Реферат: Проблема наркомании среди британских подростков
Next is concern with the story about an English teenager, 15-year-old Simon Foster.
At school he felt a misfit, until he fell in with a group of boys with whom he began enjoying something in common: smoking cannabis. "I thought it was really cool, and that I'd found a niche in life."
An occasional adventure became regular routine. But after 18 months, Simon was caught red-handed. He was expelled from school and, fined £25, acquired a criminal record.
His horrified parents found it hard to talk to him about the problem; their anxiety all too often turned attempts at discussion into shouting matches. They took the view that Simon should face up to life's difficulties as they had done when young.
Simon promised never to touch drugs again—but after he won a place at a London sixth-form college, he soon made contact with local pushers. He did so badly in his A levels that university was out of the question. He began drifting through life, taking short-lived reporting jobs on local newspapers and trying just about every drug, from Valium and amphetamines to LSD and even heroin. But cocaine became the main love of his life. "I never forgot the first 'high' it gave me. From then on it was as if I was forever chasing that wonderful buzz of total euphoria."
As he came to rely on cocaine, his life spiralled into nightmare. "I kept telling myself that I was just a 'recreational' user. But I spent more and more time behind closed curtains in my flat, gripped by loneliness, fear and paranoia. Yet I was terrified of giving up the drug that seemed to help me cope with those feelings."
At 25, realizing at last that he could no longer ignore the problem, he sought help from a group therapy programme. Now drug-free and trying to make a living as a freelance writer, he concludes: "My addiction wasted my time, money and opportunities. Understanding that was a major step towards recovery." Thousands of other young people risk going down the same route as Simon Foster.
Report of Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence.
A 1993 report by the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence estimated that by the age of 20, up to one person in three has tried drugs, mainly cannabis. About one in ten—around half a million youngsters—are thought to have tried amphetamines; another half-million are believed to use Ecstasy regularly. In 1992, there were 2,754 under-17s convicted for possessing drugs—a 264 per cent increase since 1988.
Children are trying drugs earlier and earlier. An annual countrywide summary of the experience of children aged 11 to 15, by Exeter University, found that in 1992 the percentage at each age that had used drugs had almost doubled since 1990.
In December 1992, Scarborough police charged or cautioned 26 children between 12 and 16 about use of LSD. In Dorset, police arrested children of 12 and 13 for possession of LSD and Ecstasy.
A new anti-drugs compaign.
In connection with this problem the government of Great Britain decided that it needed a new anti-drugs compaign. However, before it did this, it studied young people's attitudes. The survey showed that teenagers knew that drugs were bad for them but they could not actually name any health risk associated with particular drugs. It also showed that 61 per cent of teenage drug-users would consider stopping using drugs if they thought they were a serious danger to their health.
It was also understood that many teenagers ignored drugs warnings in schools because they thought they were childish. In fact, it was proved that in some cases, the reason for taking drugs was to rebel against warnings from adults.
Using the results of the survey, a new campaign has been started. The new campaign hopes to treat teenagers like adults. It informs young people of the health risks associated with particular drugs. It does this with photos of teenagers. On the advertisements, the parts of their bodies which can be damaged by drugs, are indicated by biological diagrams showing the health risks.
Many teenagers try drugs as a 'dare' to show their friends that they are not scared. Often their friends insist until the person says 'yes'. The health authority hope that the advertisements will help teenagers to say 'no' to this and be able to have good reasons to say it. In addition to posters, the health authority has also made radio advertisements and put the number of their drugs helpline (a telephone number that can be called confidentially for help) in a lot of places. The people at the helpline advise people what to do if they have a drug problem or need more information about the dangers of drugs.
CONCLUSION.
In this work the problem of drugs has been disclosed. We see that drug addiction brings incorrigible harm to humanity. Still there is more & more people fall for its temptation. We know that medicine-drugs are given to seriously ill people to alleviate their suffering. But these medicines have one insidious property: organism gets accustomed to them quickly & wants new doses.
Drug addiction is our enemy. And if we don't struggle against it, it'll bring many losses. In addiction I want to say that drug addiction is as a white storm cloud, which isn't seen on the horizon, but unfortunately, many young people have already been caught in its big, terrible rain.
Take care of this white storm cloud!
BIBLIOGRAPHY LIST.
1. New Anti-drugs Compaign for Young People// Team.
1.a New Anti-drugs Compaign for Young People// English learner's "Digest" – 1998. – №10. – p.7.
2. Kids and Drugs// David Moller.
2.a Kids and Drugs// Readers "Digest" – 1994. – №2 – p. 118-123.