What I Learned About Alcohol and Drug Abuse in High School
When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I registered for a substance abuse class. At that time period, I did not realize that alcohol abuse in reality was a sub classification 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 different alcohol rehab clinics that are normally available to abusive drinkers.
Some of the damaging consequences linked to alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class without a doubt alarmed me. The ruined lives and countless problems experienced by most alcohol dependent 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 damage and devastation that alcohol dependent people almost always encounter.
Reflect on this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old teenager wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What teenager wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that drinking alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What young person wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related issues before he or she becomes an adult?
What adolescent wants to encounter alcohol withdrawal symptoms when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would an individual engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause difficulties in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after a person has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would a young person want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that centers on excessive drinking?
These issues were so important that I talked about some of them in class throughout the school year. What was utterly inconceivable to me was the number of students who simply didn’t care about the injurious consequences of excessive drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t be bothered with the truth and how these consequences can demolish their lives. For the first time in my life I started to comprehend a saying that my grandfather used to tell me throughout my youth: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
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