Drug and Substance Abuse in High School

Drug and Substance Abuse in High School

Drug and substance abuse is the most trending issue among many students in the modern world. The leading cause of worry is that a high percentage of youth in high schools are involved in drugs and substance abuse. Despite teenagers entering high school as children, they graduate as young adults. Meaning high school life is entirely transformational, and it is marked with self-discovery, full of growth, and hardships. This period is regarded as an experimental time during which millions of teens if left unguided they feel it is time to try drugs and other substances. In the course of their experimentation with different drugs, some end up becoming drug addicts. As a result, some teens end up suffering severe consequences, which may pose a threat to their own safety and healthiness. Therefore, it is essential to capture the current trend of drug and substance abuse among high school students. This will help in establishing the causes of drug and substance abuse and perhaps develop strategies that will help to deter the problem from reoccurring.

The study by “Recovery Village” (5), it is evident that not all students abuse drugs but a good number of them know someone who does drug and substance abuse. Meaning, drug availability, and prevalence is high as well. The most recent statistics regarding drug abuse reveals that almost 20 percent of high school teenagers have been sold, offered, or given drugs, at school premises, in the precedent years.  The abuse is as show in figure 1below

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Image “Recovery village. Statistics. 2019. Recovery Village, www.therecoveryvillage.com/teen-addiction/drug/high-school-drug-use/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.”

Also, according to “Turnbridge” (9), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has disclosed an ongoing issue with drug abuse. As revealed by NIDA, there is a high frequency of the abuse of non-medical heroin and opioid among high school seniors. According to their statistics, among the 819 seniors that abused heroin, 77% also abused prescribed opioid drugs while in high school. They also discovered that among 12^th  graders, 11% had abused prescribed painkiller drugs. However, “Recovery Village” (5) reveals that recent studies on drug use among teenagers show some decrease. The research shows that around 4.3 percent of high schoolers had abused drugs a  month prior to being surveyed. The percentage is lower than in previous years. The question that arises is what might be the reason behind drug and substance abuse in high schoolers and how the problem can be managed.

Regarding the causes, they are quite a number, and they range from an individual’s interior to his or her exterior. It is believed that the majority of high school students do react to peer pressure and deem that gaining popularity among their peers can come when they turn to drug abuse, such as alcohol. “Recovery village” (7) reviews peer pressure as an influence from the people in one’s social group or setting. It has been seen that many teens face an overwhelming amount of peer pressure in high school, from their friends and classmates. Most often, peer pressure during adolescence usually involves hazardous behaviors, such as drug experimentation. The pressure makes teens to feel as though they should give in to it in order to align socially with their peers.

Furthermore, others abuse drugs and other substances to self-medicate from painful thoughts, and others turn into drug abuse such as Adderall or Ritalin, study aid drugs because of the academic pressure. Studies have revealed that high school life is stressful and busy, and thus academic pressure is high during this period. Hard classes and demand to enter college or start a career all contribute to needing to look for mechanisms that will help them to succeed. There is also pressure from parents and teachers requiring students to get excellent grades and succeed in co-curricular activities (“Recovery Village” 9). All this pressure makes many teens to turn to performance-enhancing drugs (PED) to heighten their concentration and energy. Some students might turn to drugs that will help them to sleep better under academic stress. Most often, these drugs are taken without a doctor’s prescription. Thus they often result in addiction and risky health impacts. Moreover, curiosity is another strong factor that influences drug abuse (“Recovery Village” 10). Studies have shown that many high school students would often want to experiment on everything they come across for the first time.

The causes discussed so far are preventable. Prevention can be facilitated by family influence and the application of educational tools. The prevention of drug abuse and substance among teens in high school can begin at home. Parents are advised to talk to their children and enlighten them about the shortcomings of drug and substance abuse, such as drugs. This measure is likely to build a sturdy foundation for knowledge of drug use. Preventative talks enable teens to reinforce trust with their parents. Consequently, they are able to make prudent decisions with interests, habits, friends, and influences from peer pressure (“Addiction Center” 8). Educational tools, on the other hand, constitute community leaders, school personnel, and governmental agencies that endeavor to educate teenagers concerning the importance of living a drug-free life. It involves enlightening teenagers on the impacts of drug abuse in order to control possible drug abuse prior to their adulthood. Employment of educational tools has displayed a significant decrease in the use of drugs and alcohol in the previous years. According to the “Addiction Center” (8), educational tools also incorporate educational programs of various categories, including universal, selective, and indicated programs. Universal programs purpose to educate teens about personal and social drug resistance techniques. Selective programs are specifically designed to be used to help teens who may have unstable home lives or other risk factors that make them more susceptible to drug abuse. Indicated programs are geared to teens depicting problematic manners.