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Essay Subject: Analysis of factors that caused reduction in teen drug users. Marijuana as a gateway drug.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Analysis of factors that caused reduction in teen drug users. Marijuana as a gateway drug. Paper Introduction: Drug abuse has been a major target for government action for some time now, with the rhetoric of the drug war indicating an all-out attack on those who grow, produce, sell, or use drugs. Teenage drug users in particular are a source of concern, and government efforts to convince young people not to use drugs have been considerable. There is evidence that teenage drug use has been reduced from the high it reached a decade or so ago, and though the rate remains relatively high, the trend seems to be downward. The reason for this is in dispute. It may have been brought about by government efforts to reduce teenage drug use, or it may have been caused by some other social forces. A CNN report in 1999 noted that after years of rising numbers of teenage drug users, teenage use of a variety of Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Over-stating thedangers of marijuana has probably had the opposite effect from thatintended, suggesting to young people who realize that the idea thatmarijuana is a deadly poison is a lie to question all warnings about drugson the assumption that others as well may be exaggerations. Of course, Partnership for a Drug-Free America hasa stake in this battle, so its claim that drug use is declining might beseen as an attempt to prove the efficacy of its own campaigns. MPP News Releases,http://www.mpp.org/nr121996.html. The group said that druguse started going up in 1991, then leveled off in 1998 before showing amarginal decline (CNN). Reuters,http://leary.com/news/feature/Drugteen.html. (1999, August 19). A recent study reported by Jenkins(1996) stated, for instance, The three variables which best predicted self-reported drug use at grade 1 were (1) number of friends using gateway drugs, (2) self- reported average grade, and (3) involvement in enjoyable extracurricular activities. Thomas, E. (1986, September 15). "What is behind the latest war ondrugs." Time, 6 . At the time, a number of drug education researchers,including authors of major studies on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education(D.A.R.E.) program and California's Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Education(DATE) programs, stated that the government must begin a process of"seriously reevaluating" drug education programs aimed at young peoplebecause they were not working ("Drug Policy Groups and Researchers Respondto Study of Teenage Drug Use and President's Initiatives," 1996). It may have been broughtabout by government efforts to reduce teenage drug use, or it may have beencaused by some other social forces. "Teenage drug use declines slightly."Associated Press. Reefer Madness: Why the Clinton AdministrationIs Terrified by Medical Marijuana." Reason (March 1, 1997), 4-5. Marijuana has been identified by many authorities as the mostsignificant gateway drug, but it is also a drug that has been losinginfluence (Thomas, 1986, 6 ). This study was conducted by the Partnershipfor a Drug-Free America, a private, non-profit organization is best knownfor its national anti-drug advertising campaigns. Jenkins, Jeanne E. "The Influence of Peer Affiliation and StudentActivities on Adolescent Drug Involvement." Adolescence (June 1, 1996),297-3 6. For thisreason, it is not surprising that drug use has increased among the mostpropagandized generation in history, with nearly all the increase accountedfor by casual pot smoking (Postrel, 1997, 4). "Teenage drug use highest in rural areas" (2 , January 27).Seattle Post-Intelligencer, A1. A secondgovernment survey using a different method to measure teen drug use founddrug use stable over the previous two years after years on the rise. (1999, November 22). However, two yearslater, surveys seemed to indicate a reduction, though it was not statedthat this was because of the drug education programs suggested by thegovernment. Marijuana use rose 37 percent from1994 to 1995 ("Drug Use Up Amongst Teens!," 1996). Somecommentators argue that one or more of these substances serve a gatewayfunction and that those who smoke, drink, or use marijuana are at risk forthe use of harder drugs such as heroin, cocaine, or crack. The rationalefor many marijuana laws has long been that marijuana is a gateway drug sothat even if marijuana use is not a problem in itself, it is the beginningpoint for greater problems in the future. At the same time, while the governmentcontinues to operate as if marijuana were a gateway drug, many researchersdisagree and find that some claims undercut the drug war. Of this group, 13.6 million arecurrent users, or about 6.2 percent of all Americans, which is half what itwas at its 1979 peak. Others pointout that any relationship is tenuous and that those trying to prove arelationship are misusing statistics to show a cause-and-effectrelationship where there is none. So-called gateway drugs are those believed to be drugs for beginners, or drugsthat young people use which lead them to harder drugs later. The high use of marijuana remains a concern not just for the useitself but because of fears of later drug use by marijuana smokers. TheSurvey reported that the portion of teens ages 12 to 17 who stated thatthey had ever used drugs fell from 18.8 percent in 1997 to 16.4 percent in1998. CNN. Overall, drug use among Americans of all ages has remained levelbefore the most recent survey. Many studies of the subject simply assume that marijuana is a gatewaydrug and analyze the issue accordingly. The stepwise entry of the latter two variables accounted for a statistically significant increase in, explaining an additional 5 percent of the variance in self-reported gateway drug use beyond the 41 percent explained by number of drug- using friends (Jenkins, 1996, 297).This analysis suggests, however, that it is less the influence of thegateway drug than of the friends using that drug as to whether theindividual uses either the gateway drug or any harder drug. Over thisperiod, use of LSD and other hallucinogens among teens rose 54 percent,while use of cocaine rose 166 percent. "Public Agenda Online: Teens More Negative About Drug Use, SurveyFinds." Public Agenda 2 , http://www.publicagenda.org/headlines/headline112299.htm. The reason for this is in dispute. Other substances seen as havingthe potential to be gateway drugs include tobacco and alcohol. References Clark, Thomas W. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse is mostcarefully watched as a gauge of teen illicit drug use, and in 1999 itreported as follows: 1 th-graders -- 26.6 percent 12th-graders -- 28.7 percentThe survey found that 9.9 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds had used some sortof drugs within the past month, down from 11.4 percent in 1997. Marijuana use, which has fluctuated over the past few years, fell in1998 to 8.3 percent among teens, back to its 1995 level but significantlyhigher than the 3.4 percent recorded in 1992(Meckler, 1999). At most, they say, users of any drug orstimulant may have a psychological predilection so that the cause is intheir psychology and character and not in the fact of the use of marijuana,alcohol, or tobacco. However, agovernment survey released in 1999 showed much the same thing, noting thatone in 1 teenagers uses marijuana or other illegal drugs, a number downfrom 1997, but still nearly double what it was in 1992 ("Public AgendaOnline: Teens More Negative About Drug Use, Survey Finds"). This report was from theDepartment of Health and Human Services, noting that while drug use levelsamong adults during that time did not change, among teens 12 to 17 yearsold, drug use jumped 33 percent between 1994 and 1995 alone. "Drug Use Up Amongst Teens!" (1996, August 2 ). In addition, it is clear that marijuana use is not something leadingautomatically to harder drugs, as young people seem to know instinctively,for the use of harder drugs like cocaine and heroin has not increased asmuch over the same period when compared to the increase in the use ofmarijuana (Clark, 1997, 14). A CNN report in 1999 noted that after years of rising numbers ofteenage drug users, teenage use of a variety of illicit drugs declined orleveled off from 1997 to 1999. "Keep Marijuana Illegal--for Teens." The Humanist(May 15, 1997), 14-15. Thisfollowed a report from 1995 suggesting the same thing, that teenage drugabuse rose 78 percent from 1992 to 1995. The situation must be monitored for the foreseeable future, but itseems at this time that increased government efforts to reduce the use ofdrugs by young people may be counter-productive, while young people appearto be shying away from drugs for reasons of their own. Drug use is not uniform across the country, though it might surprisemany to find that teenage drug use is at its highest rate in rural areasrather than in urban centers ("Teenage drug use highest in rural areas,"2 ). There is evidencethat teenage drug use has been reduced from the high it reached a decade orso ago, and though the rate remains relatively high, the trend seems to bedownward. Teenage drug users inparticular are a source of concern, and government efforts to convinceyoung people not to use drugs have been considerable. Drug abuse has been a major target for government action for sometime now, with the rhetoric of the drug war indicating an all-out attack onthose who grow, produce, sell, or use drugs. "Teen-age drug use down, anti-drug group'ssurvey finds." CNN Online, CNN.com. "Drug Policy Groups and Researchers Respond to Study of Teenage DrugUse and President's Initiatives" (1996, December 19). Meckler, L. Interestingly, a study released in 1996 showed that drug use wasstill rising. Postrel, Virginia I. Some 78 million Americans have triedillegal drugs at some point in their lives, with marijuana far and away themost popular drug, though 41.3 million Americans also had tried heroin,cocaine, or some other illegal drug. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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