Understanding drug abuse / Why do young people use drugs?

Experts who have studied drug abuse have come up with what they call the “Modified Social Stress Model” to understand why particular individuals start abusing drugs. This is really just a fancy term for something that is very common-sensical. What the experts say is that there are a number of factors in ones life that can cause one to start using drugs; these, they call RISK FACTORS. At the same time, there are some other factors that prevent one from doing so and these are called PROTECTIVE FACTORS. If the risk factors in an individual’s life outweigh the protective factors, it is likely that (s)he will start abusing drugs. Think of it along these lines: What is the chance that THAT particular boy or girl will fall in love with you? Now most of us know that it is not just a matter of being decent looking. There are many other factors, some of which will work in your favour and some of which will go against you. For example, does the object of your desire have another boy/girl friend, do your interests match, are you in the same school or college and so are likely to meet often, do you have common friends who will act as your messengers?

What are drugs?

A very basic question but one that needs to be clarified. For, if we start thinking of drugs as just the substances that cause problems or are abused by people we know, then we are likely to ignore other substances that, for one reason or another, are not thought of as drugs by our
immediate communities.

A psychoactive substance is any substance people take to change either the way they feel, think, or behave. This description covers alcohol and tobacco as well as other natural and manufactured drugs.

In the past, most of the drugs that were used were made from plants. That is, plants grown and then converted into drugs such as cocaine, heroin and cannabis (or marijuana).

In the 20th century, people found out how to make drugs from chemicals. These are called man-made, or synthetic drugs, and include speed, ecstasy, LSD, “batu”, “hot ice”, “kleenex”, “adam” and “meth”, etc.

More details about the effects of particular drugs:

www.undcp.org
www.nida.org
www.freevibe.com

Source: http://www.unodc.org/pdf/youthnet/handbook_what_are_drugs.pdf