Adolescents who abuse depressants
Teenagers usually abuse depressants to feel euphoria. Depressants are also used in conjunction with other drugs to increase the high of other drugs or reduce their side effects. Teenage addicts take higher doses than people who use drugs under the supervision of a doctor for therapeutic purposes. See Pain Killers
When a teenager abuses depressants, his mental functioning and her judgment are impaired, causing confusion and memory loss. Therefore, adolescents who abuse depressants will have no memories or events that occurred while intoxicated. So you will often see the abuse of depressants to facilitate sexual assault. Furthermore, the abuse of depressants reduces the reaction time of the adolescent.
Teens can quickly develop addiction and tolerance to depressants, which means you need more and more of them to feel and function normally. This makes them dangerous and increases the risk of coma or death.
Because overuse of sedatives can relax the muscles, unwanted physical effects can occur, such as: slurred speech, lack of coordination, weakness, headache, lightheadedness, blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, low blood pressure and slow breathing. Unlike barbiturates, high doses of benzodiazepines are rarely fatal unless combined with other drugs or alcohol. But unlike the withdrawal syndrome seen with most other drugs, depressant withdrawal can be life-threatening.
High doses of depressants or their use in combination with alcohol or other medications can slow heart rate and breathing enough to cause death.