What is teen drug addiction (JD)? What is at its core? Why does it arise? Does PN have its own characteristics and how not to miss the moment, thinking that this is just adolescence transitional age?
The reasons why PN occurs have their own characteristics. Here there is a direct connection with the transitional period of the end of childish carelessness. The responsibility suddenly falls on the teenager, and here we are at risk of the teenager’s first acquaintance with drugs. If we, as parents, did not take care earlier to instill in the child a sense of responsibility ahead of time – from an early age – for us, as well as for the child, PN can top the unpleasant list of teenage problems.
A favorable background for the development of child and adolescent drug addiction is stable reactions, the main of which is emancipation, which implies the desire to free oneself from the usual framework (family, learning environment, standards of behavior, etc.).
The reaction of the formation of sexual desire also causes drug addiction in adolescence. Some adolescents realize sexual impressions through sexual hallucinations. Smoking weed, according to minors, increases sexual potency.
For the first drug use by minors, according to research results, the following motives are characteristic:
- 31% – the desire to be like everyone else (complex of teenage conformity),
- 19% – the desire to experience new experiences (curiosity),
- 12% — search for the fantastic,
- 10% – the desire to forget, disconnect from troubles.
In addition, the motives for drug use by adolescents should also include such as the desire to relax, have fun, the desire to look “cool”. Sometimes drugs are taken “for courage” or to not confirm the status of the “ugly duckling” among peers. There are cases of forced drug use, when specifically teenagers are “put on the needle” in order to then be forced to commit crimes.
One of the significant reasons for adolescents to turn to drugs is infantilism – the inability to make decisions, the desire to follow a simpler path. Unlike children, an adult is more or less in control of his desires.
Self-control is not only a volitional function, but also a skill acquired as a result of the assimilation of social and moral norms, laid down by the conditions of education. It is very important for self-control to have knowledge about the consequences of drug abuse, personal and social goals, the prospect of achieving which is more significant than momentary pleasure. The ratio of the desire for pleasure and self-control in adolescents is such that he is very vulnerable to temptation. This is the danger of drug addiction, and the greater it is, the younger the child’s age.
The reasons why a teenager can relate to this unpleasant event in life, as a personal acquaintance with drugs, can be divided into 3 groups:
- receiving incorrect or distorted data;
- provision of incomplete data
- suppression situations.
All adolescents affected by drug addiction had one of these items. Hence, errors arise, the price of which is exorbitant not only for the child, but also for his closest relatives – parents, brothers, sisters.
Revealing the fact of drug use allows you to take timely action and save someone’s life. However, the very first step is given very hard, because we are afraid to get confirmation of our fears, we are afraid of publicity, we are afraid of losing contact with a teenager …
To date, a way out has appeared that allows you to avoid most fears at the first stage. And without publicity to others. Such a way out is rapid tests for the determination of narcotic substances in the urine, which are freely sold in a pharmacy and allow testing at home, without consulting specialists and publicity. The result is determined after 5 minutes. On the territory of Ukraine, these tests are SNIPER tests. If the result turned out to be positive and the test confirmed the presence of the tested narcotic substance in the body, only then it is necessary to consult a specialist.
With the help of a highly sensitive drug test, it is possible to detect not just the state of drug intoxication, but the very fact of taking the drug. The fact is that metabolites are excreted in the urine for a certain time after ingestion. For example, cocaine and ecstasy – 2 days, amphetamine and methamphetamine – 2-3 days, and such a common drug as marijuana – from 3 to 28 days, depending on the amount of substance used.
It must be remembered that all narcotic and psychoactive substances of pharmacological or artisanal production in the body are transformed into a small list of metabolites that can be detected using drug tests. For example, when using morphine, codeine, heroin, opium, “poppy straw” and other substances of the opiate group, a single metabolite is formed in the body – morphine, which can be detected using a morphine test.
The detection of drug metabolites in the body is based on a very specific antigen-antibody interaction by immunochromatographic analysis. Pregnancy tests, ovulation tests, flu tests work on the same principle. For testing, it is enough to collect a urine sample and immerse the drug test in a container up to a certain mark indicated on the test strip, then put the test on a horizontal surface and evaluate the result after 4 minutes.
It is necessary to explain to the teenager that he can be tested with a rapid test with the least suspicion of drug use. And this is not distrust. Because to control and restrain within reasonable limits the actions of your child is your legal right and duty.