What I Learned About Alcohol and Drug Abuse in High School
When I was a sophomore in high school, I enrolled into a substance abuse class. At that time, I did not comprehend 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 over the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol rehab and the various alcohol rehab clinics that are often available to problem drinkers.
Some of the negative outcomes associated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class absolutely frightened me. The ruined lives and frequent serious issues experienced by most alcohol addicted individuals made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. More to the point, I did not want to face the disaster and devastation that alcohol addicted individuals almost always encounter.
Ponder upon this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old individual 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 consuming 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 twenty-one?
What adolescent wants to go through 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 focuses on abusive drinking?
These issues were so noteworthy that I discussed some of them in class during the school year. What was downright astounding to me was the number of students who basically didn’t care about the damaging results of abusive drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t be bothered with reality and how these outcomes can destroy their lives. For the first time in my life I started to understand something that my grandfather used to tell me all through my teen and pre-teen years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.
