Illegal Drugs Answers

Family is one of the strongest influences on teens and their decision making. Parents, siblings, and other family members are guiding influences throughout a teen's life and often occupy a position of authority or power in the teen's life. As a result, teens can be strongly influenced by the poor decisions of these authority figures in their lives.

Narcotics include some of the most powerful pain relievers known. For patients suffering from extreme pain, either acute or chronic, narcotics may be the only drugs able to alleviate the pain.

Teens with high levels of self-esteem are confident and self-assured, so when they face a tough decision such as whether to use illegal drugs, this self-assurance allows them to make decisions independently. Teens with low self-esteem are not confident and often doubt themselves and their decision making. When teens with low self-esteem need to make tough decisions, they will look to outside influence to guide, suggest, or validate their decisions.

Medicines are drugs used to treat, cure, and prevent disease. This means that all medicines must be drugs. However, since not all drugs are used to treat disease, not all drugs can be considered medicines.

Marijuana has many side effects, such as feelings of general relaxation, distorted time-sense, short-term memory loss, and increased appetite. Together these manifest themselves as a general disregard for time schedules and the inability to remember to perform tasks or chores. The increased appetite also results in marijuana users feeling the munchies.