What I Learned About Drug Abuse and Alcoholism in High School
When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I registered for a substance abuse class. At that time, I did not understand that alcohol abuse actually was a sub classification 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 people all over the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol treatment and the different alcohol rehab clinics that are commonly available to people who engage in abusive drinking.
Some of the harmful results related to alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class without a doubt terrified me. The ruined lives and frequent problems experienced by most alcohol addicted people made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. Stated briefly, I did not want to face the wreckage and ruination that alcohol dependent individuals almost always experience.
Think about this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old person wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What young person wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that ingesting alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What young person wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related difficulties before he or she becomes an adult?
What teenager wants to experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms when he or she tries to quit drinking? Why would a person 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 centers on excessive drinking?
These issues were so meaningful that I discussed some of them in class throughout the school year. What was absolutely inconceivable to me was the number of students who simply didn’t care about the detrimental results of abusive drinking that I discussed. It was almost as if they couldn’t be troubled with the facts and how these effects can wreck their lives. For the first time in my life I started to grasp a saying that my grandfather used to articulate throughout my adolesence: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.
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