The drugs that are most commonly abused by teens are prescription drugs, marijuana, ecstasy, inhalants, cocaine and heroin. There are currently more reports about parents who have lost their teenager to drug use, than ever before in the United States. The only way for parents to counteract teen drug use is to become educated about the most commonly abused drugs by teens, and to begin a dialogue with their teenagers about the dangers that are related to some of these powerful and potentially deadly drugs.
One of the most commonly abused drugs by teens is prescription drugs that are commonly found in their household medicine cabinet. According to an article in USA today, "pharm" parties are becoming all of the rage with teens; many adults that hear about these parties will assume that their teens are talking about a keg party that is held out on a farm but it turns out that these types of parties are where prescription drugs are openly shared. Bowls and baggies of random pills are set out on the table and referred to as "trail mix"; additionally, teen internet chat sites refer to "pharming," which is the code word for collecting pills from the family medicine cabinet. Teenage drug users will commonly turn to internet websites to share simple prescription drug "recipes" for getting high.
Marijuana, which is also commonly referred to as "weed" is among the most commonly abused drugs by teens, and is by far the most popular. Most adolescents will often justify their use of the drug by assuming that their parents have at least tried marijuana; although marijuana that is used today is far more potent than the form of the drug that their parent's generation used. Many teens have developed serious addictions to marijuana, and abuse of this drug should not be taken lightly.
Ecstasy is a stimulant that is also classified as one of the most commonly abused drugs by teens; ecstasy is especially popular among the dance club scene and is marketed to kids at all night dance parties called "raves." Because hits of ecstasy are often sold with stamps of cartoon characters on them and is relatively inexpensive, this stimulant has quickly become a popular one with the teen crowd.
The reason that inhalants have long been one of the most commonly abused drugs by teens is because adolescents have easy access to some of these household items that they can just sniff or huff to get high; additionally, the large majority of teenagers do not see "huffing" as anything more than a harmless game.
Cocaine and heroin have long been some of the most potent and commonly abused drugs by teens. Because both of these drugs have been reported to be highly addictive, they will often cause such a powerful high that the teenagers are left looking for more.
A common factor that should be noted in relation to many of these commonly abused drugs by teens is that many adolescents do not see the use of these substances as being particularly serious or harmful; thus parents need to talk to their teenagers about the serious effects of some of these potentially deadly drugs.