Nicholas SilvaMrs. JacominoEnglish 1410April 10, 2014Substance Abuse Among Young AdolescentsDrinking and driving, smoking tobacco, or using drugs like marijuana seems to be the new way to be cool in high school these days. This may give teens a feeling of superiority, but little do they know that happiness is just a mask, covering the true long-term effects of what drugs and alcohol can do to you. It takes less than a minute to ruin your life using these illegal substances. Pressure can lead to choices teens may not want to make and it doesn't just affect that child. Drug and alcohol abuse among adolescents today will affect the men and women they become tomorrow. High school parties, sometimes called "raves", have become extremely popular among teenagers in the United States. Crowds at these festivals can even reach hundreds and very rarely thousands. With this amount of people in a crowded space, many situations arise. Children as young as thirteen are injecting needles containing heroin, sometimes without knowing what they are putting into their bodies. Others roll marijuana and get high not knowing what it can do to them, thinking that weed doesn't kill you or harm you, that's not true! The most common excuse at raves for not smoking but drinking is "Alcohol isn't as good as smoking or injecting", it's not true! There are children who go to parties so as not to feel left out and most of the time these children are taken advantage of and that is where peer pressure comes in. They are offered drugs and they are afraid to say no, thinking they will be seen as losers. by everyone. They take drugs or alcohol. That's all it takes to ruin your life as quickly as possible without even knowing that you are in the middle of paper... dangerous (McArthur). All these choices lead to serious consequences, most of the time unconsidered by adolescents. These consequences can be social or, in extreme cases, legal. The legal drinking age is twenty-one. Anyone under the age of twenty-one carrying or consuming alcohol may be subject to a statutory first offense penalty with a fine of $500 and imprisonment of up to two months. Social sanctions include academic failure, violence, and unprotected sex, leading to even more legal problems. All decisions have consequences, positive or negative, and reflect the quality of the person's choices. Negative decisions lead to negative consequences and all positive decisions lead to a better improvement in a person's life, especially young adults in high school. Drug and alcohol abuse destroy the men and women parents shape for the future..