On 17 March 2017, the attention of the Malaysian public was drawn to an incident that highlighted the problem of drug addiction among Malaysian adolescents. Sin Chew Daily news reported that a 19-year-old Chinese girl driving on the opposite side of the North-South Highway caused a fatal accident involving five victims, one of whom died at the scene while the others were all injured. He was driving while hallucinating because he was under the influence of amphetamines when the fatal accident occurred. Drug abuse or substance abuse is best described as the use of certain chemicals with the purpose of creating pleasurable effects on the brain. Drug abuse is a problem plaguing society around the world and is rampant among adolescents in Malaysia. According to the National Anti-Drug Agency, the number of drug addicts nationwide from 2014 to September 2018 was 133,684, of which the youngest drug addict was 7 years old. Drug abuse can be classified into three; depressants, stimulants and hallucinogens. Depressants cause depression of the brain faculties, stimulants cause attention and increase impulses of activity, hallucinogens cause hallucinations and a sense of dissociation from oneself. There are many types of medications; some of the most commonly used drugs among adolescents include opioids, benzodiazepines, cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, methamphetamines, inhalants, Adderall, anabolics, steroids. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There are many factors related to drug abuse among younger generations. In school, peer pressure is one of the most important influences among students. Students tend to practice the same thing as their peers. When a person begins to interact with peers who use drugs, they will easily be attracted to do the same thing. Most students start to suffer when they often invite their friends to use drugs. Drug-addicted peers must easily influence a participant in that group as the strong bond of friendship between them builds trust and self-belief. Teenagers also start using drugs out of curiosity and to try something new. At this age, they are in an identity crisis stage where the curiosity within them is strong, so any visualization of the act of taking drugs will cause them to try to abuse drugs and eventually fall into addiction. The next factor is having the addict's parents or family members. Children associate to take part in drug abuse from the perspective of drug-addicted parents as parents usually become a role model for their children. So, there is a high possibility of a bond between drug-addicted parents and children. From a different perspective, it could describe the fact that every child with drug-addicted parents and family members is at risk of drug abuse. The socioeconomic aspect is also one of the factors that determine the consumption of illicit drugs by adolescents. Those who come from low-income families are prone to becoming victims of drug abuse circumstances due to their disadvantaged living conditions. They lacked almost all the necessities of life such as financial resources, education, hygiene, nutrition, job opportunities, skills and lack of access to services. Parental pressure on their children is also becoming a factor in drug abuse by adolescents. The pressure and expectations placed by parents on their children had put a lot of stress on their children. They will suffer from lack of confidence and the feeling of not beingappreciated will suddenly emerge. They will look for friends with the same problem to share with and some of them may be problematic. It turns out that they are involved in drug abuse. Some efforts can be made to address the problem of drug abuse among adolescents. Regarding preventive measures, students should at least know the negative consequences of drug abuse; therefore the school should establish mandatory courses for students to educate them about the negative effects of drugs and substance abuse. One of the approaches is to organize a campaign and talk about the danger of drug taking and law enforcement on drug addicts so that students are aware of the effects and punishments to be given to drug addicts. Since adolescents are in the process of identity formation, their visual curiosity can be useful when placed in the right context, such as in education. Adolescents should be informed about the possible impacts of drug addiction, so as to eliminate any thoughts of drug abuse. In addition to this, to reduce the number of drug abuse among adolescents, parents should communicate with their children more often. Nowadays parents are busy with other personal interests and cause communication to be feared and rarely used by parents. This leads to social problems among teenagers. Therefore, despite the hectic daily routine, parents should find time to communicate with their children so that they feel lovable, receive more attention and want support in facing life's challenges. If the parent is the drug abuser, targeted efforts should be made to reduce the exposure and impact of this behavior on the adolescent. Agencies responsible for this issue should make every effort to curb exposure to and access to illicit drugs for adolescents whose parents are drug addicts. Drug addiction is a difficult medical problem to treat. To combat the prevalence of drug use among adolescents, comprehensive healthcare that adopts the primary care physician approach should be implemented for adolescent drug users. There are thousands of clinics and specially trained professionals who offer substance abuse treatment for teenagers who abuse drugs or depend on addiction. Substance abuse treatment options involve proven therapies, counseling, medications, and other tools designed to retrain an addict to live drug-free. Doctors and treatment specialists have spent decades working and perfecting their methodologies and can help teens struggling with addiction conquer their illness. Throughout research, it has been proven that drug abuse among adolescents has many harmful effects to consider as self-reflection. . It has a significant impact on communities and societies, healthcare and the economy. In terms of effects on society, drug abusers usually threaten public safety with crimes such as robbery and theft for money. From this it can be deduced that drug users often turn to crime in order to obtain ever-increasing quantities of drugs to fuel their persistent addiction regardless of anything. They isolate themselves from the community and only mix with other drug addicts, dealers and criminals. Based on the drug addict's health condition, we can see that the condition continues to worsen due to the toxic content of the drug. An individual who takes drugs will have problems with the ability to make voluntary decisions as drug addiction develops brain changes. The consequences of abuse.
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