Shocking Discoveries About Drug and Alcohol Abuse in High School

When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I enrolled into a drug abuse class. At that time, I did not realize that alcohol abuse in point of fact was a sub category of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse, I read a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous, their meetings, how their programs have twelve steps, and how successful the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has been for individuals all through the world. I also learned quite a bit about alcohol rehab and the different alcohol rehabilitation clinics that are commonly available to alcohol abusers.

Some of the dangerous consequences correlated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class undeniably worried me. The ruined lives and numerous difficulties experienced by most alcoholics made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. More to the point, I did not want to face the damage and destruction that alcohol addicted individuals almost always experience.

Reflect on this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old individual wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What teenager wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that consuming alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teenager wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related difficulties before he or she becomes twenty-one?

What teenager wants to experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would an individual engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause difficulties in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after a person has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would a teenager want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that revolves around hazardous drinking?

These issues were so meaningful that I discussed some of them in class during the school year. What was downright unbelievable to me was the number of students who simply didn’t care about the dangerous effects of hazardous drinking that I discussed. It was almost as if they couldn’t be troubled with the truth and how these outcomes can demolish their lives. For the first time in my life I started to appreciate a saying that my grandfather used to articulate all through my teen and pre-teen years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.