The teen years are not easy years. New schools, new friends, more difficult homework, puberty, growth spurts, voice changes, acne, and the joy and despair that come along with girlfriends/boyfriends are enough concerns to occupy a teenager’s brain. They are too young to have complete independence but too old to be treated like a little child.
This is also the age when most young adults will have their first experience in relation to drugs or alcohol. They might see friends using substances and decide to engage or not engage. It is a challenging time of making the best decisions they can for their mind and body.
Couple this with the fact that researchers have found that a teen’s decision-making part of the brain may be compromised once they begin using these drugs. The part of their young brains associated with rewards makes them more susceptible to forming an addiction than it does an adult.
