A big problem in today's world is the habitual drug use by teens and young adults. A 2010 survey shows that by the time kids are in eighth grade about thirty-six percent of them have used alcohol at least once in their life. This number increased to seventy-one percent by the time the teens reached twelfth grade (Matheson, 2014). Drugs is a broad term, but it includes and is not limited to the use of alcohol, marijuana, pain-killers, and over-the-counter drugs such as Tylenol. All these drugs when used constantly can have a huge effect on the brain. Many teens and young adults that use these drugs incorrectly is continuing to grow due to the unawareness of the underlying cause and effects that these drugs can have on the brains neurotransmitters. Squegaulla says the following, "When kids start drinking, the brain works harder to keep up, but over time [the brain] can no longer compensate, and performance drops" (Hopson, 2013). So with continued use of drinking, kids performance level in school on tests will start to decline due to many effects that alcohol has on different regions of the brain. .
Administration of Drugs.
Depending on the form of administration of the drug depends on how fast the drug will affect the brain. In order for the drug to effect someone, the drug has to reach the bloodstream which is then carried throughout the entire body. The drugs that get into the bloodstream the fastest tend to have the greatest effect. In addition to the way that the drug is administered into the body, the amount or dosage of the drug that is administered is also an important factor in how extensive the results will be on the body and brain. .
Three primary ways that a person can administer a drug into the body are through Intravenous (IV) injection, inhalation, and by eating or drinking. Direct Intravenous injection is going to be the quickest way for the drug to reach the brain because the drug is being directly administered to the bloodstream; therefore, the drug does not have to be absorbed or processed before going to the other parts of the body (Dombeck, 2002).
