Shocking Discoveries About Substance Abuse in High School
When I was a sophomore in high school, I enrolled into a drug abuse class. At that time, I did not understand that alcohol abuse in truth was a sub division 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 throughout the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol rehab and the various alcohol rehab clinics that are typically available to abusive drinkers.
Some of the damaging effects associated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class undeniably alarmed me. The ruined lives and abundant serious issues experienced by most alcohol addicted people made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. That is, I did not want to face the wreckage and ruination that alcohol addicted people almost always go through.
Think about this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old individual wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What adolescent 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 encounter alcohol withdrawal symptoms when he or she tries to quit drinking? Why would an individual engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause problems in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after an individual has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would an adolescent want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that revolves around irresponsible drinking?
These issues were so important that I discussed some of them in class throughout the school year. What was utterly unbelievable to me was the number of students who essentially didn’t care about the harmful outcomes of abusive drinking that I discussed. It was almost as if they couldn’t be troubled with the truth and how these consequences can shatter their lives. For the first time in my life I started to grasp something that my grandfather used to say to me throughout my younger years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.