A drug is a substance that when consumed, injected, inhaled, smoked or absorbed causes a change in the normal function of the body. Drugs can be pharmaceutical or psychoactive. There has been a very fast evolution in the current world due to the rise of technology despite technologies widespread advantages in the connection of the world, access to information and entertainment, recent study shows that there is increased use of social media among teens. This makes them susceptible to peer pressure in social media and at times mental disorders like depression and self-harm. In entertainment media, there is extensive glamorization of drug use especially in entertainment where singers, actors, and rappers have the habit of abusing drugs evident in their way of life in social media and even in their content in television shows. In one of the television shows, the Queen of the South , which tells the story of a woman in the drug dealing business, and in various scenes, there is clear glamorization of the acts of drug use. It is important for parents and society at large to have the social responsibility of ensuring what is consumed over media by children and adolescence is more advantageous than deleterious. Drug use by adolescents and children is something that happens or has factors such as media depiction that contribute to it, thus, bringing the question whether does the media encourage drug abuse among children and adolescents?
Media depiction on substance use especially for drugs that are considered legal generally paints a positive picture despite efforts by the government to try and get the young generation to say no to drugs. Alcohol and tobacco are by far the two most advertised drugs in media, therefore, posing the greatest danger for a child and teenage abuse. With increased drug use in adolescence, there is a risky sexual behavior such as early sexual activity and drug addiction (Strasburger, 2010). Addiction leads to addictive behavior which is the behavior where one forms a habit that is both reinforcing and rewarding. This leads to a state of dependence where they are in a state of adaptations where when the drug is withdrawn, or there is a cessation of use, they develop withdrawal symptoms (Thanki & Frederick, 2016). Advertisement of drugs by use of personalities and events that appeal to children and adolescents make the use of drugs such as cigarette and alcohol seem normal pressuring adolescence in experimenting. Movies and television pragmas have a considerable amount of content that depicts alcohol and cigarette smoking as positive and normal activities that appeal to them. Tobacco, for example, is one of the drugs that has most of the widespread advertising with companies targeting underaged smokers. This is evidenced by the fact that about 50% of smokers start smoking by the age of 13 years and over 90% of them begin at 19years (Strasburger, 2010). This is almost the same case for alcohol in both mainstream advertising and entertainment media.
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An example of a current substance use portrayal seen in the media may be seen in an American TV series known as the Queen of the South. The TV series is about a woman involved in a drug cartel who seeks refuge in the United States. It is based on a book that gives a story of a woman who runs a drug cartel that gives her power and likeability among the drug business people. It has several scenes that glamorize drug use. More specifically, an episode in the TV series in the second season, the fifth episode, most of the episode is done in a bar where there are all kinds of drug use most of which is alcohol, cigarette smoking, and cocaine use. In this scene, the use of these drugs is seen to cause elation in the moods of the individuals consuming them, a picture that looks pleasing and fun especially when viewed by children and adolescents.
Like other TV series that have the same notion, the scenes in the series give an aspect of drug use as an acceptable norm. It gives a view to its audience that on desperate occasions and when individuals want to have fun, alcohol and cigarettes can be used normally for entertainment with no negative consequences to their actions. Even though it is not expected that the audience will follow the exact actions of the actors, it is well known that entertainment is a powerful influence and could lead to the use of the same measures whether illegal or legal to solve problems and entertain themselves. The scenes make it look okay to abuse drugs without any negative consequences that befall them.
The use of drugs by adolescents is due to many factors, and the media has a great role in this. As alluded to earlier, alcohol and tobacco have the highest threat of use and abuse by adolescents by the simple fact that they are highly advertised by mainstream advertisement and depicted positively in most of the entertainment media. Even though the American academics of Pediatrics calls for a complete burn in tobacco advertising, entertainment media has taken up the role of advertising by their depictions of alcohol and cigarette smoking as cool deeds that appeal to the youth. In most movies and TV programs there are very many scenes showing alcohol as cigarette smoking. (Strasburger, 2010) According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, there is a portrayal of tobacco use of approximately 19% in prime-time television and only a quarter of them show the negative effect of cigarette smoking. Alcohol, however, is the drug that is highly portrayed in American television with approximately one scene of alcohol intake every 22 minutes while cigarette smoking is one scene in every 57 minutes. People abuse drugs for various reasons with one of the reasons being a need to experiment or curiosity especially in the young population. Family history of addiction has also been shown to predispose individuals to drug use. About 30 to 70percent of an individual’s addiction is linked to their genes (Debruyne & Le Boisselier, 2015). Some patients may abuse drugs that were once or previously prescribed to relieve pain especially in patients who suffer from chronic pain. Prescription of opioids to paints with chronic pain may lead to dependence and abuse. Sometimes individuals might be lonely or have poor social interactions and therefore feel the urge to turn to drugs for comfort. Among adolescents, youths and some older people especially men, peer pressure is the main reason for drug abuse. It is also common for patients with mental health disorders to abuse drugs. Drugs like alcohol are mostly used in social settings for recreational use, and without a keen eye on behavior, it may lead to addiction.
Compared to the effects studied in books and class lectures, there is a great discrepancy. In literature, cigarette smoking is shown to be deleterious to health with complications such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchitis, lung parenchymal disease, and even lung cancer. Cigarette smoking is also a major risk factor for the majority of illness including hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, liver disease, and other neoplasms. On the contrary, the media very rarely gives the negative aspect of smoking and alcohol use. Instead, a lot of resources are directed in the advertisement of cigarettes with a larger targeted audience of adolescents. The advertisement glamorizes smoking instead of giving the detrimental picture that is evident in literature and textbooks. The information provided by the media on substances is inaccurate and should be reviewed. From the example given, there is a degree of contradiction by the media when they inform us of the negative effects of the substances yet glamorize their use. Internet, phones, social networking sites are some of the newer media exposure opportunities for adolescents.
In a recent survey of adolescents between ages 14 to 20, showed that first-time alcohol use in 2% of those under study got alcohol from online sites. Very few of these sites have good systems of age verification. It has also been shown that these newer technologies have provided opportunities for the abuse of even legal prescription drugs. They are enticed by the online advertisements of alcohol and cigarettes as well as the prescription drugs that increase the risk of drug abuse. Drugs have various effects on the individual and society. Dependence on drugs deteriorates the health of individuals (McHugh, Nielsen & Weiss, 2015). It is common for heavy smokers to develop respiratory disorders such as bronchitis, lung cancer or even asthma. Injected drugs, on the other hand, predispose the users to certain infections such as infective endocarditis, HIV, and hepatitis B. Other drugs especially cannabinoids and hallucinogens alter perceptions, cause mental health problems including memory loss and may lead to conditions such as schizophrenia. (Andersen, 2018) Socially, they affect a person’s concentration at work, life balance, family relationship and individuals abusing drugs are at a higher risk to engage in crime.
A review in the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics titled, Children, Adolescents, Substance Abuse and the Media , gives guidance on measures to prevent substance abuse in children and adolescents. The recommendations include removal of TV in children’s bedrooms, limit access to media with excessive substance use scenes among others. It also calls for school systems to integrate education on media in the curriculum most specifically programs aimed at drug prevention and drug abuse resistance education. It also calls for legislative advocacy by encouraging the lawmakers to burn advertisements on tobacco use especially in media that is accessible to children. On the same note, it recommended a call on alcohol industries to report their annual expenditures on money used in advertisements especially in media outlets children and adolescents represent more than 10% of the consumer market. Given the influence media has on children and adolescents, more resources should be directed in media research with higher taxes on alcohol and cigarettes use to fun the research.
The recommendations also encourage the involvement of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and drug and entertainment industries in encouraging responsible behaviors. More importantly, the glamorization of alcohol and cigarette smoking should be avoided. Of all the recommendations, parents have the most significant role to play in monitoring and regulating what their children consume from the media. The recommendations are necessary and if followed to the latter, would be very effective in addressing the concerns that were raised in the paper on media and substance abuse among children and adolescence.
In conclusion, there is a clear and very significant contribution of the media depiction to substance use by adolescents. Even though some advertisement such as tobacco has been burnt, the media continues to glamorize its use which plays a major role in the adolescent start of smoking. The complete elimination of tobacco advertising and regulation in the depiction of smoking in entertainment media should be enforced. Alcohol, on the other hand, should have restricted use for underage children with a serious restriction on its advertising, especially in prime-time media.
References
Andersen, S. L. (2018). Stress, sensitive periods, and substance abuse. Neurobiology of stress , 100140.
Debruyne, D., & Le Boisselier, R. (2015). Emerging drugs of abuse: current perspectives on synthetic cannabinoids. Substance abuse and rehabilitation , 6 , 113.
McHugh, R. K., Nielsen, S., & Weiss, R. D. (2015). Prescription drug abuse: from epidemiology to public policy. Journal of substance abuse treatment , 48 (1), 1-7.
Strasburger, V. C. (2010). Policy statement--children, adolescents, substance abuse, and the media. Pediatrics , 126 (4), 791-799.
Thanki, D., & Frederick, B. J. (2016). Social media and drug markets.
