Drinking and Drugs and the Reality of Kids Using Them

I haven’t focused previously on the topic of teenage alcohol or drug use in large part because it is a topic that gets a lot of attention elsewhere, and because quite honestly, I am tired of people giving the problem little more than lip-service. Do we have a problem with alcohol and other drugs at North Fayette High School? Absolutely! We have about 300 students and statistically, we have students that use and abuse alcohol and other drugs. I am not going to condemn or scold. What I want to focus on is a newspaper article from the Des Moines Register that I have been dragging around since November 21 by Rekha Basu. I don’t always agree with her position on issues, but I must say I learned a lot from her article on this day, and have re-read it a few times.

There was a lot to the article that I think is relevant. For example, brain research, which has shed a great deal of light on learning, has also opened our eyes to a number of other things as well. What we now know for certain is that an adolescent brain, since it is still developing, reacts much differently to drug use than an adult brain. Thus, a 15-year old that starts drinking is five times more likely to become addicted than a 21-year old. Young adolescents are “wired” differently and the developing brain is more susceptible to this kind of stimulus. Is your 15-year old drinking? If so, are you prepared to have an alcoholic in your family because you don’t step in and do something about it? Basu attended a conference for journalists in San Diego focused on addiction studies and came away from it with a firm belief that the longer we keep kids away from drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, the better. Just a few years of brain development makes a world of difference and this is one of those instances when we must as parents do everything we can to convince our kids that they can wait, and perhaps save their life.

Addiction is a tough thing, and if the likelihood that we will be addicted increases dramatically based on when we start using a substance, then as parents shouldn’t we pay very close attention to what our kids are doing? Let me demonstrate. I started chewing tobacco when I was in fourth grade. I didn’t chew snuff as my preference was leaf tobacco. My parents were aware of it, and actually I started because my dad started using smokeless tobacco to wean himself from cigarettes. Anyway, when I finally quit, it was after so many attempts that I cannot count. It has been almost three years since my last chaw of Redman, but just this week I had a craving and fought going to the store and buying a pouch. I can imagine what it is like for smokers and drinkers. My point, and the research supports it, is that I was nine or ten years old when I started chewing tobacco. Had I not started until later in my life, perhaps I would not have become an addict. Think about that with children in high school that start drinking at such a young age. Lives are severely damaged due to alcohol and drug use. What might your child’s life be like if you talk to them regularly and take a tough stand against the use of alcohol and drugs. Maybe they will live a long and fulfilling life.