Running head: SUBSTANCE ABUSE

There is a Solution to Substance Abuse Joanna Rapaski Madonna University

SUBSTANCE ABUSE Abstract Substance abuse is a serious problem because it affects chemical messengers in the brain, which in turn affect the victims mental and physical state of mind. Side effects not only affect the person, but their friends, family, and society a well. This is a serious problem and the only

rational thing to do is find a way to prevent drug abuse before it starts. The solution is to educate young adults on the consequences of experimenting with illegal substances. If schools made drug abuse education a priority in their curriculum, students would be better prepared to say no to drugs and live a drug free and positive future. This is a logical way to combat drug abuse because it would stop the problem before it stops and save states a great deal of money that is spent on taking care of addicts in rehabilitation facilities and prisons. In addition, it would ensure that all students would be knowledgeable about substance abuse regardless of their background or lifestyle. Keywords: substance abuse, hazards, education, young adults

SUBSTANCE ABUSE There is a Solution to Substance Abuse

The mentality and behavior of drug addicts and alcoholics is wholly irrational until you understand that they are completely powerless over their addition and unless they have structured help, they have no hope. This statement was provided by Russell Brand, an actor who struggled with his drug addiction for years and with perseverance, has been sober for the past ten years. People who experiment with drugs for the first time have the misconceived conception that it is only a one-time thing. Contrary to their belief, what may begin as nothing more than a simple curiosity with friends at a party can easily turn into a daily routine. Drugs affect the chemical signals released in the brain. Many of the substances people experiment with interferes with the brains release of the neurotransmitter, dopamine. This explains the high that people claim they get from doing drugs; intake of these substances allow for extra dopamine to flood their system. With regular usage, drugs replace the neurotransmitters that are naturally produced by the brain and interfere with normal functions. As drugs replace chemicals naturally found in the brain, a person becomes dependent on the substance and cannot cope without it. Once addicted, the path to coming clean from drug abuse is long and arduous. People need to be educated on the consequences of substance abuse, so they can save themselves from the grief and problems that come with addiction. Drug addiction is a serious problem because it not only affects the physical and mental well-being of an individual, but family and friends involved as well. Drugs interfere with the release of dopamine, affecting the chemistry of the brain, making a person more susceptible to psychological stress including thoughts of suicide and depression. Brain damage occurs, which leads to behavioral problems because it interferes with a persons judgment and perception. Addicts cannot be expected to function as normal members of society when they are under the influence of drugs. They lack self-control, therefore, they are more likely to neglect or abuse

SUBSTANCE ABUSE children and family members. Their impaired judgment explains why they impulsively commit crimes such as theft and murder, in addition to traffic misconduct. Furthermore, excessive drug use takes a toll on the users health. Pregnant women who rely on drugs have a much higher

chance of giving birth to infants who are premature, underdeveloped, and may even be born with an addiction to the same drug the mother is using. Addicts are at a higher risk for stroke, seizures, abnormal heart rate, and heart attacks. People on drugs are more susceptible to infections and disease as their immune system is compromised. A logical way to combat the increasing rates of drug abuse among young adults is to begin educating youth at an early age about the risks and side effects associated with drug use. Elementary and high school officials should consider implementing topics regarding substance abuse and addiction into their education plans. This would not be an everyday occurrence, nor would it force teachers to fit an extra unit in their plan of study solely for drug abuse and addiction studies. The way this could be done is set aside one class period per week to focus solely on substance abuse. There are many ways that teachers could convey information to students; they do not have to have long, drawn out lectures, or assign reading from books or articles found online. In fact, making it interesting and relevant to the students makes it more likely that the students would become interested in what was being said and therefore they would pay more attention and actually retain the information presented. A way to make this topic interesting would be having a guest speaker come in and talk to students. The speaker could be an expert on the topic of drug abuse and could talk to the students about the various illicit drugs, how they harm the body, and why it is so important not to be involved with them. On the other hand, a teacher could choose to have someone who was a previous addict come in and talk about his or her own experience. They would talk about when they tried a substance for the first time,

SUBSTANCE ABUSE how they changed after using it, and why they made the decision to come clean. Either way the

teacher chooses, both ways of presenting information would make students realize that addiction is a real problem and it can happen to anyone. Ideally, teachers would develop a way to evaluate what students have gleaned from weekly information sessions on substance abuse. This is a key part the substance abuse education plan because it will ensure that students are engaged in what they are learning and retaining the information that has been given to them. There are multiple that the progress of substance abuse education could be evaluated. An option is assigning a project to students that makes them apply what they have learned during the semester. For example, students could make a video that portrays the drug abuse cycle-how it starts, the changes that take place during the addiction, and finally, the choice to come clean. Or teachers could administer quizzes that encompass the materiel that was presented. These would not have to be long and drawn out; a simple ten question quiz would suffice. Additionally, a teacher could have his or her class make a cumulative presentation at the end of the year and have the students present what they have learned to other classes or school. Adapting lesson plans at schools to include drug abuse information is worth the money because the money spent on drug abuse education in schools pales in comparison to what the government spends on prison and rehabilitation upkeep. Drug addicts occupy rehabilitation centers, hospitals, and prisons across the nation. Thousands of dollars are spent each year on the upkeep of these facilities, as well as to pay the employees who work there. Instead of wasting money on victims of drug abuse after they have committed the crime and after they are so badly addicted that they need professional help, authorities should seek to put an end to the problem

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

before it even starts. Schools would spend much less money on guest speakers or textbooks than authorities do on prison upkeep and rehabilitation centers. Compared to how much time addicts spend in institutions that punish their mistakes, it is much more logical that schools would take the time to prevent the problem before it happens. Depending on the circumstance that sends a drug addict to prison, he or she could spend as long as life in prison for their crime. For addicts who find themselves seeking rehabilitation centers, there is no telling how much time or counseling it will take them to overcome their addiction. On average, for students to receive adequate education about substance abuse in school, it would take one class period, equivalent to an hour a week of class time. Students would attend drug abuse education classes for 60 minutes a week and are in school for 36 weeks a year. This means that they will spend 2,160 hours, or 90 days, gaining knowledge that will help them make good choices in the future. If given the choice, students would rather sacrifice an hour of class time once a week rather than face imprisonment or rehab for experimenting with drugs later in life. The effort that it would take schools to include substance abuse education in their curriculum would be much less than the effort it takes police officers, doctors, and psychiatrists to asses and care for drug addicts. With the expanding drug abuse problem in society, police officers spend more time breaking up drug deals and tracking drug addicts. This is a taxing job for police departments when they have more important matters to take care of, such as robberies, murders, and other crimes. In addition, doctors and psychiatrists in rehabilitation centers spend countless hours counseling drug addicts, whether individually or in group sessions. It would make more sense to educate students about the dangers of drug abuse before it starts, rather than have to convince them to put an end to their habit months or years after they are already addicted to a drug.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE However, people in opposition to this approach believe that spending classroom hours lecturing on drug abuse would cut into time that would otherwise be spent on topics that are

required to be covered in that class. On average, 250 minutes are devoted to a specific class each week-five days a week for 50 minutes each day. Although that is only one fifth of the time devoted to a class each week, teachers are expected to adapt their schedule to include this new information without deleting any of the required material in that course. This means that they may have to be less detailed in the other topics in order to cover the information that is required to be taught as well as address substance abuse. From those who are in favor of educating students about drug abuse, shortened time to address other topics is worth it because it is important for young adults to be educated on the hazards of drugs; as they would say, knowledge is power. They would think nothing of trading off one class period a week if it meant that students would be better equipped to say no to drugs and have a good future. If people in opposition still find it difficult to cope with compromising class time for drug abuse education, in class tests on drug abuse can be made into take home quizzes, allowing more class time to be devoted to the subjects that are being neglected because of the integrated drug abuse education program. Also, instead of having a one hour session each week, teachers could switch lessons to every other week. In addition, to make up for the smaller amount of time to devote to each of the other subjects, teachers can assign those subjects as homework. For example, students could do projects, presentations, or papers on course material to demonstrate their understanding of it. This way, students would still learn everything they learned in the previous curriculum, in addition to substance abuse. An alternative solution would be to make substance abuse information sessions on weekends or afterschool. This would be similar to programs already instituted at schools, such as

SUBSTANCE ABUSE Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE. If schools took this approach, teachers would not have to sacrifice time they devote to teaching subjects that are already in their curriculum. This would enable more time to be spent on drug abuse education, as teachers would not be forced to fit a plethora of information into a 50 minute time frame once a week. In addition, instructors in afterschool programs would be able to reach out to more people at one time. For example, if substance abuse education was administered in a classroom setting, school authorities would have to decide which grade to implement this information into. Only that grade would receive the information, and it would take longer to get the information to everyone in the school. If

there were weekly meetings after school, anyone could come and there would be a better chance that more people would learn about addiction in a shorter amount of time. However, afterschool information sessions may not be as efficient as incorporating substance abuse education into lesson plans. Even if more people could attend the information session at once, it would be on a voluntary basis. No one is forced to attend afterschool meetings, so not everyone would go. In addition, students are often involved in various other after school activities, such as drama, choir, or band to name a few. Not to mention that many of them are athletes as well. This would make it difficult for students to find time in their busy schedules outside of school to include learning about substance abuse. Unless teachers made attending these meetings a portion of students grades, there would be no way to force students to attend. In addition, unlike in a classroom setting, there would be no real way to evaluate students absorption or understanding of this information. An alternative to afterschool or in-school substance abuse education would be to reach out to parents and educate them on the warning sides of drug abuse. In this instance parents would not have to attend meetings; they would simply receive a booklet of information provided

SUBSTANCE ABUSE by the school. The booklet would include information about drugs and their side effects, but would go into greater detail about how to spot a drug addiction and how to stop it before it gets too serious. This would be beneficial because parents are first and foremost, the closest to their children and would be the first to notice any emotional or physical changes in their child. In addition, it may be more convenient for parents then, to take the information they receive from schools and educate their children about drug abuse. Using this alternative would also mean that teachers would not have to sacrifice any of their time to fit drug abuse into their lesson plans. In addition, having parents educate their children on this topic would be more efficient for students who are involved in after school activities and sports, as they would not have to rearrange their

activities or skip a practice in order to attain this valuable information. It would be much simpler for parents to take time out of their day at home to sit down and have a discussion about this important topic with their children. However, even this alternative option is not without flaws. The option of leaving it up to parents to talk to their children about drug abuse does not ensure that all parents will have this discussion with their children. Parents who work long hours or have busy lifestyles may find it difficult to find the time to sit down with their children and talk about substance abuse. In addition, parents are not the only family members who are leading busy lives. School aged children in todays society often find themselves moving nonstop from school , to an afterschool activity, and then to a sports practice or game. This, along with the amount of homework they receive at school, limits the amount of quality time that they can spend with their parents to learn such crucial information. Furthermore, this alternative assumes that parents and their children are on good terms. Some parents and children find it difficult to come to agree on anything, let alone

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

10

listen to each other. For these types of situations, it would be unlikely that a parent would be able to have a calm conversation with their child. The only way to prevent the youth of society from becoming involved with drugs and suffering the horrendous consequences is to begin educating them at an early age about the hazards of experimenting with drugs. The side effects of substance abuse are not only felt by the victim, but family and friends as well. If students were better educated and prepared to make good decisions about drugs, it would be more likely that they would not suffer abuse problems in the future. Even if afterschool programs and parents are not sufficient enough to educate young adults about drug use, teachers need to take the initiative to implement drug abuse education into their lesson plans. This will ensure that future generations will be better equipped to have a prosperous and drug free future.