The Question Of Teenagers And Drug Abuse Must Have Our Adamant Attention
Posted in Health on 11/16/2008 10:11 pm by James KellyDrug use among teenagers has reached epidemic proportions. It Doesn’t matter how on top of it you are, your teens will definitely be exposed to drugs at school, the very place you believe to 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. Parents, try as they may, face a bitter war in safe guarding their young ones from the devastating effects of drugs.
The challenge is made more difficult by the fact that most of us have prescription drugs in our cupboards. When confronting the issue of teens and drugs, you have to present a rational argument that distinguishes between necessary medications and illegal drugs. This isn’t easy. Some well known prescription medications are being peddaled in schools as a way to catch a buzz. Teenagers don’t realize that these prescriptions are issued in duplicate or triplicate, as a way to control the use of specific narcotics. Not having experienced a real need for these drugs themselves, they may well come to the conclusion that their parents are experiencing and liking some buzz that they are somehow being forbidden.
Another problem with teaching kids about the issue of teen drug abuse is that society does not show any differences between drugs. Some pharmaceutical drugs are needed, but when it comes to teenagers and drugs, we tell them that every drug is bad. This is incorrect. Some teenagers need medications for a legitimate condition. Used improperly, that medicine can produce a high in a kid who doesn’t need it. Sometimes, that medication can have disastrous consequences when taken as a ‘recreational’ drug.
Children are not capable of making those distinctions. For example, a patient with unbearable pain because of arthritis or cancer, may be prescribed codeine or another opiate to help with the pain. Children don’t comprehend that this patient doesn’t get high. That pain killer only eases the pain. However, in the world of kids and drugs, this narcotic becomes an opportunity toenjoy a different reality. They don’t realaize the difference.
One major deception that encourages teen drug use is the fable of marijuana. This street drug is posited as the first step to drug addiction, thrown in the same bag as meth and mescaline. The same houy that middle school kid tries weed, the kid sees that even though it makes them feel good, they can hide this new habit from their parents and it doesn’t make them crazy. They come to the conclusion that the rest of the warnings issued on kids and drugs are lies. That’s the reason why they step into the trap of the extremely dangerous drugs.
As a world village, we need to educate our children. Explain the effects of drugs. Cocaine, crack, heroin and drugs like ‘ecstasy’ can devastate their lives or kill them. Tell the truth. We can defend 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.