In a single day, about 15,000 teenagers from the United States will have their first tries at using drugs. Out of 25 students in an American school, about 3 students may be users of drugs.

Get this point across to your teenager and save him/her from abuse: You take the substance, the substance takes you. With drug use, there is hardly any time for your teenager to step back and assess where his/her use of the substance may be taking him/her.

Ironically, you take the substance in your body but ultimately you are the one taken by the substance. Your teen’s mind can be easily affected by the drug and this can alter his/her manner of thinking without him/her even knowing it. Refer to Experimentation or abuse for more information about the vicious cycle of addiction.

What’s the real deal about teen drug abuse? What’s so harmful about tobacco? What exactly in it harms your teen? Nicotine. This substance is actually the drug which exists in the leaves of tobacco, and it affects a teenager’s brain with his or her puff of smoke. Refer to Tobacco: Teen smoking for more information.

What your teenager may not know once he/she has his/her first try at cocaine is that he/she may have a seizure, stroke, heart attack, or experience respiratory difficulty that could lead to death—all on the first try. Refer to Cocaine for more information. Cocaine takes its toll on your teen’s emotions even when he/she is not high. Anxiety, paranoia, violent behavior, and changes in mood are all affects of cocaine on users. Because of its addicting nature, with use of the substance your teenager will slowly lose parts of his life, first it may be his school performance, then possibly his friends, and then his extra-curricular activities as well.

The scary thing about stimulants is that they may be readily available and accessible to your teenager in simple groceries. Unlike other illegal drugs, these kinds of stimulants may be bought even without the need for underground selling. Refer to Stimulants for more information.

A teenager using a hallucinogen may have little control over his/her self. Slurred speech, involuntary muscle spasms, and hostility are just some of the possible bodily reactions to the drug. Refer to Hallucinogens for more information.

Steroids can actually make your teenager less attractive, defeating the initial purpose why he/she may have been taking them in the first place. Acne and falling hair are just some of the side-effects of the drug. Females may experience an increased growth of facial hair while males may actually develop breasts.

The first word that must be associated with the drug ecstasy is the word ILLEGAL. This drug may actually be likened to hallucinogens. It is properly called methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). But the second word that may be associated with ecstasy is the word PARTY! Yes, this particular drug is known to be abused by teenagers at rave parties or dance clubs.

Kinds of prescription drugs such as types of painkillers, central nervous system depressants, opioids, and stimulants can be abused by your teen to even interfere with his/her brain’s normal functioning and cause dependence or ultimately addiction.

Refer to Prescription drugs for more information.