Teenage marijuana use is increasing all the time to the point where some of them do it at extreme amounts daily. Bhang comes from a plant known as Cannabis Sativa and appears as green stems and leaves that people usually smoke or eat to have a high feeling. What could be driving factor that forces the teens to start smoking marijuana? The large volumes of marijuana that the teenagers smoke must have a negative implication to their health as well as mental developments. This paper will answer some of the questions concerning the use of marijuana by the teenagers.
Many different reasons can make one use drugs especially when it comes to teenagers. One of the main reasons that might have forced the boy to smoke marijuana is peer pressure (Reed, 1997). As the boy adjusts to school, he is forming new friendships, sorting out personal identity, and socializing with different friends having different backgrounds. It might have happened that the boy manages to join a group that smoke marijuana and the powers of peer pressure influence the boy to try experimenting with marijuana. Peer pressure, therefore, can be one of the main reasons why the pupil started using bhang and he was not using it before.
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Another main contributing factor that might have forced the boy to experiment smoking bhang is the belief that "marijuana is harmless." Since there are few research studies on the negative impacts of marijuana on human health, many people especially the users perceive it as harmless thus making it more appealing than even tobacco, alcohol or other illicit drugs (Haines, 1996). However, there are side effects both psychological and physical of using the drug. Short-term side effects of using marijuana include memory and thinking problem, loss of coordination and even alteration of normal senses. Long-term effects, on the other hand, include an increase in heart rate, risk of lung infection, a weak immune system, and even hallucination. The perception that marijuana is harmless then forces the teenagers to smoke the drug and at the end develop the short-term and long-term side effects of using the drug.
The peer pressure and perception of people about drugs influence the type of drugs they will use. Peer pressure in youths can influence an individual on the kind of drug to use because if the group is using marijuana the person on the receiving end will use, in this case, is the boy. If the group drinks alcohol, whoever joins the group will participate in drinking alcohol meaning that the peer pressure can dictate the type of drug the members of the group will use (Santor, 2000). Perception as another reason for the use of drugs and it can also dictate the type of drug to use because if a person perceives that this drug is harmless, they can use it even though in reality it has the side effects. This means that the type of drug use depends mainly on the perception of the user.
The use of illegal drugs for recreation is a terrible idea because young people in the society, especially the youths in schools and colleges, focus all their concentration in the use of drugs that will cost their lives later (Miller, 2008). Legal drug use for recreational is not a good idea as well especially to the youths this is because it affects their lives in school and their health too even though they are legal. It would be better if there were a policy that ensures that no schooling going-individual will use the drugs either legal or illegal.
Abusing legal drugs is equivalent to abusing illegal drugs because the outcome is similar it will have both physical and psychological side effects (Hawkins, 1992). This means that abusing the legal and illegal drugs is both dangerous to the user. In that connection, there is no valid reason why there are recreational drugs. This is because at the end of the day the user will have to undergo severe health and psychological problems in the name of recreation. The best thing to do is to participate in other recreational activities indoor or outdoor recreational activities instead of using the drugs for recreation.
References
Haines, M. &. (1996). Changing the perception of the norm: A strategy to decrease binge drinking among college students. ournal of American College Health, 45(3) , 134-140.
Hawkins, J. D. (1992). Risk and protective factors for alcohol and other drug problems in adolescence and early adulthood: implications for substance abuse prevention. Psychological bulletin, 112(1) , 64.
Miller, K. H. (2008). Characteristics of users and nonusers of a campus recreation center. Recreational Sports Journal, 32(2) , 87-96.
Reed, M. D. (1997). Peer pressure and adolescent substance use. J ournal of Quantitative Criminology, 13(2) , 143-180.
Santor, D. A. (2000). Measuring peer pressure, popularity, and conformity in adolescent boys and girls: Predicting school performance, sexual attitudes, and substance abuse. Journal of youth and adolescence, 29(2) , 163-182.
