Euphoria’s Commentary on Our Culture Today
You see kids buying vapes even before they enter college. Some kids go to the extreme of doing hard drugs before their brain fully develops. Euphoria, an HBO TV show that everyone is raving about depicts the life of high school students that have their own struggles with family life, drug abuse, toxic relationships, and betrayal. It highlights the high school culture in modern day where kids are growing up too fast and taking drugs that are dangerous to their well-being.
The drug epidemic in the United States
In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies told the medical field that patients would not become addicted to opioid painkillers. As a result, healthcare providers began prescribing these medications at greater rates according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.
Below is a graphic of statistical studies of opioid usage amongst America’s population.
In 2011, the opioid overdoses was declared an “epidemic” by the CDC. Since then, the overdoses increased tremendously. Starting as a problem tied to prescription painkillers, it soon involved the usage of heroin and synthetic opioids such as methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl.
The scary part is, is that patients were led to use prescribed medication to help with pain, and as a result because pharmaceutical companies misled the medical community that these were not addictive prescriptions, 4–6% of those who misuse a prescription transition to heroin according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
Why drugs are so prevalent amongst today’s youth
First off, young people want to be cool. They want to fit in and feel accepted by their friends or peers who are also doing drugs.
Drugs can produce a feeling of pleasure. Some young people enjoy this thrilling sensation and want to keep using drugs to continuously feel good.
Some young people look to drugs for relief. Whether it be for physical pain or for suffering from depression, anxiety, or other stress-related disorders.
Drugs can also be a way to get ahead in academics or sports. Young people may take drugs to study better or improve their performance in a sports game.
The people that are targeted most are those who have had stressful experiences in their childhood such as child abuse, sexual assault, and other forms of trauma. Having prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol is a factor that plays into later on usage. The lack of parental supervision can also have an adverse effect on the actions of young people. Lastly, being surrounded by friends who do drugs can be an influence.
How Euphoria opened our eyes to reality
Zendaya’s character, Rue, the main character, recently lost her father due to an illness in the beginning of the show. Like anyone else, losing a loved one comes with a lot of pain. Rue could not bear to see her father struggling in bed at home nor think of the fact that he was dying. She coped with this pain by taking her father’s painkillers and soon became reliant on drugs to ease her stress and sadness. This was a gateway into other hard drugs that Rue could not get enough of.
Zendaya portrayed the effects drugs can do to a person mentally, emotionally, and physically.
It is a true eye opener to see how this epidemic has affected others and is now targeting younger kids. It is important to remember that there are many healthier coping mechanisms to practice rather than getting yourself into detrimental habits.
For instance, there is no shame in going to a therapist. To air out your thoughts and talk to someone is one of the best ways to understand what you are going through and allow someone to help you through it. Journaling in a notebook or one of your devices is helpful to get your thoughts out through writing. It is cathartic and gives you a peace of mind.
Drugs are not the answer and hopefully shows like Euphoria can open eyes to many issues going on in this world and make us change for the better.