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Drug education in school

Keaton

Keaton

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Okay, this is inspired by a comment on another dicpscussion board.
First, I feel that I should mention that I am fresh out of high school and have first hand experience with today's methods of drug education.
In today's school systems, kids are taught that drugs are bad and that if you start using you'll eventually turn into a homeless junkie or die.
The side that the school systems take is obviously incredibly bias towards not using drugs and that is understandable because there are many bad things that can come from using drugs irresponsibly and no parent wants their kid to abuse substances. But rather than saying " No, don't do drugs they're bad, and you'll die from them" maybe we should be teaching kids how to be safe and responsible if they decide to use drugs, that way, rather than having a kid who is completely ignorant on how to be safe using drugs the kid will know what proper precautions to take. Resources are out there for people. Resources like this website, erowid and many others that provide information on how to use drugs safe, reduce the harm done to their bodies and thanks to sites like pillreports.com, they can identify pills that have harmful, or even deadly substances in them.
I guess my point is that rather than saying no and expecting kids to listen, we should be saying "you're young, don't mess yourself up, but for those that decide that they would like to use, these are the instructions on how to do it safely". And share information about forums like this one so that kids will have a more experienced view on drugs, rather than the sober minded folks running schools and education systems.

Any thoughts?

I apologize for the rant...
 
Haha that's cool, i'm just talking about reform in the process of education I guess..
 
Hmm idk about other places, but this year they actually had a pretty realistic presentation on sex. Still a little on the bias side, but no where near as bad as they used to be. They even talked about the pros of abortion. But let's not talk about that as it deserves it's own thread. Haha
 
i think its a dicey case. people gonna say that if you educate people on how to use drugs you're in a sense encouraging it, and that argument can be made...

however i think schools(really government) should provide honest information. about drugs , kids gonna do drugs no matter what u tell em so i think the number one priority is harm reduction. again this is a very delicate issue where as a politician you gotta walk the fine line veryy carefully
 
Very true.
It's gotta start from the bottom tho.
Do you think a teacher/school counselor/school administrator who was an advocate for harm reduction would stand any chance of keeping their job?
 
I wish they would've taught what I learned in undergraduate neuroscience class, especially regarding meth. Anyone with half a brain would NEVER try meth if they knew what it does in the brain.
 
They need to teach kids the truth about drugs definitely. Not feed them a bunch of propaganda about how if they touch any drug ever their life is fucked. I think the lack of education about drugs causes a lot of problems. Kids think all drugs are bad at first, then decide to experiment by maybe smoking weed, and realize that it's not that bad for you. Now knowing that DARE lied to them, they could think that the dangers of other drugs were exaggerated too, and think they're all harmless, which could lead to problems.
I'm pretty sure that the scare tactic of just saying "Don't do this or horrible things will happen to you" does not work. Kids do it anyway but now they have no idea what they're putting in their bodies.. even most of my friends my age (20) still have no clue.
 
Cool idea but there's just no way a school is going to touch base on anything that is illegal..straight parents would throw fits at PTA meetings... it'll never happen and if it did what would be some other classes taught at that school? Advanced tax evasion? Successful money extortion? Stealing identities 101?
 
You make a valid point but I think that you're exaggerating a bit too much about the result of having one session of good quality drug education.. The thinking that insane courses such as the ones you mentioned, will come to be by having kids learn about drugs is, IMO one of the biggest things in the way of there being an unbiased drug education program for kids, teens and young adults.
 
It could maybe work at an alternative school, where a student is a known user...but I still think the first course of action will always be to try and defeat the usage, at any age.

I think privately someone might be able to open up a harm reduction academy/offer personal lessons, but can't see the people involved being very successful and would probably be frequently hassled by the local P.D.....just look at all the B.S that takes place when a methadone clinic is scheduled to appear somewhere new....the townies freak!
 
Yea. That's a good point. Do you think that a school would react positively to a harm reduction club on the campus? Led by a qualified professional of course. The club would be like a safe haven, where the students can sask about anything and not have any negative repercussions for being curious.. Shoot, speaking of a known user, if there is a student who is out of control with their drug use, you should MAKE them join the club..

I'm not a qualified professional, but I would be more than willing to go back to my hig school and work with kids that are curious about drugs, educate them on the history of the drug, the good the drug has and of course the bad.
 
Ima leave this open becuz there is a good discussion going but in the future please dont just use DC as a place to post rants. Your BL journal is where shit like that belongs. If you make a thread you need to make a clear question and topic to discuss, not just "This is my opinion. Thoughts?"

Just so you know for next time....
 
Yea, it would be dumb to close it now that there is some good replies n conversation goin on, obviously it was able to make some ppl think and want to post but sometimes, well alot of times, people just go on a rant and post it and it just sits....So i just wanted to give u the heads up, no prob glad people are responding.

anyways...I cant really "answer" your post becuz there aint really a question, but i think we all agree that drug education in schools is leavin a lot left un covered and prolly does more harm than good....I have read studies that shows kids who go thru the DARE program are actually more likely to use drugs, aint that a bitch.

The thing is realistically it just aint gonna happen to be showin highschool kids sites like BL, etc.

its one thing to give kids realistic, non-scare-tactic drug education that tells them the truth about drugs. But its another thing to expose them to the kind of shit like is on BL, which i aint sayin our content here is bad, i love bl and everything it stands for , for harm reduction and all that i totally support it. BUT, I dont think that havin 14 year old kids reading BL on the best way to shoot up and reading how its totally safe if you use a new needle everytime an a micron filter and sterile tools, etc....There is some information on here that is useful and necessary and helpful for drug users who need to know it...But i aint sure how much of that is NECESSARY, in order to teach kids and educate them the basics about drugs.

I aint sayin they shoulnt be aware of harm reduction, but kids who aint using drugs, dont need some of the real in depth type of shit that is only relevant to users and addicts. Makin HR material AVAILABLE for kids who DO use is a GREAT idea and should be MANDATORY....But for the kids who dont use i think it would just be somethin that is seen as way too far over the top.....does that make sense?

Kids should be gettin a totally IMPARTIAL education. Not for, or against. Harm reduction aint "for" drug use how ever alot of the shit on this site IS. They need to have bare facts not shit that will glorify, glamorize, or in any way make drugs seem appealing in a way that they aint. alot of people on here ESPECIALLY new users of drugs who are just discovering the drug world are mad positive about drug use and encourage, promote, and in general just say its the shit. And that aint the kind of attitudes that you want to be givin to kids who are needin a unbiased education, neither. thats just as bad as "just say no." it needs to be totally impartial to either side so BL would not be the best resource IMO for kids who are "drug virgins" you feel me?

Ill come back later once i think it out better....
 
lacey k said:
Yea, it would be dumb to close it now that there is some good replies n conversation goin on, obviously it was able to make some ppl think and want to post but sometimes, well alot of times, people just go on a rant and post it and it just sits....So i just wanted to give u the heads up, no prob glad people are responding.

anyways...I cant really "answer" your post becuz there aint really a question, but i think we all agree that drug education in schools is leavin a lot left un covered and prolly does more harm than good....I have read studies that shows kids who go thru the DARE program are actually more likely to use drugs, aint that a bitch.

The thing is realistically it just aint gonna happen to be showin highschool kids sites like BL, etc.

its one thing to give kids realistic, non-scare-tactic drug education that tells them the truth about drugs. But its another thing to expose them to the kind of shit like is on BL, which i aint sayin our content here is bad, i love bl and everything it stands for , for harm reduction and all that i totally support it. BUT, I dont think that havin 14 year old kids reading BL on the best way to shoot up and reading how its totally safe if you use a new needle everytime an a micron filter and sterile tools, etc....There is some information on here that is useful and necessary and helpful for drug users who need to know it...But i aint sure how much of that is NECESSARY, in order to teach kids and educate them the basics about drugs.

I aint sayin they shoulnt be aware of harm reduction, but kids who aint using drugs, dont need some of the real in depth type of shit that is only relevant to users and addicts. Makin HR material AVAILABLE for kids who DO use is a GREAT idea and should be MANDATORY....But for the kids who dont use i think it would just be somethin that is seen as way too far over the top.....does that make sense?

Kids should be gettin a totally IMPARTIAL education. Not for, or against. Harm reduction aint "for" drug use how ever alot of the shit on this site IS. They need to have bare facts not shit that will glorify, glamorize, or in any way make drugs seem appealing in a way that they aint. alot of people on here ESPECIALLY new users of drugs who are just discovering the drug world are mad positive about drug use and encourage, promote, and in general just say its the shit. And that aint the kind of attitudes that you want to be givin to kids who are needin a unbiased education, neither. thats just as bad as "just say no." it needs to be totally impartial to either side so BL would not be the best resource IMO for kids who are "drug virgins" you feel me?

Ill come back later once i think it out better....
Click to expand...

I have to say, everything that I just read is exactly what I was trying to say. But you've said it so much better. Haha
I agree that bl is too heavy for people who are just getting into drugs. That is completely true. Maybe there should be a movement to create a site that is a toned down version of this site. The younger less experienced users should maybe first be exposed to how each drug can negatively affect you. Then with people who are deeper into the drug experience, they should be gradually exposed to not necessarily the best way to get high, but the safest. And least damaging to their body and mind, other than simply not using.
Ive thought about it, and even talked to a person who I see as the wisest person I know, we figured that the schools aren't doing it COMPLETELY wrong. They have the first step, which, I believe it was you that said we should try to stop the use before it starts. But there needs to be deeper explanation into why and how the individual substance is bad for you, or as you said, they will try a relatively harmless substance and find that the programs they were exposed to grossly over exaggerated the cons of something like weed.
They should be taught about the different classes of drugs and what drugs fall into what categories.
I believe the next step would be to teach the students about the history of certain drugs and why they came to be so popular, because behind every drug there is a very interesting history. Am I right? If they understand the history of the drug, and what it was originally used for then they will respect the drug more, IMO..
This step wouldn't come until it is confirmed that the student is pretty determined on using a certain substance..
The third step, I think should only come once a student has shown the signs of habitual drug use. Ie they're using a substance regularly. We cant put a solid number of uses per month or week because regular use for one drug is different than others, weed and MDMA are good examples I suppose. Say regular use is once or twice a week with weed and once or twice a month for MDMA. Those are just the first examples that popped into my head..but once the student starts showing these behaviors, they are then taught how to use safely, because by this point, you can't make a user stop just by throwing info at them..they have to be ready to stop themselves...

I'm really just making is up as I go along so forgive me if it seems...strange or out there..is what I'm saying making any sense?....
I think that this thread could be the first step to making at least a small impact.. People will read it and hopefully try to guide the young people around them...idk wishful thinking I guess...
 
I actually took a class required for a health credit called "Substance and abuse" (mainly because I didn't feel like taking sport med or first aid) and they did teach us a little bit about drugs, certainly more than D.A.R.E. ever could. It taught me some of the effects of substances...kind of. If I remember, it wasn't very detailed, but slightly more in-depth than the basic health class was. It wasn't harm reduction, but it was better than "drugs are bad mmmkay kids." However, they did have us watch some films like bits from A&E's "Intervention" or the film "Wasted," but those too were scare tactics. They also taught us about legally how fucked we would be with certain substances. They knew that there would be kids in the class who'd smoked bud and shit before.

Specifically, I remember an example of when they were teaching us about hallucinogens, they only talked about LSD and mushrooms, they didn't even mention salvia, DMT, LSA, and all the RCs. And all they really said about those was "these make you trip," but they didn't say what really happens in a "trip," they were just like "you hallucinate." The course overall was definitely biased, and really it only got me more curious about bud, mushrooms, and LSD if anything.

It apparently wasn't anti-drug enough for the state, because they got rid of it the year after I took it.

And it's kind of funny too, because I ended up doing a good deal of the drugs talked about, but I can't remember too much specifics as to what they taught us so I can't really compare it to reality.

If the idea of that course was to make me not do drugs at all, then the course was totally ineffective.

Lacey pretty much already said what I would have said here.
 
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