School is a place for learning and gaining new experiences. However, some of those experiences are not always entirely positive.
Everyone is aware of the COVID global pandemic, but there is another pandemic that is ravaging the young adult population. According to The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 11.7% of US Citizens (Aged 12 or older) are currently using an illicit drug. That’s about 31.9 million people.
According to NSDUH, Illicit drugs combined (53.2 million have misused Marijuana, 9.9 million have misused prescription pain relievers, 6.4 of prescription tranquilizers, 5.6 million of Hallucinogens, 5.5 million of cocaine, 5.1 million of stimulants, 2 million of inhalants, Methamphetamine with 1,9 million, and 808,000 having misused Heroin.
According to Annals of Internal Medicine, in 2018, 1 in 3 teens in America have tried vaping, and 8% of American Teens vape daily. The common misconception with vaping is that it is safer than smoking, but it is still delivering harmful substances that can cause lung cancer, as well as heart disease and asthma.
Approximately 20% of high school students have admitted to having tried drugs or other illicit substances in their 4 years of high school. Many teens are pressured into trying drugs and alcohol to seem trendy or cool.
Unfortunately, New Castle is not immune to these issues. New Castle High School Assistant Principal Nick Middleton says, “It’s very unfortunate that these kids feel pressured into doing things that harm their health. At the end of the day, our job is to help these kids succeed in life and to be their trampoline into their futures.”
If a kid is caught with a drug or an e-cigarette substance, they receive a two-day out-of-school suspension for the first offense. They are also required to go to a weekend class with a parent or guardian on the dangers of partaking in these substances. If there is more than one offense, then they will face up to a week suspension and possibly expulsion.
Middleton says “We don’t wake up every day with the goal of punishing as many kids as possible. We want to help these kids say no to these substances and make the healthful decisions as much as we can.”
Drug education is a part of the NCCSC elementary schools, but not as much in the middle and high schools. All New Castle elementary schools partake in D.A.R.E, a program designed to educate kids on the dangers of drugs and alcohol. New Castle is looking to add more drug education into middle school and high school.
Just this past year, New Castle has implemented random drug testing for all extracurricular activities. The school is not allowed to disclose the numbers that come out of the drug testing.
Middleton says, “I think [The drug testing] is a good step and i’m glad we did it as a school because it is giving kids a little extra incentive to abstain from doing drugs or other illegal substances.”
Middleton believes that we live in a society where it’s too easy to access these things. “We shouldn’t be able to go to any convenience store and be able to find these things,” Middleton says. Perhaps if the laws on buying drugs and e-cigarettes were stricter, then we would not have such the pandemic in young adults that we have now.
