Almost 21 million Americans have an addiction and yet less than 2 million receive treatment.
Long-term drug addiction is one of the biggest issues that people can struggle with. Drug use may seem inconsequential at first but can quickly become something debilitating.
This is even worse in teens, who have their whole life ahead of them and are still very much impressionable.
Learn about the unfortunate realities of the long-term consequences of teen drug addiction here.
Physical Health Issues
Depending on what drugs are used, there is a ton of health issues that can arise from drug abuse.
These include, but aren’t limited to, liver damage, cardiovascular damage, kidney damage, and strain on the respiratory system. It can even include neurological damage.
Although this can happen in adults too, it’s particularly tragic in teen drug addiction when they’re young and have many years ahead of them. Because of drug addiction, these years now often include struggling with health issues that could have been prevented if these teens had gotten the help they needed when they needed it.
Mental Health Issues
People who have dealt with drug and alcohol addiction are twice as likely to suffer from mood disorders. This includes, but is not limited to, depression and anxiety.
In many people, depression and anxiety can take just as much of a toll on them as physical health issues — sometimes even more.
In some of these people, they may already have had mental health issues that are made worse by addiction. This can even lead to suicide.
Poor Judgment
There are many indirect ways that drug addiction can affect teens. They may make poor choices under the influence of drugs, which can put them in unsafe situations they may never have been in otherwise.
Teens are already vulnerable, and this poor judgment is the last thing they need.
Many youths have also ended up in prison as a consequence of poor choices they would never have made if they weren’t under the influence of drugs.
Death
One of the main long-term consequences of teen drug addiction is simply death.
There’s a huge chance of overdose if someone is addicted to and abusing drugs. It could also be from putting themselves in one of these unsafe situations.
Some people even catch STDs that later kill them because they weren’t thinking enough to use protection at the time.
There is, unfortunately, a huge number of possibilities of death and many people don’t consider them because they think only an overdose can kill them when using drugs. Some teens aren’t educated on everything else that can go wrong.
There are Many Long-Term Effects
There are, sadly, many long-term effects of drug addiction. Because of the chain effect of drugs causing poor choices, it’s not the overwhelming poor health effects that can stay with someone their whole life.
The poor judgment that drug addiction forces on a person leads to an almost infinite number of possibilities that will negatively influence someone. This is especially true if a teen doesn’t get the help they need when they need it.
For more news and important life advice, check out the rest of our site.
