Shore 1

I Gotta Stay High All the Time

Across the street from my high school there is a parking lotwell, I cant really even call
it a parking lot. It was a large gravel covered ex-backyard of this local house that the school
bought property of, with holes big and deep enough to make a truck bottom out. And that is
where all of the druggies went to get high in between our lunch hour and their sixth hour class
period. This was the designated meeting place for any smoker, drinkers, people who shoot up,
pill poppers, or whatever you were into. A majority of the kids were either two grades older than
me, or a grade or two younger than me. There were a few bad apples from our class, but not as
many as the other grades. I used to ask myself; Why is this? That is when I figured it out.
There was a program that our school put on to prevent teenage drug and alcohol usage in
the fifth grade. It was called D.A.R.E and it was a very fun program. It was tested out on the
grade before mine, and then mine before it was no longer a program in the school. As the
curiosity of the younger grades got stronger, the more people showed up at the parking lot after
lunch.
Nowadays, this is a huge problem. Teenage drug usage is a serious issue. According to
www.drugabuse.gov, In 2013, 7.0 percent of 8th graders, 18.0 percent of 10th graders, and 22.7
percent of 12th graders used marijuana in the past month, up from 5.8 percent, 13.8 percent, and
19.4 percent in 2008. Daily use has also increased; 6.5 percent of 12th graders now use
marijuana every day, compared to 5 percent in the mid-2000s (Illicit Drug Use). And that is
only Marijuana use! It even reported on the website that more kids smoke marijuana than
cigarettes. Also, it says: In 2013, 15.0 percent of high school seniors used a prescription drug
non-medically in the past year. The survey shows continued abuse of Adderall, commonly used

Shore 2
to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, with 7.4 percent of seniors reporting
taking it for non-medical reasons in the past year. In addition, 5 percent of seniors report abuse
of cough products containing dextromethorphan (Illicit Drug Use). Teen drug usage is on the
rise and not only is it unproductive, but it is unhealthy and expensive!
First, teenagers that use drugs or alcohol harm their body. Alcohol is told to do enough
damage to your brain resulting in blackouts, liver damage, not to mention when you are underage
and your brain is still developing, therefore it is more prone to harm and also according to
www.drugfreeworld.org, a person who starts drinking before the age of fifteen is four times more
likely to develop an alcohol dependency (Young People Versus Adults. Whats the Difference?).
As well on this website, there are many quotes from teenage drinkers saying that they use
alcohol to cope with their problems. When you are a teenager, there are not that difficult of
issues, normally, so to start drinking at that age before one has to worry about financial issues,
family issues, and educational issues, it starts a vicious addiction and can only worsen over time.
As well as alcohol, statistics show that marijuana usage has been on the rise and it is now
becoming an everyday thing. It is said the marijuana usage has caused people to get a high that
will make the problems they face worse once the high wears off. Also, when one uses marijuana
regularly it is not uncommon for the one to develop immunity to the high that the THC in the
marijuana simulates, therefore the kids turn to higher and stronger drugs to give them that high
they crave. This can lead to usage of cocaine, heroin, and even methamphetamines. Also, drugs
are very expensive depending on dependency. I obviously could not find accurate pricing
without contacting a dealer, but online forums said anywhere from $5 to $46 for an average dose
which is normally in grams or milligrams (very small) of whatever drug you like.

Shore 3
It is shown and proven scientifically that if you begin educating children at a younger
age, the more likely they are to attain that information and use it in everyday life. There are
studies and results posted on www.ounceofprevention.org that demonstrate that if you give a
child a high-quality education at an early age, that they are more likely to be successful and go
on past junior high school, high school, and make it to a four-year college. So why dont we
educate children about drugs when they are younger too?
My aspiration is to become a middle school or high school math teacher. I plan to teach
my future students about variables, proofs, graphs of polynomials, differentiation, expressions,
equations, and everything math; however, I plan to teach my future students about drug usage. I
feel it is a very important to teach students about the dangers and risks of drug usage. I will fight
for my right, as a teacher, to teach my students what they need to know in the world, and in this
day and age, drugs are unfortunately a huge part of our society.
When a child is thrown into a pool and told sink or swim, a child normally wont just
magically start freestyle swimming like Phelps, they have to be taught. The same applies with
alcohol and drugs. If someone is not taught that drugs and alcohol are bad, and that they can
harm the body and cause addiction at a young age, they are more likely to end up trying it as a
teenager. This is why programs like D.A.R.E, Just Say No, Hugs Not Drugs, and Above the
Influence need to be promotes in schools to prevent teenage usage. Funding may be an issue, but
some money can be and should be taken out in order to provide these types of prevention
programs to raise awareness for our youth. Our youth is our future, right? Ask yourself, do we
really want a cocaine addicted president, or a stoner congressman? Noso in order to prevent
this, drug preventions programs should be brought back to schools.