My High School Drug and Alcohol Abuse Class
When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I took a substance abuse class. At that time period, I did not realize that alcohol abuse in reality was a sub division 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 people all through the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol treatment and the different alcohol rehab that are habitually available to alcohol abusers.
Some of the detrimental effects correlated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class absolutely startled me. The ruined lives and countless serious issues experienced by most alcohol addicted people made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. Stated differently, I did not want to face the wreckage and devastation that alcohol dependent individuals almost always encounter.
Think about this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old individual wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What adolescent wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that consuming alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teen wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related problems before he or she becomes an adult?
What young person wants to encounter alcohol withdrawal symptoms when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would a person engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause serious issues 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 focuses on abusive drinking?
These issues were so significant that I discussed some of them in class during the school year. What was downright amazing to me was the number of students who basically didn’t care about the dangerous results of hazardous drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t be bothered with the facts and how these outcomes can destroy their lives. For the first time in my life I started to appreciate something that my grandfather used to say to me all through my adolesence: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
