The Question Of Teens And Drugs Requires Our Adamant Attention

Drug use among teens has reached epidemic proportions. No matter how vigilant you are, your teens will definitely be exposed 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 truth is that teens perceive adults as old fuddy-duddies that don’t know their head from a hole in the ground. Parents, try as they may, face an uphill war in safe guarding their children from the ravaging effects of drugs.

The challenge is made more difficult by the fact that most of us have prescription medications in our bedroom drawers. When confronting the issue of teens and drugs, you have to give them a sound argument that distinguishes between necessary prescriptions and illegal drugs. This isn’t easy. Some well known prescription medications are being sold at school as a way to catch a buzz. Teens don’t realize that these prescriptions are issued in duplicate or triplicate, as a method to control the use of certain narcotics. Not having experienced a real need for these drugs themselves, they could well come to the conclusion that their parents are experiencing and liking some high that they are somehow being denied.

Another problem with teaching children about the issue of teen drug use is that our society does not differentiate between drugs. Some medicinal drugs have a place, but when it comes to our youth and drugs, we say that every drug is bad. This is incorrect. Some teens require specific drugs for a legitimate condition. Not used correctly, that medication can produce a high in a kid who doesn’t need it. Sometimes, that drug can have lethal consequences when used as a ‘recreational’ drug.

Children are not capable of making those distinctions. For example, a patient with severe pain due to arthritis or cancer, could be prescribed codeine or another opiate to ease the pain. Kids don’t understand that this patient doesn’t get high. That medication only eases the pain. However, in the world of kids and drugs, this potentially dangerous drug becomes an opportunity toenjoy a different reality. They don’t know the difference.

One big deception that encourages teenage drug abuse is the fable of marijuana. This street drug is posited as the first step to drug addiction, thrown in the same bag as pcp and mescaline. The second that high school kid tries weed, the kid 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 come to the conclusion that the rest of the warnings about kids and drugs are lies. That’s why they fall into the jaws of the really dangerous drugs.

As a nation, we need to teach our teenagers. Teach them the effects of drugs. Meth, crack, heroin and drugs like ‘ecstasy’ can destroy 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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