Substance Use

1. Substance Use Selling or supplying illicit substances is illegal throughout New South Wales. Whether they are over-the-counter, prescription or illicit substances, complications with substance use usually arise due to mental health problems. Mental health issues such as personality, eating, post-traumatic stress, conduct disorders and mood are often the reason substance use may arise. People who partake in substance use are more likely to develop a psychiatric disorder than people with who don’t, and it has been recognized that preventing substance use in adolescents is one way of reducing substance use in adults.

2. Society's Perceptions on Young People and Substance Abuse Surveys of society suggest that many young people are mistrustful, cynical and fatalistic, wary of commitment, outwardly confident but inwardly insecure, and alienated and disconnected from society. Society have thee perception that young people believe that life should be fast-moving and fun, that they have to fend for themselves, that lifestyle options should be kept open, that governments are incapable of solving society's problems, and that they themselves are powerless to change social conditions. Hence all this leads to the perception that society has that young people do drugs to fit in with the crowd and enjoy doing drugs cause they think they will have a good time.

3. Prevalence of and Trends in the Health Behaviours of Young People The Australian School Student's Alcohol and Drugs Survey showed that 39.9% of teens (12-17) have used at least one illicit drug in their lifetime. The most widely used illicit drug with 36.4% of all students reporting having used was cannabis. The first national survey of illicit drug use among Australian school students, indicate a high prevalence of illicit drug use.

4. Identify Protective and Risk Behaviours for the Health Issue Studied Protective behaviours include the actions taken to prevent substance use becoming more prevalent. These behaviours include ensuring that adolescents are educated correctly about substance use and the dangers, media advertisements demonstrating the negative effects of substance use, such as visual images on television and in magazines, and articles in newspapers. Risk behaviours include the actions that may encourage dangerous activity. This may be peer groups who have a negative influence, or an unstable family history or environment which may lead to risky behaviour. Also, a lack of education may not let adolescents be fully aware of the unsafe nature of incorrect substance use.

5. Predict how Risk Decreases or Increases When Multiple Factors Interact for the Studied Health Issue Risks involved with substance use are always quite high and usually involve significant consequences, risks may increase depending on the amount of substance used, the environment in which you use the substance etc. risks may decrease slightly if small amount of substance is used or it is used in a controlled environment.

6. Perceptions of the Health Behaviours of Young People I believe society’s perceptions on young people and substance abuse are pretty accurate. I think young people do drugs because they are pressured into doing them because they believe they have to be always living on the edge and doing something crazy.