May 7, 2025 | Drug Addiction
Why Teens Get in Trouble with Drug Addiction in High School
Teenagers today face increasing pressure, from academics to peer expectations, and unfortunately, many end up in trouble with drug addiction during high school. This phase of life is a critical developmental period, making teens more vulnerable to experimenting with substances. What starts as curiosity or peer influence can quickly spiral into a serious addiction.
Understanding Why Teens Are Vulnerable
High school students are at a developmental stage where impulse control isn’t fully developed. Combined with easy access to substances and the desire to fit in, this creates a dangerous environment. Many teens begin using substances to cope with stress, emotional pain, or social anxiety — often unaware of the long-term consequences. This can lead to trouble with drug addiction that disrupts academics, family life, and health.
Common Substances Abused by Teens
Some of the most common drugs linked to teenage addiction trouble include:
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Marijuana
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Prescription drugs (like Adderall or Xanax)
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Alcohol
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Nicotine (including vaping products)
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Cocaine or ecstasy at parties
What begins as recreational use can easily turn into drug addiction trouble when the teen becomes dependent on the substance to function or feel “normal.”
Warning Signs of Teen Drug Addiction Trouble
Parents and educators should watch for red flags that may suggest a teen is struggling:
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Sudden drop in grades
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Isolation or loss of interest in activities
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Frequent illness or fatigue
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Mood swings or irritability
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Stealing or asking for money with no explanation
If your teen shows multiple signs, it’s important to intervene early before the trouble with drug addiction deepens.
The Consequences of Addiction in Adolescents
When teenagers face trouble due to drug addiction, the consequences can be long-lasting. These include:
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Academic failure and dropping out of school
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Criminal records that affect future opportunities
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Mental health disorders such as depression or anxiety
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Permanent damage to brain development
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Strained family relationships
Prevention and Intervention
The best way to prevent trouble with drug addiction in teens is through education, open communication, and early intervention. Schools should include drug prevention programs, while parents must create a safe, judgment-free space to talk.
Professional help, such as counseling or teen addiction treatment programs, is often necessary to help a teen recover. The sooner the issue is addressed, the better the chances of long-term recovery.
Why is Cocaine so Addictive?
Warning Signs for Parents and Educators
Substance use in teens often hides in plain sight. Changes in behavior, sudden drops in grades, avoiding family, and switching peer groups can all signal trouble. Frequent money requests, lying, or secrecy around social activities should raise concern.
Seeking Help and Breaking the Cycle
Recovery is possible. I eventually sought help through therapy and support programs—but only after a lot of damage was done. Early intervention could have changed everything. Education, open communication, and nonjudgmental support are key to helping teens make safer choices.
FAQ: Teen Drug Addiction and Early Substance Use
What does it mean when a teen is in trouble with drug addiction?
It means the teen’s substance use has escalated to a level where it negatively affects their behavior, academics, health, or relationships.
What are the most common drugs used by high school students?
Marijuana, alcohol, nicotine (vapes), prescription stimulants, and ecstasy are among the most commonly used substances. Cocaine and crack cocaine are also more accessible than many adults realize.
How can parents tell if their teen is addicted to drugs?
Look for signs like mood swings, poor academic performance, changes in friends, secretive behavior, or a sudden need for money. Physical signs include red eyes, poor hygiene, or unusual sleeping patterns.
Why do teens start using drugs?
Teens may use drugs due to peer pressure, curiosity, stress, trauma, or underlying mental health issues like anxiety or depression. Environmental exposure and family dynamics also play a role.
What should I do if I think my teen is using drugs?
Approach the situation calmly and with compassion. Open communication, seeking professional counseling, and involving a healthcare provider or addiction specialist are crucial first steps.
How early can addiction start?
Addiction can begin in the early teens, especially when drug use becomes regular. The adolescent brain is more susceptible to addiction due to its ongoing development.
How can schools help prevent teen drug use?
Implementing early prevention programs, providing mental health support, training staff to recognize warning signs, and fostering safe school environments all reduce the risk of substance use.
Is teen drug addiction treatable?
Yes. With early intervention, therapy, and support, many teens recover from drug addiction and rebuild healthy lives.
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May 31, 2017 | Addiction Articles, Drug Addiction
Smoking Harms You
People who smoke are making a conscious decision to do something that will harm them. They are doing something that will kill them and it gives them no mood-altering conclusion. No euphoria, no high. So, what is to stop them from doing something else that will kill, them but gives them the greatest feeling ever? Nothing. Nicotine is and has always been the only gateway drug. I’m pretty sure I could just stop right here. I’m pretty sure you do not need any other deeper analysis of this then the simple, plain and punch you square in face the idea that…
Once you start using nicotine you, are more likely to use other drugs! The logic behind this theory is so basic and so rock solid further investigation and analysis should not be necessary. Although I do anticipate that a small village of Virginia Slim smokers still exist in a dark ally somewhere and they want to might me on this issue before Bingo start, so for those of you who think nicotine is not a gateway drug here are the facts.
1. Studies have shown
The New England Journal of Medicine stated on September 4th 2014 that “Epidemiological studies have shown that nicotine use is a gateway to the use of marijuana and cocaine in human populations. “ The hypothesis that Nicotine is a gateway drug came from Denise Kandel. Her studies found that in 2012, 87.9% of adults in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 34 who have used cocaine, smoked cigarettes before trying cocaine. Only 5.7% of this group began using cigarettes and cocaine at the same time. Only 3.5% used coke first.
2. Prevent Substance Abuse
The study also concluded that, one of the best ways to prevent substance abuse is to focus on preventing nicotine use first and foremost. Since the stats are so overwhelmingly in favor of nicotine being the first drug initiated into the system and leading to the use of harder drugs the study suggested that we stop the problem at the source, Duh. This makes too much sense. Essentially, if officer Crumpky and his buddy’s at D.A.R.E spent their time only talking to kids about the dangers of smoking they would have a far greater success rate keeping the tykes off the hard stuff. D.A.R.E. actually could have worked, they had a good idea, they were just fighting the wrong enemy.
3. Mice and Nicotine
In Science Translational Medicine on November 2, 2011, it was reported that mice who were given nicotine for 7 days were attracted to and sought out cocaine more than the mice who were not given cocaine. So the brain is actually hard wired to start looking for the next great drug once the switch has been flicked by the nicotine. Science is awesome.
So yes, I’m sure Aunt Estelle will tell us that she smoked her Camels for 50 years and never once did she want or use cocaine. That’s great for Aunt Estelle. I’m sure there is a kid in a half way house smoking his vape screaming I vape and I have 4 months sober! There’s probably an old timer at a meeting smoking his Winstons saying I smoke and I’ve never tried that jazz. Good for you guys, it works if you work it. The point is… If you do something that will kill and you don’t get high from it, you are probably going to do another thing that can kill you, that you do get high from. Oh, and there’s this point to, 87.9% of people who used cocaine used nicotine first. Nicotine is a gateway drug, period.
Apr 20, 2017 | 12 Steps, Addiction Articles, Drug Addiction
Selena Gomez Says Her Rehab Stay Saved Her Life, But It Wasn’t Drugs?
First off, let me state that I’m not really feeling great about writing this article. I think that ‘The Selena Gomez rehab story’ should be between her and her support group… however, she is hiding something and in the hiding, is a dereliction of her duty to help other young girls. It was reported by everyone with a pulse that Selena Gomez’s rehab stint was for anxiety and depression. Selena Gomez’s rehab stint lasted 90 days and although the recovery treatment center she attended does offer services for mood depression and anxiety disorders, it also has services for a range of addictive, dependent and co-dependent behaviors. I believe that her stay was drug and alcohol related and by hiding that portion of her illness she is missing a huge opportunity to help millions of women through her struggle, recovery and fame.
90 Days of Recovery Treatment for Instagram Addiction?
Selena Gomez said one of the main reasons that she sought out treatment was that she was addicted to Instagram… Instagram. Yes, no one on the planet has more Instagram followers than her but give me a break. NO ONE HAS TO GET RECOVERY TREATMENT FOR INSTAGRAM ALONE. One source from inside the treatment center, and again I hate myself for reporting this, said she was admitted for “excessive drinking and partying.” If that is the case then why not admit it? Why be ashamed of it? I am not. Millions of women are not ashamed to be recovering addicts and alcoholics. By hiding behind the “I’m addicted to Instagram” catch phrase Selena Gomez is essentially telling women they should be ashamed of being a drug addict, because no one is believing the depression and anxiety and Instagram spin.
Anxiety and Depression are Not the Reason for Selena’s Trip to Rehab
I actually do believe that she has a tough life. Being that famous comes with an enormous amount of pressure. I think she is depressed and I think she does suffer from horrible anxiety, I just think it all stems from her Drug and alcohol abuse. Her rehab stay also came with this quote from her.
“You have no idea how incredible it felt to just be with six girls, real people who couldn’t give two shits about who I was, who were fighting for their lives.”
To me, a woman who has been to 9 rehabs… that sounds a hell of a lot like drug abuse. Selena’s time in rehab was an opportunity for and incredibly influential young woman to take a stand for recovery and a stand against addiction. She could have been a force for real change and had an impact unlike any other woman in the history of addiction. Instead she became just another celebrity pretending they went to rehab for something that wasn’t drugs. I’m sad that Selena won’t come clean about the real reason she got recovery treatment, because the opportunity for awareness was so great. The only thing that is sadder is this…
Selena Gomez’s Rehab Could Have Just Been Research for A Netflix Role
This is an excerpt from an ET article:
Gomez has spoken out quite a bit about anxiety and depression, and shared during a panel discussion while working on Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why”, which is based on Jay Asher’s bestselling novel about a teenager who commits suicide.
Come clean girl was it drugs or just another day at the office?
Mar 9, 2017 | Addiction Articles, Drug Addiction
Will Heroin Addiction Always Be My First Love
When I first shot heroin in my veins, I knew I was in love. Heroin addiction was the first true love of my life and it was intense. I didn’t realize how much this would impact my recovery from drug abuse until much later on when Donny, a therapist at the heroin rehab I went to explained something to me. He said, “You love heroin more than anyone else in the world because it always give you exactly what you want, it gets you high.” That made a lot of sense to me. Heroin always made me feel great initially. Even the name, “Heroin” was awesome. I know now looking back how destructive my love of heroin was, but I also look back at how strong that love was and wonder if I will ever be able to love a man they way I loved heroin.
Donny’s words that day have really been a window into all of my drug addiction problems and relationships problems. Anytime I start dating a guy, I get to the point where I am “Not Feeling It.” That “It” being I am not high. I am not getting high. I’m starting to thin that all of my boyfriends will always simply love in the shadow of my heroin addiction. Will another person really be able to make me tingle like heroin did? Will another person be the only thing I think about from the moment I wake up? Will I find comfort and happiness just seeing their car pull up the way I felt at home and same every time my drug dealer’s car rolled up? I do not know. I also wonder if I should love another person the way I did heroin addiction.
If I Love My Boy Friend More Than Heroin Is That Good?
I hate the word co-dependency. It basically means loving a human the way you love heroin addiction. So the last 6 years I have really been looking for a guy I love more than heroin. It is essentially the same long pursuit I endured with my drug addiction problems. Always chasing that dragon and looking for the next great high. I put all of my soul into my heroin addiction and all it did was create more drug addiction problems. That being said I’m pretty sure that if I find a man I love as much as heroin I will put all my soul into a relationship and find nothing but relationship addiction problems. So I went back to Donny for a solution and he said, I need to be addicted to loving my self.
How to Get Addicted to Loving My Self
How do you love yourself? *How does one get addicted to loving herself? The second question was the most difficult to understand, until I realized that heroin addiction and loving a man have the same common core. They make me feel great. So all I have to do is make myself feel great using zero chemicals and having no male interaction. I figured it, and I have been doing it, I just need to do it more. Helping other women. Take girls to meetings, sponsor other women, be there as a shoulder to cry on and be holding a card on another woman anniversary. Waking up and going to work and paying my bills and saying I’m sorry and saying “I love You.” I can do all these things, I have done all these thing, I just need to do it more and I bet you when I do, the shadow of heroin addiction will be gone.
Feb 16, 2017 | Addiction Articles, Blog, Drug Addiction
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Defined My Life
“One small step for man, one giant leap for man kind.” That Neil Armstrong quote hung above my Dad’s desk in our home since I was a little girl. It hung right next to the flag Mr. Armstrong gave him after he got back from the moon. My Dad worked at NASA his whole life and that quote always had a huge impact on me. I used to look up at it and say, “One small step for other women on giant leap for Brianna.” Of course I was talking about my own mission fighting alcohol and drug abuse.
I started smoking weed with friends at age 13, I was super tall and impossibly skinny and did it just to fit in. Soon while on a student exchange program in Norway I started drinking and didn’t stop for over 6 years. In New England there isn’t much to do in the winter other than get laid and drink and since I was 5 feet taller than all the guys had no choice but to just drink. I kept to weed and alcohol for a while but when I went to college to study graphic design my alcohol and drug abuse really took off. In my first week at school I tried, crack Cocaine, cocaine, OxyContin, shrooms and heroin. Heroin was my favorite. I was an everyday heroin user for about a year. I couldn’t do a single thing without heroin bursting through my veins.
A Women’s Recovery Center, A Good but Lame Idea
I didn’t want to stop, well I did, I just didn’t want to lose the one huge benefit of doing heroin, getting laid. Sounds weird right? Well, remember it was hard for me to get guys because I am like 7 foot tall and 15 pounds. When I was hanging out with dudes on heroin everyone wanted to sleep with me. I felt important and dead at the same time. So finally when the alcohol and drug abuse showed up on my parents doorstep in the form of me in handcuffs, a women’s recovery center seemed like a good but lame idea.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Found Me Again
I needed men, I craved them. It was like my alcohol and drug abuse problem had been replaced by hard abs and a heart beat. I want to say I learned a lot from the women’s recovery center I attended in Florida but I didn’t. All I learned was that I still wanted more of everything.
I woke Up in Detox and I knew I Would Never Use Again
A year or so would pass after my first stint in a women’s recovery center and I would end up back out on the streets, homeless, sleeping in the rafters of old abandoned taverns and doing anything for the next high. Alcohol and Drug abuse had re-entered my life and I could see that I was dying. I was scared naked and sleeping in an abandoned factory that was covered in graffiti. I had enough. I called my Mom and Dad and went to detox. When I awoke, for some reason, for some strange reason A feelings came over my body and I knew, I would now use again. I went to an all women’s recovery center, did the deal and have been sober for 7 years. You see, I always tried things my way, so finally I decided When Nothing Goes Right, Go Left. Left was recovery.
