Don’t Smoke, Avoid Alcohol, Say No to Drugs
Substance Abuse can be defined as a pattern of harmful use of any substance for mood-altering purposes. There are numerous negative effects of substances in a person’s life.
- For teens, it affects academic life – declining grades, absenteeism, and dropouts.
- It affects personal safety – injuries due to accidents, violence, transmission of HIV/AIDS.
- Substance-abusing youth are at higher risk than nonusers for mental health problems such as depression, developmental lags, and other psychosocial dysfunctions.
- Marijuana use, which is prevalent among youth, has been shown to interfere with short-term memory, learning, and psychomotor skills.
- It can negatively affect peer and family relationships.
- And other social, economic consequences, and delinquency which can lead to arrests.