“The United States is undergoing an epidemic of deaths caused by prescription drug overdoses. Every 19 minutes, someone in the United States dies from an unintentional prescription drug overdose. One major contributing factor to the rise in such deaths is the increased use of opioid analgesics.

Marijuana use, which is prevalent among youth, has been shown to interfere with short-term memory, learning, and psychomotor skills. Motivation and psychosexual/emotional development also may be affected. 

Early adolescent marijuana use increases the risk in late adolescence of not graduating from high school, delinquency, having multiple sexual partners, and not always using condoms.In addition, early adolescent marijuana use is related to later adolescent problems that limit the acquisition of skills necessary for employment and heighten the risks of contracting HIV and abusing legal and illegal substances. 

Any illicit drug use by adolescents can have immediate and long-term health and social consequences. Overall, mental health problems including depression, developmental lags, apathy, withdrawal, conduct problems, personality disorders, suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide, suicide, and other psychosocial dysfunctions are frequently linked to substance abuse among adolescents. Drug abuse has been shown to increase the likelihood of psychiatric disorders. 

Abuse of specific drugs exposes users to a range of serious consequences. Cocaine use is linked with health problems including eating disorders, disabilities, and death from heart attacks and strokes. Hallucinogens can affect brain chemistry and result in problems with learning new information and memory. Methamphetamine can cause rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, and damage to the small blood vessels in the brain that can lead to stroke. Heroin use can result in slow and shallow breathing, convulsions, coma, and even death.”.

National Drug Intelligence Center (https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs11/12430/index.htm#significant)