We focused on two aspects: drugs & gangs. We even prepared a 'do you know?' section!

1. Drugs
Juveniles nowadays are more vulnerable to drugs due to their transition to adulthood that is fraught with stress, insecurity and the need to be accepted by peers, mostly. The most common drug among teens is tobacco, which are cigarettes, thus let us introduce this discriminating drug first.

Many teens are most influenced by other kids close in age or slightly older, including siblings. Having an older sibling who smokes will be more influential to teens rather than peers as the younger ones often look up to their older siblings and emulate them. Friends, although, not as influential, will play a part in affecting the teens too. The juveniles will be mistaken for cowardice by friends if they do not smoke, thus in order to be accepted and 'embraced' by the peers, they begin to take the harmful habit. On the other hand, researchers are not sure if parents will affect whether a teen will smoke. Some do but strict measures and parental attitudes may prevent some teens from smoking; this can be backfired.

Reducing stress is another major problem. Adolescence and puberty are times of emotional, physical and psychological upheaval, thus in order to cope with that, teen smoke. Moreover, depression, pressures and anxieties of adolescence are reasons of why teens take up smoking. Curiosity is the last reason of why teens smoke. As 'Curiosity kills the cat', most teens do not know the harmful consequences of smoking and decide to se what is the felling of smoking. In the end, they get addicted.

The health costs of smoking can be classified into two groups- short-term and long-term problems. The short- term problems are respiratory effects like respiratory infections, influenza and other respiratory ailments; cardiovascular effects like clotting of blood which leads to strake and high cholesterol levels; physical fitness effects like unable to run fast.

On the other hand, the long-term problems include cancer (in cervix, larynx, mouth, esophagus, lug, bladder, pancreas and kidney); heart diseases and stroke; slowing down of body's ability to heal; infertility in both sexes and shortening of reproductive life. With a friend or family member who smokes, a person will have constant passive smoking and the harmful effects inflicted on the person will be twice.

The economic costs of smoking to teens are great, thus most of the time, they need to take up part-time jobs in order to support a typical pack-a-day habit. The money used will be about $1000 annually.

The second drug to be introduced is ecstasy that is the chemical Methylenedioxymetthamphetamine or MDMA. It is an empathogen (mood will change easily). Teens may take it for fun or for the pleasant sensation feel or to calm down anger. The effects begin after about 30 minutes whereby they are skin feeling warm and tingly; perception is keen-light and colors are brighter and sounds are exquisite; energy levels rise. Ecstasy is a Class A drug, in the same category as heroin and cocaine. Therefore, it is illegal to sell, have or consume.

The third drug that most teens take is solvents like glue. Most solvents are for inhalation and cause hallucination. The bad effects are having skin rashes of mouth and nose; become tired; weight loss and shakes; liver and kidney failure due to toxin poisoning; mood swings and depression.

The last drug is Ice (methylamphetamine). It takes a form of powder, tablets of crystals. Heating process is also needed in order break it down. Ice can trigger unpleasant hallucinations to make people lose control, feeling sexually aroused.
As for offenders, most of them will be sent to rehabilitation center for treatment.

2. Gangs
Whenever there are young people, there are gangs. Joining a gang may be exciting but this may ruin a life. Every year, thousands of teenagers in gangs are killed while others are paralyzed or handicapped. A big price is to be paid when joining a gang, as one has to give up freedom and do what the gang says.
The most dangerous gangs are gangs that carry guns and make money by selling drugs. They are called posses. Fortunately, Singapore does not allow the possession of guns.

Teens joined gangs to end feelings of loneliness and isolation. They feel outcast and are in need of a sense of belonging. Some of the teens become gang members due to poor parenting and broken families. Peer pressure is also one of the factors and bad company can make anyone feel confused about what is right or wrong. Teenagers also want to be accepted by the peers.

The next reason is poverty. In order to survive, one will join gangs to make offences against the law, like selling drugs for money.

On the other hand, young people join gangs to find a family but it is always not functioning. Many older gangsters start out as father figures for young recruits but they are no good for the task as they have not learnt to love, patient and humour. They feel that in a gang, there is no unconditional love or acceptance, only ruthlessness.

Respect is also one of the reasons of joining gangs. Teens think that the right clothes, jewelry, car, money will bring about respect from other members. Unfortunately, they only bring about jealousy. They do not understand that respect is something they have to give to themselves, thus they always fail.
The most common offences teens commit are truancy, incorrigibility; immoral or indecent conduct; using drugs or alcohol; running away from home; associating with crime offenders; constantly using vulgar language; violence; being in a place where illegal activities are going on; holding illegal jobs like selling drugs; vandalism; stealing. When teens break the law, they often do it with other members.

On the other hand, there are girl gangs too. The girls are more independent and their criminal behaviour may be the same as the males. Usually, a female gang is associated with a male gang. The decision to join a girl gang depends on the girl's willingness to fight. Girl gangs fight but only with fists and knives. They organise shoplifting rings, panhandle (asking strangers for money) and hide their brother gang members' weapons and drugs when the police come.
Most teenage boys from gangs believe that their girlfriends are their property and they should do what the boys say. When another boy spends time with his girlfriend, the boy may think that he has to fight to show who is more powerful and the girlfriend must follow. Gang fights start because of this old- fashioned sex role expectations.

One way of eliminating gangs is law enforcement whereby the police and other law enforcement agencies should use every possible tool at their disposal to capture them and sentence them with severe punishments. However, this does not work to a certain extent. For example, if a gang member kills a person in broad daylight and there are many eye- witnesses, the witnesses will change their stories before the case goes to court; thus the suspect will be released due to insufficient evidence. Police believe that the members of the suspect's gang threatened the witnesses, intimidating them so that they are afraid to testify.

On the other hand, some people think that gangs do not need to be eradicated as some positive-valued gangs provide a lot of positive things to youths, like stressing loyalty, honor, bravery etc. They offer ways in which youngsters can build a meaningful life for themselves and people of their own age.
As poverty is also one of the factors of teens joining gangs, the government should reduce poverty, and bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Of course, family support and encouragement is also very important to those with broken families.

To punish those youngsters who commit crimes, they will be sent to reformatories for boys and girls. This is to deal with teens that are underage. As for serious crimes, the underage juveniles can also go to adult jail. In Singapore, caning and fines are usually the most common. Some teens have to go for a spot- check by the police every certain period to see that juveniles will not go astray. Those who take drugs will be sent to rehabilitation centers. Others go for counseling of subjected to light alternative sentences like home supervision.