Prevention On Drugs
“An estimated 24.6 million Americans aged 12 or older—9.4 percent of the population—had used an illicit drug in the past month. This number is up from 8.3 percent in 2002.”
Through research on people who are involved with drugs and interviews, one can understand the association people have with drugs, whether good or bad. Based on the research, interviews and reading, it is clear that people without the best education and home environment are more likely to get involved with drugs.
This is going to prove why home environment and education is needed. To begin, Andrew Gorseman didn’t have the best childhood, he grew up in the projects and his parents didn’t care for him. Andrew states “I’ll be very honest with you, my life was complete sht. My parents were so into drugs my first job was selling crack to my neighbors. I didn’t know how bad it can fck up your life until I was 18. No one was there to teach me about it…No one helped me from this life, it felt as if I was trapped into this horrible life style”(Personal interview). The important phrase in this quote is “No one was there to teach me about it.” This phrase is important because no one was there to teach him about how addicting and effective drugs can be. Sadly, Andrew ended up becoming an addict to heroin and instead of the drug helping him it ended up damaging his immune system. When Andrew learned about how dangerous it was to him, he tried to get help immediately; he went to a rehab center to better himself a much more safer way. This is important because often people believe it is one’s choice to do drugs and fall into bad habits, that is not always the case. Andrew was born into this lifestyle, he didn’t know any better just like most people in the world. Some might do it to catch their guardians attention, or even by taking drugs they believe it will make them escape reality. The truth is, it doesn’t, escaping “reality” isn’t going to make your life better, it isn’t going to make you a better human. You and you ONLY have a choice to make it right so take the any opportunity you get and try to fix the life your predecessor’s have affected.
Additionally, Benji Avalos is a 10th grader at my school. Benji does not have any experience with taking drugs but he knows quite a few people who do drugs. Benji States “My friends do it since their parents aren’t there for them, but since my parents do care for me, doing drugs will just disappoint them and I wouldn’t want to do that. In 7th grade my school actually taught me about drugs and how addicting they can be, you will say just one more but then it will lead to another and another it will never stop”(Personal Interview). The important phrase in this quote is “my school actually taught me about drugs and how addicting they can be” this is an important phrase because since his school taught him about drugs it benefitted him a lot by enlightening him about how bad drugs can be. Since his friends went to another school, They didn’t learn about the harm drugs bring into their life. This supports my thesis because since he learned about drugs it allowed him to not make mistakes like that.
Furthermore, I went on a website that states the benefits of drug education. The website states “Engaging students in drug education activities assists them to make healthy and safe choices, identify risky situations, and develop strategies to prepare them for challenging situations”(Victoria State Government). This website is credible because they updated this recently, meaning this is all new information. This is important because youth learning about drugs will allow them to make healthier choices in life. They will soon know the challenges life will give them, and not fear about it much because they will know what to do.
Lastly, on the same website it stated some facts on why it will be effective on youth. The website states “Increase student’s knowledge, social and life skills, and refusal skills towards licit and illicit drug use”(Victoria State Government). This is important because the website is stating that by teaching students about drugs it is helping adolescents make better decisions on life. And it will teach them about saying no to harmful drugs.
Some may argue that drugs come in handy for those who need to loosen up a bit and be happier. My solution is to prevent drugs from getting out of hand not to ban them, There are different uses for drugs many people use it differently. Such as weed, since it is one of the drugs that aren’t as lethal as the others, it does not damage much people it helps them feel calm. I DO NOT want to ban drugs completely, many places in the U.S ban drugs because they believe it is bad. I know that people believe this because of the mistakes of others and from what the media post about people who use drugs. Stating that doing drugs are bad and they shame celebrities who use drugs, but what the media doesn’t show is how drugs benefit those with illnesses and those who truly need them and how they benefit them. Instead of trying to ban them I want schools to enforce drug education. By this I mean that schools should have a week of teaching drugs or maybe make a unit about drugs. Get the class involved with what drugs do and let them read about certain drugs. I also think that doctor offices should have a booklet of what drugs are and the harm they can do to the body if they are not needed.
In conclusion, people who were not taught properly about drugs are more likely to get involved with them and ruin their lives by relying on drugs to make them feel something. By teaching about drugs to youth it will help them make the right choices in life. This will help prevent drug use and allow more people to get a better education at school.
CREDITS:
Andrew Gorseman – interviewed
Benji Avalos – interviewed
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/health/Pages/drugeducation.aspx – website about drug education
Ms.Portugal -for allowing me to express my ideas out
Photo by Images_of_Money 
Dear Valeria:
You have very thoughtful article on your topic. It so impresses me.
I agree with you that education plays a very important role in adolescence’s decision making. We all know drugs are not good for our health. School has more and more education about drugs to adolescence. However, why the addicted person number keeps climbing up? I think the reason is that adolescence listens from their peers more than from schools or parents. When I was teen, I liked to talk everything with my friends, but not parents. So I do think that educators should teach adolescence how to make friends, too.
Environment is another important role in adolescent development. I feel sad for Andrew’s case. But I don’t understand why he complained that “no one teaches him about drugs”. If he went to school, teachers should tell him. If he went to his community, social workers should tell him about the drugs. Even though he just stayed home, he should see the negative results for his parents when they had drugs in front of him.
I know drugs are the headache topic for everyone because we can’t forbid them. The only thing we can do is to educate ourselves, friends, and the relatives around us away from drugs.
Dear Cara:
Thank you for your comment, I really do appreciate it. It was a bit of my mistake on not adding about Andrew’s school life, He wasn’t complaining about no one teaching him he was just simply stating how he didn’t get to receive the proper education. He couldn’t really fight for his education since he was young. If you have anymore questions about andrew feel free to ask :)!
dear valeria,
I am moved by your post, “prevention on drugs”, because i feel it really connects to our society today and you have a very solid way of preventing bad drug use in the future.
one sentence that stands out for me is “When Andrew learned about how dangerous it was to him, he tried to get help immediately; he went to a rehab center to better himself a much more safer way. This is important because often people believe it is one’s choice to do drugs and fall into bad habits, that is not always the case.” i think this is very inspiring because you’ve shown how the power of education can affect you and it has a nice way of implying that educating young people about drugs can save them from addiction. it can also helps those who are addicted by saying rehab is an option to get help.
another sentence that i noticed was : ” Instead of trying to ban them I want schools to enforce drug education. By this I mean that schools should have a week of teaching drugs or maybe make a unit about drugs.” this stood out to me because i felt i strongly agreed with it. i thought the idea was really good because targeting younger people will allow them to grow up with the knowledge and to prevent using it in the future.
i do fully agree with you that drugs are a big problem right now and we can prevent it by educating people. one reason i agree is you have strong evidence to support your idea and why drugs can have a negative affect on you which was why we should start preventing it now.
thanks for your writing. i look forward to seeing what you write next, because your writing was interesting to me.
best,
cindy.
Dear Cindy:
Thank you for your feedback, i will keep in mind all the things that stood out so I can continue to be a better writer, feel free to tell me anythings i should do so i can become better in my writing. I am glad you enjoyed my post!
Dear Valeria,
I am intrigued by the post you've made here, Drugs, as it brings up a couple very excellent points. It shows different truths and perspectives to the issue, while still keeping a clear and concise idea to it. I feel it could only be increased further in perfection by adding even more perspectives to the fray.A quote that really stood out to me was “No one was there to teach me about it.” It shows how many get into the habit of taking drugs, and the issues that can follow simply from now understanding what's going on. If we had more education on it, we might lead to less cases of people taking drugs, and lower the amount of arrests due to them.
The other thought I found interesting was "my school actually taught me about drugs and how addicting they can be” This is a good thing to see, as we don't have many places truly explaining what is going on in the drug world. You have drugs such as Heroin or LSD and people don't understand what they are getting into unless they are taught about it.
I align my thoughts with yours and agree with you that drugs can be an addiction and a good way to prevent it is through education. I easily can say this as it's part of my own thoughts I have on the subject, and while not every drug is horrible, many can be. If we had the full education and not just scare tactics or say "This is bad, don't touch it" without proper explanation, we could potentially never fix this situation and let it continue on in an endless loop.
It was lovely to see this and I thank you for writing it. I do hope to see you write more as you've shown you think through what you write about, and make thoughtful opinions on the subject being written about. More people could do with learning how to do such a thing, and so it's nice to see people like you doing so.
Thank you for this read,
Joshua Engel
Dear Valeria,
I agree with your post,”Prevention On Drugs,” because it shows the cause and negative side effects of dealing or doing drugs. It captures the main reasons it happens. One sentence that you wrote that stood out to me was:” I DO NOT want to ban drugs completely, many places in the U.S ban drugs because they believe it is bad.” I very much agree with this, because some of the people in this world are prescribed drugs as a part of keeping healthy. Enforcing the drug education really helps because doing drugs is all on the person to decide. It can prevent some at least, but not all.
I also fully agree with the drug booklet the doctor would give because the person is reminded of what it’s like to be on drugs and why in some cases not to take it.
Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next, because it was very good evidence you put in your writing.
Best,
Coyle
I appreciate the intentions behind your explanation, it was a very touching subject.
Dear Valeria,
I am so pleased with your letter Prevention On Drugs because it give two types of evidence and those type of evidence are facts and no one can prove you wrong. i really loved you transitions they were smooth the whole store just was just wonderful written.
The passage you wrote that stood out was “I want schools to enforce drug education. By this I mean that schools should have a week of teaching drugs or maybe make a unit about drugs. Get the class involved with what do and let them read about certain drugs.” I think this is a wonderful idea because the student would be from and aware of what the consequences are.
I fully agree with you that the more informed people are about what drugs do to you they would think twice about taking them. One reason I say this is because studies show that people aware of the consequences they will think twice before doing it, they are sort of fear now that they know what it does to your body. Another reason why i agree with you is because many people don’t choose to grow up in those places and its just the way is. Some of us are lucky that we live in safe neighborhoods, some aren’t as lucky because they see them everyday and we honestly don’t know what is going behind close doors.
Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next, because this was absolutely beautiful i love the way you express your opinions and i want to read more of your wonderfully worded opinions.
Best,
Jennifer
Thank you so much for your feedback:)!
Valeria, You have very good analysis of your sources and express your opinion very clearly in your writing. I notice that you have a good statistic in the beginning to catch the attention of the reader but I would’ve liked to see you write more in depth about the statistics as well. All in all a very well worded argument but one thing to look in to might be if social media puts a bad label onto drugs or shocking facts because it gives them more views on their articles which is like a hook or title for a post or blog. The media in its self is very intelligent and very deceiving which is normal in today’s world. I liked the post as a whole though, good expression of your claim throughout the entire post.
Dear Valeria: “No one was there to teach me about it” it really stood out to me cause I am like that, no one was there to teach me right from wrong. Also “My school actually taught me about drugs and how addicting they can be” my school is hella stupid cause we didn’t learn about drugs being bad n stuff.
i agree with your second sentence of your conclusion paragraph. “By teaching about drugs to youth it will help them make the right choices in life”. i tink it would help teens stay away from drugs.
I have family members that dealt with drugs and had no one to help them. With no adult support it may be hard to overcome this problem