How To Help Children And Youth That Attend Schools That Have Drug And Alcohol Use Challenges

Children & youth who attend schools where many students use, and can easily access, drugs/alcohol are at greater risk of using drugs/alcohol and being unsafe. Sadly, few schools are free from some drug/alcohol use among students. Children & youth often use drugs to feel better, for excitement, acceptance and companionship. Children & youth could be using drugs to self-medicate pain, frustration, low self-esteem and social disconnection. Drug use often has “rite of passage” qualities that some children & youth seem to need to grow up. Drug use can be a plea for help. Drug/alcohol challenges in schools reflect a society that uses drugs/alcohol to self-medicate suffering, loneliness and boredom. Media messages contribute distorted ideas for children & youth. Children & youth need support and communication skill to resist peer pressure and find alternatives to self-medication. Often society and school programs do not engage the child/youth in making meaningful contributions/expressions. “Just Say No” programs have not solved this challenge. Schools have to provide a safe haven from effects of other students using drugs. This is an extremely difficult task and school budgets often do not allow for effectively dealing with this challenge. Children & youth from families with communication and problem-solving skills appear less interested in drug use. Nevertheless, they too are at risk from coercion and violence from drug/alcohol using school-mates.

Drug/alcohol experimentation/use/abuse: This can be related to and complicated by a combination of: peer pressure; curiosity; family patterns and modeling; low self-esteem; the need to escape emotional pain from unresolved traumas and abuses; feeling disconnected from family; feeling anger, fear, hopelessness and depression. Prolonged stress, nutritional imbalances and exposure to environmental pollutants may also be involved.