Comprehensive Drug Education for Our Youth
There’s so much suffering that I see caused by drug use, that I wish other people knew or understood. I can’t help but wonder if teenagers and young adults are truly getting adequate drug prevention education.
Working in an emergency room, I have seen grown adults:
- high, licking the walls and floor
- high, trying to lick staff members
- a patient choking a staff member while trying to leave to get more drugs
- crying
- screaming even to the point of foaming at the mouth
- lying
- running naked
No one thinks that this can become them.
IV drug users ruin their veins, which makes getting medical care that much harder. I took a woman to get a CT scan one time, and they couldn’t use the IV she had. The nurse came to start another one, which took several pokes. The patient even asked if she could start her own IV; of course she cannot be allowed to do that. Eventually they were able to start a new IV and get her scan done.
Some patients need ultrasound guided IV placement, which can be very time consuming and delay care. I had another patient that had been jumped by several people, lost vision in one eye, had three teeth knocked out, had back and abdominal pain, and couldn’t get his CT scan done until getting an ultrasound guided IV. He said he hadn’t used in a long time, but he had used IV drugs in the past, for twenty years of his life. Years later, his veins were still ruined, which delayed his emergent care.
I had another patient with arm pain due to an abscess at her injection site that was literally the size of a golf ball.
We often get people on meth, and they don’t sleep. Sometimes they are jittery, twitchy, talking fast, picking at their skin. I sometimes work in triage, and one of our seasoned nurses will just bluntly ask someone when the last time they used was. Often times she gets a straight answer, only once that I was with her did someone said they don’t use drugs.
I don’t know how today’s youth is educated about drugs, but I’d bet it needs improvement. I was having a conversation with some young adults once, and they asked me if I heard of a particular drug that a rapper died from. One thing led to another, and they asked me if marijuana was really all that bad. I explained that in the state we live in, it isn’t regulated, so you don’t really know what you’re getting. One of them looked very concerned after that.
Are today’s youth not being told that there’s no “quality control” when it comes to illegal drugs? I once worked first aid at an event with college kids. We were advised that there may have been cocaine laced with fentanyl being shared in the bathrooms.
No one thinks this could be them. No one thinks they will become addicted. My question for our youth is this: can you go a full day without your phone or social media? If not, why would you think you wouldn’t become addicted to drugs?
Are kids being educated on the the dangers of illegal drugs that are popular to the area they live in? Or is the rhetoric just staying away from weed, don’t do cocaine and heroin? I personally learned everything I know about meth from working in an emergency room. As a young adult, if someone offered me meth I wouldn’t have had any clue what I was getting myself into. I don’t remember my high school education ever covering it, even though it is popular in my area. Part of the popularity of course is that it is cheap to buy.
Teenagers may still be children in a sense, but once they graduate high school they will be living as an adult in the world. Should we let the world educate them, after we’ve tried to preserve their innocence? I’d rather prepare them, give them better tools to make smart choices. The world is full of moments that will require them to make their own choices. What types of jobs do teenagers usually qualify for before college? Food service jobs. What industry is rampant with drug use? Food service work.
What about teaching kids healthy, deliberate ways to cope with life’s hardships? During the height of Covid-19, one of our patients checked in after getting high. He said he had been clean for years, but used again after his mom got sick. Isn’t that why so many people turn to drugs, to escape?
It is okay to be sad sometimes, or stressed, or anxious, or any other feelings that are a normal part of the human experience. Everyone needs an outlet to put their frustrations into, not just adults. Extracurricular activities are a great start, but what about encouraging students to continue pursuing their passions after graduation?
Some people really enjoy physical activities. If a student enjoys sports, why not give them resources for different clubs or organizations in their area they can join after high school? I have a coworker that just joined a soccer team! Not every active student enjoys sports though, so why not also encourage solo activities like weight lifting or yoga, and give them resources to recommended gyms, fitness centers or city parks?
If a student really took to the arts, why not encourage them to get a membership at a local museum, or get involved in the art or theater community? There’s also plenty of art and writing competitions online to join, and websites that make selling arts and crafts easy to set up.
Most young adults also don’t understand how health insurance works. Why not teach them the basics of in and out of network coverage, what a deductible and copay is? Then make sure they know general information on how to contact their health insurance carrier for counseling services if they decide they need it.
Drug abuse is a complex subject. To truly dive into the intricacies of why someone may use drugs, why they don’t quit, why they relapse, types of drugs and their effects, would involve multiple articles to cover socioeconomics, mental health conditions, family upbringing, and medical explanations of the effects of various drugs.
My simplified point is this: why not give an honest education instead of sheltering our high schoolers? Why not give them better tools to build resilience for their emotional and mental health?
I’m asking as a healthcare worker with zero background in education or administration, of course.
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