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Drug dealing is becoming more of a “profession” for teens today. If you look close enough to the media, you can see that drug dealing is happening all around. You can see it in schools, on the corner, the playground, at the local pool; basically in almost any public place.

Teens see drug dealing as a quick way to make money, sometimes even a good way to fit in. Sources even show that dealing drugs for teens may be a means of getting an adrenaline rush. Power may also be a reason why these teens deal drugs. 76% of high school students admit that drugs are being used, sold, or are just kept on campus. Drugs are not a hard item for teens to get. They more than likely can walk up to someone and ask if they know anyone who has drugs, and they can get them on the spot. Drugs are becoming more and more prevalent in the lives of teens, and finding them is not hard when many teens deal them.

Selling drugs is an easy way for money, although it carries many risks. Selling on someone else’s turf is usually a big problem, as well as risking your life in a drug war, because everyone knows that behind drugs there are also weapons and people who are willing to take a life over those drugs. Drug dealing also tends to tie in with gangs or sets, corners and blocks, and is even dealing with individuals who just have better connections than others. Movies such as American Gangster, a movie about Frank Lucas, one of America’s top drug dealers from a while back, influence the lives of teens who find drug dealing a way of life. The media usually portrays a lot of drug dealing, influencing the lives of many today, causing them to believe that it is okay.

Teens usually fall under the punishment level of a misdemeanor when caught with drugs. There are many cases where they are charged with possession and either end up with time in a juvenile detention center, a county jail, community service, or fines. These teens are getting off easier than they believe, which is another reason why teens are targeted to be drug dealers. They do not usually get the major charges that an adult would get. However, if these teens begin to think that this drug dealing is okay or that they are too good to get caught, they don’t know what they have in store. People get years in prison for selling drugs while many teens are walking around unknown to the “adult public” eye, carrying drugs, while others are asking, “You holdin’ or what?”

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you drank alcohol while pregnant? Pregnant women are being advised not to drink any alcohol during their first trimester (3 months) of pregnancy by a healt watchdog, who last year said that expecting mothers could drink a glass of wine everyday. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Exellence (NICE) also said that after the fourth month of pregnancy, women should only drink a small amount of alcohol one or two days a week. Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the governments cheif medical officer, said that alcohol highlighted that there were increased risks of miscarriage at the beginning of pregnancy. He also said “It again reinforces that if they do choose to drink, to protect the baby they should not drink more than one to two units of alcohol once or twice a week and should not get drunk.” Another guidline is that women who are planning on getting pregnant should just stop drinking altogether. Although NICE’s draft guidance, issued last fall, said that there was no evidence that a small glass of wine every day caused any harm after the first trimester. It said at the time that there was no “consistent evidence” to show that a small amount of alcohol damaged unborn children. A national survey found that 58.8% of women ages 15-44 drank while pregnant. 68.5% of pregnant women in their first trimester reported using alcohol, while 56.6% of women in their second trimester and 53.9% of women in their third trimester reported alcohol use. Women who drink increase the risk of their baby having Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. The most servere is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, which causes mental retardation. So ask yourself, would you as a pregnant women risk that chance for your child because you chose to drink alcohol during the development of your child?

thanks to: http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/quickstats/womens_health.htm

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/child_health/article3621333.ece

With the large amount of drug and alcohol abuse, there has to be some effects on the mind. Although people that do drugs believe that they are being benefitted with large amounts of pleasure, little do many of them know, their minds are being killed. Many drugs contain dopamine, which stimulates that pleasure that people get from doing drugs and drinking alcohol, causing them to continue to use the substances, even to the point of abuse.

Drugs and alcohol kill short term memory brain cells. Any new information learned is usually forgotten, except for certain things, however, a lot of the old memories are still stored in the brain.

 Many may not believe this, but caffeine is also seen as a drug. There are pills that people can take, actual caffeine pills, and one can OD (overdose) on those pills. Alcohol is the most common drug, because it is an addictive, intoxicating substance. Taking in substances that are addictive can cause one’s dopamine level to drop below the norm, which means in order to get back to that level, they will be accustomed to needing a fix in order to function how they normally would before they became addicted to drugs. A person can be knocked below their normal dopamine level by taking in an abusing substance too often and to a higher peak each time. When the levels drop, they go back to their norm but drop below and have to take a dose of their substance in order to raise back to the normal level of dopamine in the brain. When a person has to have a substance, you can tell that they have abused the substance, however, this is not the only indicator.

Alcohol and other drugs cause problems with the cognitive memory and functioning skills, or motor and somatic sensory. Some side effects of certain drugs are:

-loss of short term memory

-short term memory not being able to make it into long term memory

-emotional breakdowns

-addiction 

-a strong need for the substance instead of just a want

-paranoia

-shutting down certain areas of the brain

-serious medical conditions

-death

-liver problems

-brain damage

-and MANY other problems

Drugs and alcohol may give a person a large amount of pleasure when they use a substance, but abuse can cause major problems. Dopamine levels need to be balanced or the person may not function right, which may cause severe depression, also. There are many health problems and life problems that can be caused by using somethin just for a moment of pleasure. It’s not worth it at all, don’t kill your brain, live with a natural high.

Thanks to: http://www.drugabuse.gov/consequences/

Mr. Anderson’s Anatomy students

and the links used within the blog

Child abuse, what more is there to say when it comes to this topic? There are so many children out there who are, beaten, raped, or hurt both physically and emotionally. Alcohol use and drug abuse is a big part towards child abuse, too. It is said that 40 million children are put through some type of child abuse in approximately 1 year. In the year of 2006, there were 166,615 sexual attacks. Not all of these come down to the use of drugs or alcohol, but a lot of them have to deal with it. Statistics show that victims who are sexually assaulted when they were younger are 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol and 26 times more likely to abuse drugs.

Just because the parents might not have done drugs or abused their alcohol limits, doesn’t mean that what they do can’t affect how their children will live the rest of their life! http://www.childhelp.org/resources/learning-center/statistics says that: 4 children die everyday because of child abuse, and 2 out of the 4 were from an alcohol abuse. Sadly, 36.7% of women and 14.4% of men in prison were abused when they were children. If people could realize what they are truly doing to this kids! We would have less people in jail and the world could actually be a happier place. Children who have been sexually abused are 2.5 times more likely to abuse drug and alcohol use.

All of these different drug uses and alcohol abuses are from many different things that are going on young men and women’s lives. It’s horrible to think that every 2 minutes someone is sexually assaulted. This means, we can just look and see how many more alcoholics and drug users there will be in 5, 10 or 15 years from now! It is going to be unrealistic, it’s mainly just sad to think about all of those poor lost souls that are just trying to live a happy, normal life when they are little. Not be terrorized and put into a state of depression. On which, children are 3 times more likely to be depressed as they grow older. When children are abused they are 25% more likely to have a teen pregnancy, which results in those children who use drugs during their pregnancies. It all comes back on the horrible, disgusting people who hurt them in the first place.

Thanks to: http://www.childhelp.org/resources/learning-center/statistics

http://www.rainn.org/news-room/rainn-press/2006-National-Crime-Victimization-Survey-Results

In the world today there are a lot of pregnancies that are going on in which the mothers are using drugs, drinking, and smoking. It is as if they do not care for what will happen to the baby inside of them. It is truly a horrible thing that is happening in the world. On average researchers have discovered that about four percents of all pregnant mothers are using drugs while they are in their nine-month state of having a baby. They are using: marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, and other kinds of amphetamines. A lot of these drugs that these moms are using have some major side effects towards the unborn baby. Like for instance, the baby could be born too small and too soon, they could possibly die, have birth defects, and learning or behavioral problems.

Not only are pregnant mothers using illicit drugs, but that most likely means that they are drinking and using tobacco. Every two out of three children are born with a behavioral problem that is a result from marijuana use, by the mother or father. Including, when the mother had “hooked up” with the guy, he could have easily been on drugs and could’ve passed it though onto her. Two out of every five people have it harder to conceive children because of drug abuse by the mothers and fathers. I find this lucky in a way, because that way all of those un-conceived children won’t have to grow with a learning disability.

Another study that was done was the drug abuse on ecstasy. It is said, that women who are in labor and are using ecstasy are more than likely to have a child to have a heart problem. The child could also become a clubfoot, which is only in females. On the other hand, the use of heroine is a lot worse than a lot of the other possible drugs. It could cause: pregnancy complications, poor fetal growth, premature rupture of the membranes, and a lot of premature or stillborn births.

In conclusion, all of these drug uses that are used by pregnant mothers are very harmful! I feel so horrible for the poor innocent children that have to grow up with their screw up parents. The child did not decide that they wanted this to happen, so don’t punish them and go do drugs while you’re in your nine-month term.

Thanks to: http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1169.asp

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/64/11/1874?ck=nck

Smuggling is a very common illegal conflict delt with a lot. There are a lot of people out there who think of nothing when it comes to smuggling, when really they should be worrying about this kind of ordeal. Smuggling, is when a certain person or persons is importing or exporting certain things illegally. The main “thing” is drugs. The statistics say that in an average of pounds: 4,039,197 pounds of Marijuana, 625,156 pounds of Cocaine, and 9,869 pounds of Heroine has been illegally transported here since the year of 1997 to the year of 2000. That is only within a 3 year time span! When it comes to how much people are making during these deals, whether they’re selling things or not people are making $511,680,150. That is a lot of money.

According to http://usgovinfo.about.com/blwarondrugs.htm U.S. officials had taken over an innocent looking packaging of some garden furniture, which was actually all been made out of compressed cocaine. I know that it’s a stereotype that a lot of smuggling comes from the border between Mexico and the U.S. is because it’s pretty much true. It’s not just the “Mexican” people who are living in Mexico, but people from the United States that are being sent down to Mexico to get all of the deals on things. It was said that the officers in West Texas and New Mexico had confiscated just about 2,777 pounds of marijuana. Within a 7-day period, to think of that much drug abuse is going on, that so unbelievable. All of those 2,777 pounds were brought in 38 different packages.

In conclusion, there is a lot of drug smuggling that is going on in between borders of the United States. The crazy thing is, there are people out there this very second who are smuggling something into the United States, it’s said that about every 2 minutes something is smuggled here, and to think that only about 47% of that is being caught by the coastguard, police officers, of officials.

Thanks to: http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa020101b.htm

http://usgovinfo.about.com/blwarondrugs.htm

    Today teenagers are becoming more and more rambunctious. Even though  underage drinking has lessened over the years,  a few surveys shows that 10.6 out of 20.7 million 7th through 12th graders drink. Even though all states prohibit drinking before the age of 21. Eight million teens drink at least once a week and 450,000 drink at least 5 or more drinks at a sitting.

Teenagers tend to participate in the more dangerous drinking activities for example;  18.8 percent of underage drinkers are binge drinkers and 6 percent were heavy drinkers. Teenagers tend to also drink when they are upset…about 40 percent! 31% of teens drink alone and 25% say they drink when they are bored.25% say they drink to get “high.”(http://www.soundvision.com/Info/teens/stat.asp)

Each year students spend 5.5 billion on alcohol, on the average campus the average student spends 446 dollars! Alcohol can be very dangerous when mixed with bored, stressed college students. approximately 240,000 to 360,000 of the 12 million graduate students will die from something related to alcohol.

Many people can get hurt when they are drunk because the mind is not able to function and make judgments like it usually does. In result women can be raped or receive sexually transmitted diseases. 60% of college women that are diagnosed with STD’s  were drunk at the time of infection.

Overall I think that schools should be more involved and make sure that teenagers know the high risks of alcohol use just like students should be aware of risks concerning drug use and sex. 8 young people a day die in alcohol related crashes.

(http://www.icrsurvey.com/Study.aspx?f=AP_teendrinking.html)

The average age that teens start drinking dropped from about 18 in the mid 80′s to about 16 in the  late 1990′s. Teen drinking is still a problem though even the president’s daughters  were caught with fake i.d’s! It is said that the earlier people start drinking the more dependent on alcohol they will become. I think that parents should talk to their children about other ways they can have a good time besides becoming intoxicated.

It is said that 2/3 of the population support the drinking age and some want stricter enforcement on the laws. I believe there should be a lot better enforcement concerning underage drinking because it is overall a highly dangerous thing! Many people can be hurt or hurt others when intoxicated. I believe that if the laws were stricter the rape, crime, and violence statistics will decline.

“patience is the companion of wisdom”-saint augustine

It is better to wait until you are 21 to drink then you are not taking any risks of being arrested…then you can enjoy with your friends and be in a safe environment!

Television is one of the most popular pastimes in the United States, especially for children. 70% of child care centers use television during the typical day! In a year an average child spends 900 hours at school and 1,023 hours watching television. Television is bound to influence children, especially if they watch an average of 1,023 hours a year. Commercials and Television shows are full of sex, drugs and violence. These things, on television, are portrayed and fun and acceptable! (When in fact they are not) The amount of Alcohol ads shown has also increased in the past few years and it is shown that underage drinking is more prevalent than ever!(That’s sad) Even though television ads for cigarettes have been banned you can still see plenty of the product in shows and movies. This kind of product placement makes things like drinking and smoking seem normal and acceptable.(when in fact our parents, teacher and doctors tell us they aren’t)Kids and teens who watch more than 5 hours of television a day are far more likely to begin smoking than the teens who watch less than 2 hours of television. I think that people in this country should be limiting the amount of television their children watch or just getting rid of the television until young children are old enough to understand that those things are not okay. At least until the media is a little more appropriate! The media these days is just egging on peer pressure concerning drug use, teens see it on television, it looks like fun and then they tell their friends. This is how bad, dangerous habits start. I think it is sad that some teens start doing things like drugs and alcohol because they feel left out, depressed, stressed or just pressured into things like drinking and drugs. The television also reports on the many celebrities that teens look up to getting D. U.I’s and getting arrested for possession. I believe that when they show celebrities getting away with things all the time they give teens the wrong idea that if they do something bad(like drugs or alcohol) then they will get away with it just as easily as the celebrity did. Television is starting to become like a second parent to many children and that needs to change, I think it would make a big difference in teens grades, lifestyle, health and the habits and friends they hang out with. I do not believe that television is the main reason for underage drug and alcohol use, I am merely pointing out an influence in many children’s lives that could be monitored better. If television was not as explicit then children wouldn’t have one more thing in this culture making drugs and alcohol seem normal and okay to experiment with.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html

Hey everyone, we are High school students from City High School in Michigan. For our Modern Problems class we are creating a blog discussing Drugs and Alcohol. We are going find articles related to this topic from news sources like CNN, BBC News, and New York Times…and these are just some of the many sources we will be using! We will be posting somewhere around February 22, 2008 so make sure you look for that. Some of the people working on this blog are Taurean, Erin and Piper.  We, the three of us, are going to be discussing the affects of drugs and alcohol on children, drug smuggling, and the culture behind drugs and alcohol.