By Yessica Ceja
Being a teen in 2019 is amazing, but can also be difficult at times. There are so many things in the world in which you can have access to; you have the world at your fingertips like today's technology you can find the answer to any question you may have simply by asking your phone. Drugs for one can be easy to access, but there are many consequences that come along with them.
At Yerba Buena High School, drugs are one of the most common conversation topics and activities. Personally, I hear my peers talk about it at least once a day. On more than one occasion, I have walking into the school bathrooms and had a cloud of smoke just hit me square in the face.
According yo he CDC, about 2 in 10 12th graders reportedly use prescription drugs without it being prescribed to them. This can be really dangerous because they may not be aware of the intake limit and overdose, many times leading to their death. A study by the NIH shows that as of 2016, 17,087 teens died due to prescription drug overdoses.
A lot of teens use drugs for many different reasons wether it be to focus on the task at hand or to have some "fun". Rebecca Madero, age of 18, says "I first started at 15 because of my friends and it was how we'd have fun back then, you know?"
In an article by the NIDA drug use can cause things like heart disease, cancer, and can even change the way you brain functions.
According to a survey I conducted, 1 in 50 teens have gone to the hospital due to complications from drug use, luckily Yerba Buena, the rates for this are not very high.
But there's nothing "fun" about the effects. Addiction is also a common occurrence when teens actively do drugs, according to the survey I conducted 2 in 17 students at Yerba Buena High School actively do drugs, and 2 out of 17 also say that they don't feel that they would be able to quit.
"I started doing drugs as a way to dissociate, you could honestly say I was addicted at one point," says Rebecca.
Rebecca also said she was peer pressured to do drugs by her closest friends. "Looking back at it now I should have just kept my ground and maybe my life would be better."
When you hear the words drugs and teens together in a sentence your mind probably goes to marijuana as it seems to be the most common amongst teens. Although i is one of the most popularizes substances, teens also tend to branch out to more dangerous and addictive substances.
Rebecca says, " I started with weed, but I also tried acid, shrooms and even coke."
A study by Teen Rehab shows that 3.9% of 12th graders have done LSD.
Rebecca was later able to quit doing drugs she said: "As soon as I did coke, I realized that I has taken it too far, I had even made my close friends worry about my wellbeing and try to get me to stop."
A lot of drugs such as acid and marijuana are often laced with other drugs like fentanyl. Fentanyl is a highly addictive narcotic used to treat pain in severe circumstances like cancer, more often than not it is mixed into heroin and cocaine.
As a person who has grown up with friends and family who have used drugs for a long time, I have seen the impact it has had on their lives, and also how it has affected me there is not one day that goes by that I'm not worried about where they are, how they're doing, and if they're even still alive.
I urge everyone around me to not do drugs, or to stop doing them. Some people aren't going to stop because it isn't something you can change in a click of a button, and that is understandable however, there are resources teens in YB especially have that can help them.
If you or someone know is using drugs and is in need of help, you can contact Yerba Buena’s social worker, Jen Pastrana, at [email protected]. Or, you can fill out a student support referral here and a social worker will contact you.
Being a teen in 2019 is amazing, but can also be difficult at times. There are so many things in the world in which you can have access to; you have the world at your fingertips like today's technology you can find the answer to any question you may have simply by asking your phone. Drugs for one can be easy to access, but there are many consequences that come along with them.
At Yerba Buena High School, drugs are one of the most common conversation topics and activities. Personally, I hear my peers talk about it at least once a day. On more than one occasion, I have walking into the school bathrooms and had a cloud of smoke just hit me square in the face.
According yo he CDC, about 2 in 10 12th graders reportedly use prescription drugs without it being prescribed to them. This can be really dangerous because they may not be aware of the intake limit and overdose, many times leading to their death. A study by the NIH shows that as of 2016, 17,087 teens died due to prescription drug overdoses.
A lot of teens use drugs for many different reasons wether it be to focus on the task at hand or to have some "fun". Rebecca Madero, age of 18, says "I first started at 15 because of my friends and it was how we'd have fun back then, you know?"
In an article by the NIDA drug use can cause things like heart disease, cancer, and can even change the way you brain functions.
According to a survey I conducted, 1 in 50 teens have gone to the hospital due to complications from drug use, luckily Yerba Buena, the rates for this are not very high.
But there's nothing "fun" about the effects. Addiction is also a common occurrence when teens actively do drugs, according to the survey I conducted 2 in 17 students at Yerba Buena High School actively do drugs, and 2 out of 17 also say that they don't feel that they would be able to quit.
"I started doing drugs as a way to dissociate, you could honestly say I was addicted at one point," says Rebecca.
Rebecca also said she was peer pressured to do drugs by her closest friends. "Looking back at it now I should have just kept my ground and maybe my life would be better."
When you hear the words drugs and teens together in a sentence your mind probably goes to marijuana as it seems to be the most common amongst teens. Although i is one of the most popularizes substances, teens also tend to branch out to more dangerous and addictive substances.
Rebecca says, " I started with weed, but I also tried acid, shrooms and even coke."
A study by Teen Rehab shows that 3.9% of 12th graders have done LSD.
Rebecca was later able to quit doing drugs she said: "As soon as I did coke, I realized that I has taken it too far, I had even made my close friends worry about my wellbeing and try to get me to stop."
A lot of drugs such as acid and marijuana are often laced with other drugs like fentanyl. Fentanyl is a highly addictive narcotic used to treat pain in severe circumstances like cancer, more often than not it is mixed into heroin and cocaine.
As a person who has grown up with friends and family who have used drugs for a long time, I have seen the impact it has had on their lives, and also how it has affected me there is not one day that goes by that I'm not worried about where they are, how they're doing, and if they're even still alive.
I urge everyone around me to not do drugs, or to stop doing them. Some people aren't going to stop because it isn't something you can change in a click of a button, and that is understandable however, there are resources teens in YB especially have that can help them.
If you or someone know is using drugs and is in need of help, you can contact Yerba Buena’s social worker, Jen Pastrana, at [email protected]. Or, you can fill out a student support referral here and a social worker will contact you.