Narrowing it Down (Blog 2)

After some deep consideration, I have decided to research teenage drug addicts. Seeing how I am extremely interested in this topic, not only in teenagers, but drug addicts as a whole. Narrowing the research down to just teenagers, I believe that this will just barely scratch the surface of getting to know how drug addicts act, think and cope with being addicts. Some of my main focuses on this topic will be why and how they became addicts. Was it peer pressure? Dysfunctional family issues? Low self-esteem? Or even possibly trying to fit into the “cool crowd”? It would probably be beneficial to this research paper if I could incorporate all of these questions into one question. Having all of these sub questions in the paper would make it vast in contrast to just having one question. It would open more doors for arguments and comments to the readers and also to myself.
Nowadays, more and more teenagers are becoming addicted to drugs starting in middle schools. Some of the kids that I went to middle school with started to experiment with drugs. One I will name, Bob Doe (fictional name), one day in study hall, was sniffing rubber cement in the back of the classroom. This was in eighth grade. Some time later that school year, he was pulled out of our middle school and placed into an alternative school. Another experience I have encountered was in my junior year of high school. Come to find out, freshmen and sophomores were caught selling drugs in the bathrooms by hiding the drugs in their backpacks, idiots. After that we were no longer allowed to carry our books in our backpacks. Almost the whole student body was upset. Not only for the other drug dealers that were not caught so they had one last hiding spot for trafficking the drugs, but for all of the other students that weren't complete morons. And it does not matter what the school's reputation is, there is always some kind of drug trafficking going on. People that are from around the Kane County area, may think that teenagers that are trafficking and using drugs would go to an Aurora, West Chicago, or even St. Charles. I attended Geneva. When this happened, all of the parents and some of my friends that attended other schools were in shock. But there is always a “burn out” stereotype or group in every high school. Even when I was in high school I always wondered why these people used drugs. When I looked at the kids that I knew were using, some of them came from good backgrounds; the “popular” crowd was probably the biggest, kids that would have siblings attending the same school either older, younger or in the same class that did not use drugs. I have only tried smoking marijuana a couple of times and realized, I'm not going to be one of those idiots that drop out of school, lives with my parents and flips burgers my for a living. It was then that I realized that I want to help those who have turned to drugs because they may not feel like they can ever make a difference in life.
Choosing one question that can incorporate the sub questions I mentioned earlier is going to be a difficult task. What is a “Teenage Wasteland”?