The Question Of Teens And Drug Abuse Deserves Our Utmost Attention

Drug use among teens has reached epidemic proportions. It Doesn’t matter how on top of it you are, your teenagers are going to be introduced to drugs at school, the very place you believe to be a safe environment. Mrs. Reagan’s ‘Just say no to drugs’ campaign fell flat on its face. The truth is that teens perceive adults as old fuddy-duddies that have never seen the outside of a paper bag. Adults, try as they may, face an uphill war in safe guarding their kids from the devastating effects of drugs.

The challenge is made more difficult by the fact that most of us have prescription drugs in our medicine cabinets. When confronting the issue of teenagers and drugs, you have to give them a rational argument that distinguishes between necessary medications and illegal drugs. This isn’t easy. Some well known prescription medications are being sold at school as a way to catch a buzz. Kids don’t know that these medications are issued in duplicate or triplicate, as a way to control the use of specific narcotics. Not having experienced a legitimate need for these drugs themselves, they could well conclude that their parents are enjoying some high that they are for some reason being forbidden.

One more problem with educating kids on the issue of teen drug use is that this society does not make any distinction between drugs. Some medicinal drugs are needed, but when it comes to our youth and drugs, we tell them that every drug is bad. This is incorrect. Some teenagers require specific drugs for actual problems. Used improperly, that medicine can get a teen high who doesn’t need it. Sometimes, that medication can have lethal consequences when taken as a ‘recreational’ drug.

Children are not able to make those distinctions. For example, a patient with extreme pain because of arthritis or cancer, may be prescribed codeine or another opiate to ease the pain. Kids don’t understand that this person doesn’t get high. That medication only dulls the pain. However, in the world of teens and drugs, this potentially dangerous drug becomes an opportunity tocatch a buzz. They don’t realaize the difference.

One huge deception that encourages teen drug use is the fable of pot. This street drug is made out to be the first step to drug addiction, thrown in the same bag as meth and mescaline. The same houy that high school kid tries weed, the child sees that although it gets them high and they like it, they can hide this new habit from their parents and it doesn’t make them crazy. They make the conclusion that the rest of the warnings about teens and drugs are lies. That’s the reason why they step into the jaws of the really dangerous drugs.

As a society, we need to teach our teens. Teach them the effects of drugs. Mescaline, crack, heroin and drugs like ‘ecstasy’ can ruin their lives or kill them. Tell the truth. We can protect our children.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.

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