Joshua Eaton
Ms. Gust
Freshman Gym
6 February 2013
Tobacco,Alcohol and Drugs Reflective Essay Drugs. Alcohol. Tobacco. These three words are heard and often present throughout teen’s lives.
Last year
3.6 percent of 8th graders, 14.5 percent of 10th graders, and 28.1 percent of 12th graders reported getting drunk in the past month. Also, in 2012, 6.5 percent of 8th graders, 17.0 percent of 10th graders, and 22.9 percent of 12th graders used marijuana in the past month. Tobacco has become less used among teens compared to marijuana. In 2012, 17.1 percent of 12th graders were current
(pastmonth) cigarette smokers. In the past 10 years drug and alcohol use has increased in teens. I think that there are many reasons teens abuse illegal substances. One reason teens abuse illegal substances is because the influences of media. There are many commercials that talk about meth, but I hardly see any that see “don’t do weed.” Also, beer commercials show people having a great time, not a bunch of people hung over or with medical issues. I don’t think using drugs, alcohol, and tobacco is good at all, but on TV most commercials encourage the use of tobacco and alcohol so a teen might think it can’t be too bad. The ramifications of this can be deadly. Driving under the influence of any substance is lethal. Plus, most substances have serious long term effects. That is why I do not agree with the idea of teens using illegal substances. Three values that direct my decisions towards drugs, alcohol, and tobacco are my parents don’t want me to, they have serious consequences, and I don't see the benefit to doing them. If my parents ever heard of me doing drugs, alcohol or tobacco in my teen years, they would kill me. Also, if I was driving
under the influence and crashed into someone else’s car and ended up killing them. I would never be able to live with myself. Many teens think it is cool to do drugs, but I don’t see what’s so cool when you get high laugh a little, make some poor choices, then just feel loopy for a while. What’s cool about that? In my opinion, drugs are dumb, alcohol is bad when drunk