Drug use among teenagers has reached epidemic proportions. No matter how on top of it you are, your teenagers are going to be introduced to drugs at school, the very place you think should be a safe environment. Mrs. Reagan’s ‘Just say no to drugs’ campaign was a complete failure. The fact is that teens view adults as old stupid people that don’t know their head from a hole in the ground. Adults, try as they may, face a bitter war in protecting their kids from the ravaging effects of drugs.
The challenge is made more difficult by the fact that most of us have prescription medications in our medicine cabinets. When confronting the issue of teens and drugs, you have to give them a rational argument that distinguishes between necessary prescriptions and street drugs. This isn’t easy. Some well known prescription medicines are being peddaled in schools as a way to get high. Kids don’t know that these prescriptions are issued in duplicate or triplicate, as a way to control the use of specific narcotics. Without having experienced a legitimate need for such drugs themselves, they may well conclude that their parents are enjoying some high that they are for some reason being denied.
One more problem with teaching kids about the issue of teen drug abuse is that society does not differentiate between drugs. Some pharmaceutical drugs are needed, but when it comes to our youth and drugs, we say that every drug is bad. This is incorrect. Some teenagers require prescription medication for actual problems. Not used correctly, that medication can produce a high in a kid who doesn’t need it. Sometimes, that medication can have lethal consequences when taken as a ‘recreational’ drug.
Kids are not able to make those distinctions. For example, a patient with unbearable pain due to arthritis or cancer, could be prescribed codeine or another opiate to ease the pain. Kids don’t comprehend that this patient doesn’t get high. That med only eases the pain. However, in the world of kids and drugs, this narcotic becomes an opportunity toget a head change. They don’t know the difference.
One huge deception that encourages teen drug abuse is the fable of marijuana. This street drug is posited as the first step to drug addiction, thrown in the same category as heroin and mescaline. The second that middle school kid tries marijuana, the kid sees that although it makes them feel good, they can hide this new habit from their parents and it doesn’t make them crazy. They conclude that the rest of the warnings issued on teens and drugs are deceptions. That’s the reason why they step into the trap of the extremely dangerous drugs.
As a nation, we need to educate our kids. Teach them the effects of drugs. Meth, crack, heroin and drugs like ‘ecstasy’ can ruin their lives or kill them. Be honest. We can protect our teens.Addiction is a serious problem in our society today but with the “proper” education we can teach our future generations the realities of addictions and drug abuse.