What I Learned About Drug and Alcohol Addiction in High School

September 8th, 2009 by author

When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I enrolled into a drug abuse class. At that age, I did not realize that alcohol abuse actually 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 all over the world. I also learned quite a bit about alcohol rehabilitation and the various alcohol rehab centers that are regularly available to problem drinkers.

Some of the harmful consequences related to alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class unquestionably scared me. The ruined lives and numerous serious issues experienced by most alcohol dependent individuals made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. That is, I did not want to face the disaster and ruination that alcohol addicted people almost always go through.

Let this sink in for a moment. What fifteen-year-old person 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 ingesting alcohol becomes the object of oneâ€™s life? What adolescent 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 youth wants to deal with alcohol withdrawals when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would an individual 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 an adolescent want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that centers on excessive drinking?

These issues were so meaningful that I talked about some of them in class throughout the school year. What was absolutely astounding to me was the number of students who basically didnâ€™t care about the negative effects of irresponsible drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldnâ€™t be bothered with the facts and how these effects can ruin their lives. For the first time in my life I started to appreciate something that my grandfather used to say to me throughout my youth: you can lead a horse to water but you canâ€™t make it drink.