Educating Our Youth Becomes Too Late
Antonella Antonecchia | 16.06.2010 13:23 | Social Struggles
Illicit drug and alcohol use is a fact of life in today’s society. To use or not to use such substances is a decision which all young people must address for themselves at an early age.
Governments, schools and social programs have attempted to forestall such abusive behavior by young people through school and community based programs as well as broad advertising campaigns, taxation and law enforcement. Yet the continued presence of substance abuse by youth in this country is unquestionable testimony to the fact that we need to do a more effective job for the sake of our young people and the well-being of our society.
If a young person hasn’t firmly decided not to start drugs by age 11, it is late to start talking to him about the subject.
National statistics show that by age 13 significant number of youth are already drinking and trying other illegal drugs.
Therefore, the equation is simple: either we educate our youth well enough to prevent them from becoming embroiled in the chaos of drug abuse, or we will have to struggle with an increasing population of seriously addicted adults.
While rehabilitation is a painstaking, individual-by-individual process, it is possible to provide drug education services to hundreds of young persons at a time.
Too many young people believe that they have at least some idea what they are getting into when they start experimenting with drugs. The truth is that most individuals – whether teenagers or adults – have little real knowledge of what drugs are and how they affect the body and mind.
Nor have they considered how it might be possible to feel good, have a good time, solve shyness, loneliness, pain – all the things drugs are supposed to solve – without resorting to drugs.
The Foundation for a Drug-Free World drug educational program doesn’t rely on scare tactics. Instead it provides substantive information which young people can understand and utilize to make personal, informed decisions regarding their use of such substances.
The Foundation for a Drug Free World is a non-profit organization actively involved in education programs in schools and in the community. The program is mainly addressed to youth.
For information about drugs, the program, or to schedule a lecturer go to www.drugfreeworld.org.
And for the person with a drug problem, there are real solutions to addiction. Narconon, a drug rehabilitation program that utilizes the methods of L. Ron Hubbard, has a success rate of more than 75% (www.narconon.org).
The best solution, however, is not to begin using drugs in the first place.
If a young person hasn’t firmly decided not to start drugs by age 11, it is late to start talking to him about the subject.
National statistics show that by age 13 significant number of youth are already drinking and trying other illegal drugs.
Therefore, the equation is simple: either we educate our youth well enough to prevent them from becoming embroiled in the chaos of drug abuse, or we will have to struggle with an increasing population of seriously addicted adults.
While rehabilitation is a painstaking, individual-by-individual process, it is possible to provide drug education services to hundreds of young persons at a time.
Too many young people believe that they have at least some idea what they are getting into when they start experimenting with drugs. The truth is that most individuals – whether teenagers or adults – have little real knowledge of what drugs are and how they affect the body and mind.
Nor have they considered how it might be possible to feel good, have a good time, solve shyness, loneliness, pain – all the things drugs are supposed to solve – without resorting to drugs.
The Foundation for a Drug-Free World drug educational program doesn’t rely on scare tactics. Instead it provides substantive information which young people can understand and utilize to make personal, informed decisions regarding their use of such substances.
The Foundation for a Drug Free World is a non-profit organization actively involved in education programs in schools and in the community. The program is mainly addressed to youth.
For information about drugs, the program, or to schedule a lecturer go to www.drugfreeworld.org.
And for the person with a drug problem, there are real solutions to addiction. Narconon, a drug rehabilitation program that utilizes the methods of L. Ron Hubbard, has a success rate of more than 75% (www.narconon.org).
The best solution, however, is not to begin using drugs in the first place.
Antonella Antonecchia
e-mail:
antonella@socialreformtampa.org
Homepage:
http://www.drugfreeworld.org