9781422281314

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Drug Use and Abuse

E ighteen-year-old Suzie leads a life like that of many other teenagers. She studies and works hard in school, and hopes to go to college. She has many friends and a loving family, and plays soccer for her school team. Until recently, however, Suzie was also one of thousands of teenagers who take drugs—in her case, the drug ecstasy. “The first drug I tried was cannabis, when I was fifteen,” Suzie said. “A friend let me smoke a joint , but I didn’t really like it very much. I kept smoking cannabis for a few months because a couple of my friends were really into it, and I just sort of went along with what they were doing. But I found that I was losing interest in things I enjoyed, such as sports, and sometimes I just couldn’t be bothered to do my homework. I realized I had to stop taking the drug as I had tests coming up.

People take recreational drugs in a wide variety of situations such as this “rave.” Dance music is closely associated with the taking of the drug ecstasy.

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