Adolescence – Drug and alcohol abuse

Adolescence spans roughly 12 to 19 years of age, beginning with the rapid physical and sexual changes of puberty and continuing as a period of significant psychological and social change. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to peer pressure, and many are pushed by their friend groups into experimenting with drugs and alcohol; proper education and guidance helps young people learn to say no and adopt a healthy lifestyle instead.

Alcohol is a psychoactive, depressant drug that acts on the brain and slows nervous-system activity, affecting mood and behaviour. Drug abuse is formally defined as taking a drug for a purpose other than its normal clinical use, in an amount and frequency that impairs a person's physical, physiological or psychological function. Commonly abused drug categories include:

• Opioids — bind to opioid receptors in the CNS and gut; heroin (smack), chemically diacetyl morphine, is obtained by acetylating morphine (itself extracted from the opium poppy, Fig. 7.9) and is a widely abused depressant narcotic used as a strong painkiller during surgery in its parent form.
• Cannabinoids — chemicals from Cannabis sativa, the Indian hemp plant (Fig. 7.10), the natural source of marijuana, ganja, hashish and charas; they interfere with dopamine transport and stimulate the CNS, producing energy and euphoria.
• Coca alkaloids — cocaine, a white powder from the leaves of Erythroxylum coca (coke/crack), causes serious physical and psychological problems including hallucinations and paranoia.
• Hallucinogens — plants such as Atropa belladonna (Fig. 7.11) and Datura (Fig. 7.12) distort perception, alongside synthetic hallucinogens like LSD.
• Other commonly abused categories include barbiturates and amphetamines; several of these (methamphetamine, barbiturates, tranquilizers, LSD) are legitimately used as medicines for conditions like depression and insomnia, but are frequently abused outside that clinical use. …