Reasons of becoming addicted

Not so long ago drugs, alcohol, smoking were associated with adults. Now things are changed and not for better.

Nowadays people start getting into these bad habits every time younger and younger.

Why do teenagers start using drugs, drink or smoke?

There are a number of reasons for this:

- Peer pressure is what most of the time makes them do it. People need to be accepted in a group so they can feel good no matter their age they always will need someone to accept them; in their school in their family and work. Friends or other person from the same age try to convince by saying how cool and needed it is or they begin to laugh at attempts to refuse, and teens do it to fit in the group.

- Teenagers think that bad habits are fashion in the modern world and that one should try everything in this life.

- People sometimes start drinking or taking drugs because they feel no one understands them and they think that drugs or drinking will help them forget their problems, but that is not a way out of problems.

- Depression caused by many reasons, like problems at home, school, unhappy love.

- Poor life conditions, absence of perspectives in life.

- Absence of hobbies, interests, aims in life. When there is nothing to do, one spends time in bad companies and has all chances to become addicted.

- Drugs are mainly taken by teens because they start it because at first they give them free samples until they get addicted to them. People know that drugs are expensive but if given for free, they think: "Why not try if I don't have to pay?"

- Propaganda: cigarette companies convince more people into smoking by showing it in a cool way through advertising. In some countries beer is advertised too.

- Teenagers like listening to music and if they are fans of some groups where musicians take drugs or drink, they might start doing that too, to be "closer" to their personal heroes and look like them.

- Curiosity: Teens get curious of what habits feel like and what effects they give. They hear a lot about pleasures, unusual feelings that drugs or alcohol can give and decide to try and have own experience.

- Teenagers start bad habits as a form of protest against adults and attempt to show their independence.

- Drugs are very easy to get in most countries nowadays, because more and more people decide to sell them.

- Smoking in some cases is started because people want to feel bigger or because they see in movies or their bigger brothers or cousins doing it and they want to accepted by them.

- Relatives: As teens see their parents or relatives smoking, they think it is also ok and that no big deal is going to happen.

- Ignorance. Sometimes teenagers do not know the full information about awful effects of bad habits. Or they are too young to realize them.

- Not enough is done by society to involve teenagers into hobbies, clubs and other interesting activities.

By: Andrés Adame (M) , Braulio Cavazos (M), class discussion (R)