How does addiction affect the adolescent body?
Warning signs of adolescent drug use include a drop in school performance, irritability, apathy, mood change (including depression), poor self-care, weight loss, over-sensitivity to questions about drinking or drugs, and sudden changes in friends. Screening devices should include routine medical examinations and the use of urine analysis to confirm a diagnosis when necessary. Adolescent drug and alcohol abuse results in higher risk of suicide because of the mind-altering affects of the substances often in combination with the reasons that the young person may have begun experimenting with drugs in the first place. Clearly, many young people with emotional conflicts begin using drugs to “medicate” their emotional distress, but quickly find themselves in more trouble due to poor decisions, lower grades and conflicts with family. Still worse, many of the drugs that young people initially take to “feel better” tend to deplete the brain of the chemicals that provide for mood regulation. Ear
