recently talk to a few people about this topic. All but one said pretty much said the same thing. Teen drug abuse is more common amongst teens that live in or around poverty. An adult from the west side of Chicago around her late twenties said “I don’t understand why this issue isn’t talked about more it’s not as big as violence but its killing just as many young people. Drugs more harmful than prescriptions are available to youth in around low income neighborhoods”. One person had an argument to this statement. A middle aged man in the uptown community told me how it doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you’re around on the day to day basis everyone is more than capable to say no. It’s not just the youth in poverty this can happen to anyone rich or poor addiction doesn’t discriminate.
After researching this topic it has definitely more interesting. Many people feel strongly about this some really don’t ever care enough to share their opinion. Not only is the amount of teenagers using drugs important it is also important the causes and preventions. I hope the media looks more into this topic in the future and really get more in depth of the causes and ways of prevention.
Hey Lanyae,
ReplyDeleteThis was a really cool topic to pursue. I have a couple of suggestions and questions that will hopefully give you some advice for your next article.
First, I am not familiar with the U.S. being having one of the highest rates of teenagers abusing drugs. While I want to be inclined to believe you, do you have a quote to support this statement. If you do, that would be great to include where you heard it, because honestly it has the start of a good hook.
Secondly, I like that you compared a west side and north side opinion on this topic (you might want to add that this was in Chicago), and I am wondering if you could maybe go a little further into your analysis of how these two opinions might contribute as to why the media doesn't focus the right attention on the matter. For example, it seems that the man from Uptown appears to hold the opinion that it can affect everyone but didn't appear to think about why it largely impacts underserved, impoverished neighborhoods (as the woman from the west side suggests). What do YOU think the connection is? Once you think more about that, you can start to bring in stats that will really amp up your argument.
This was a really great start, Lanyae! Super proud of you. I hope that you'll keep expanding on this, and really looking at things critically like you have started to do here.