High School Drug Abuse What Do You Do
According to a study conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, among the graduating class of 1997, 54.3 percent of students had used an illicit drug by the time they reached their senior year of high school: a dramatic increase from the once 40.7 percent in 1992. The study also reported an increase among high school seniors from 27.1 percent in 1992 to 42.4 percent in 1997, that had used an illicit drug in that past year. There was also an increase from 14.4 percent (1992) to 26.2 percent (1997) of use in the past month. And due to the addictive nature of drugs, many of these young students will continue using them throughout their life. Drug abuse has become an increasing problem in the nation's high schools today. The question is, how is it prevented? Drug testing has been a successful way of controlling this, and the problems associated with it. It is true though, that the most effective way begins in the home, when children are young and just learning about drugs and their hazardous health risks. Other programs deal with educating students about the effects and dangers that will effect a person for the rest of their life. These programs also teach about the legal issues involved. But
what do you do for high school students, after it is too late to carry out these programs. And often the programs have been carried out, but students ignored the warning and council, and end up breaking the law. What do you do then? Many schools are implementing drug testing programs, which have been proven to successfully decrease the amount of drug abuse that occurs in schools. High School drug testing has become a very controversial topic in many communities across the nation. Many students and parents are arguing that drug testing is a violation of the rights of a US citizen as designated in the 4th amendment of the Constitution. But, in the Supreme Court case of Vernonia School District v. Wayne Acton, it was ruled constitutional. They also argue that it is unethical, and sending the wrong message to students. One parent said, as stated in an article in the Seattle Times, "Kids who experiment and are caught, they're going to be banned from extracurricular activities. And their choice is probably going to be to party more. They won't have the other outlets that are an alternative to drugs." First, for the programs that have been used in schools, it has been common for a third offense to be necessary before completely banning the student from extracurricular activities. But, if a student who participates in those activities, is caught using drugs, then it obviously wasn't an alternative to drug use. In addition to that, most communities have programs for teenagers to
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1006
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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