Alcoholism and Drug Addiction in High School
When I was a sophomore in high school, I registered for a drug abuse class. At that time period, I did not realize that alcohol abuse in point of fact 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 over the world. I also learned quite a bit about alcohol rehabilitation and the various alcohol rehab facilities that are habitually available to problem drinkers.
Some of the detrimental outcomes linked to alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class certainly startled me. The ruined lives and numerous problems experienced by most alcohol dependent people made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. Stated briefly, I did not want to face the disaster and destruction that alcohol addicted individuals almost always go through.
Let this sink in 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 teenager 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 experience alcohol withdrawals when he or she tries to quit drinking? Why would a person engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause problems 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 discussed some of them in class during the school year. What was absolutely astounding to me was the number of students who simply didn’t care about the dangerous effects of excessive drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t be troubled with the facts and how these effects can wreck their lives. For the first time in my life I started to appreciate a saying that my grandfather used to emphasize all through my adolesence: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.
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