Drug Use Among Teens 12-17

According to the Archives of General Psychiatry, White, Hispanic, Native America, and mixed-race teenagers have a higher rate of substance abuse and occasional use than African American and Asian teens. Dr. Dan Blazer of Duke University Medical Center wants policy-making individuals to realize that there is a real problem presenting itself and that the problems is not representing itself equally among all ethnic groups. Out of 73,000 teens between the ages of 12-17, 37% admitted to drug or alcohol use in the past year ranging from alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and oxycodone. It is hard to think that one in 1 in 12 teens also admitted to having a substance-related disorder. It is interesting that Native American teens have the highest rate of use of alcohol and drugs. African Americans and Asians have the lowest, which surprises me because Asians make up a large percentage of the population. Blazer is calling this a major public health issue as marijuana is the first most popular drug, with painkillers coming in a close second place. I look around my own school and notice these percentages and statistics in real life. It is true. I wonder how many students in my classes and in the hallways could be using drugs. Will they all survive? When Hope House visited last year, everyone’s saddened eyes looked around the room wondering who from our own grade might end up at Hope House. Hopefully no one will, but these statistics are only out of 73,000 teens. Just think how high the percentages might be if they asked a larger group of teens.

                  The author could have used more rhetorical strategies to help her argument. Instead of just simply stating the facts, she could have used rhetorical questions or more pathos in her article to bring the readers in. This was kind of a boring article and it would have been better if she brought in something like death rates or percentages of grades declining because of drugs. She did use quotes, though, which helped her argument. She could have done more to enhance her article.

Young, Saundra. "Teen drug use highest among Native Americans; Asians lowest – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs." The Chart - CNN.com Blogs. N.p., 8 Nov. 2011. Web. 8 Nov. 2011. <http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/07/teen-drug-use-highest-among-native-americans-asians-lowest/?hpt=he_c2>.