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The Question Of Teenagers And Drugs Must Have Our Undivided Attention October 19, 2008

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Drug use among teens has reached tragic levels. It Doesn’t matter how on top of it you are, your teens 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 perceive adults as old fuddy-duddies 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 drugs in our cupboards. When confronting the issue of teenagers 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 medicines are being sold at school as a way to get high. Kids don’t know that these medications are issued in duplicate or triplicate, as a method 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 enjoying some high that they are for some reason being denied.

One more problem with teaching kids about the issue of teen drug use is that our society does not make any distinction between drugs. Some pharmaceutical drugs have a place, but when it comes to teens and drugs, we say that every drug is bad. This is incorrect. Some kids require prescription medication for actual problems. Used improperly, that medicine can produce a high in a kid who doesn’t need it. Sometimes, that medication can have disastrous consequences when used as a ‘recreational’ drug.

Children are not able to make those distinctions. For example, a person with extreme pain because of arthritis or cancer, could be prescribed codeine or another opiate to help with the pain. Children don’t comprehend that this patient doesn’t get high. That medication only eases the pain. However, in the world of teenagers and drugs, this narcotic becomes an opportunity tocatch a buzz. They don’t realaize the difference.

One big lie 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 category as meth and mescaline. The minute that middle school child tries pot, 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 come to the conclusion that the rest of the warnings about teenagers and drugs are lies. That’s the reason why they fall into the grip of the really dangerous drugs.

As a world village, we need to educate our teens. Explain the effects of drugs. Mescaline, crack, heroin and drugs like ‘ecstasy’ can ruin their lives or kill them. Be honest. 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.

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