The well-being of students at Lucy Beckham is rapidly declining when they choose to partake in harmful drugs. The Administration discovered that students took cocaine laced with fentanyl in Beckham’s school bathrooms. Access to these harmful drugs jeopardizes student’s health immensely. Even with the recent mass awareness provided by the school, students still face the struggle of addiction. In this day and age, teenagers wake up ignorant of the consequences they are yet to face when they choose to consume a drug. Adolescents are vulnerable to developing addictive habits in a short amount of time. Teenagers nationwide are facing an epidemic of blissful ignorance toward substance abuse. When interviewing the school nurses, there was a common theme of young individuals being left alienated from reality when under the influence of an uncontrolled substance. Sadly, students have straightforward access to illegal drugs with a wide price range. Students can get their hands on drugs quickly and for a cheap price. The South American cartels behind these cheaply made drugs do not care about the well-being of the consumer. Cartels conduct mass production to get as many products on the market quickly and as cheaply as possible, usually ending up poorly made with little safety regulations. Young students are constantly surrounded with new ways to obtain drugs with little restrictions or regulation regarding the well-being of the individual. Drug addiction is not something that can be disregarded as a life-threatening issue. Our duty ethically as a society is to assist people in need and encourage support before it’s too late.
Teens are key victims of regularly consuming harmful substances. The American Probation and Parole Association argues that “Young people who persistently abuse substances often experience an array of problems, including academic difficulties, health-related problems (including mental health), poor peer relationships, and involvement with the juvenile justice system.
Additionally, there are consequences for family members, the community, and the entire society.” The side effects of consistent substance use are extremely detrimental to teens well being. Substances like nicotine and marijuana are proven to stunt brain development. However, teens are glued to the false ideology that a hit of a vape, joint, etc will make all the negativity in their lives disappear. The wanting to solve all problems through a substance usually leads to self-medicating. Teens are medicating themselves with unprescribed medications because they are depressed or anxious, however, the dangers of unprescribed medications are life-threatening. In interviewing the school psychologist Ms. Aeppli she discussed the dangers of experimenting with drugs and stated that “Leading causes of death is fentanyl. It’s like playing Russian roulette with your life. You can take one pill and die, and it’s kids that are experimenting.” The school Nurse Ms. Kuisel informed the bagle beat the consequences of experimenting with an unprescribed drug. Ms. Kuisel says “They think they’re buying something else and taking something else but it’s dangerous, or the first time usage and it kills them, everything is laced, even taking a hit from a friend’s vape.” The self-sabotaging consequences of drug experimentation arnt just temporary. Adolescents are unknowingly putting their lives in jeopardy. People convince themselves that the way to cope with their anxiety, depression, etc is just to take a pill. What comes to mind is that there is never a simple solution to a complex problem. When a person is forced to deal with their issues by themselves it eventually leads to finding the quickest and easiest solution.
While there are negatives upon negatives when having to discuss drug abuse there is hope. The Bengal Beat has done extensive research to aid the Beckham community with effective solutions. Going back to the interview with the school psychologist Ms. Appli the first question that was discussed was “What do you do for students who are addicted to drugs, do you have any solutions or guidance?” There was an impressive amount of solutions that she informed the Bengal Beat that the faculty had been informed of. The keyword and theme throughout the discussion was awareness. Ms. Appeli stated that she wanted to “Help identify across the school level areas they want to target such as vaping in teenagers nationwide.” She also informed the Bengal Beat of the “Screenager event, to make people aware of social media and substance abuse.” Ms. Appeli’s main mission is to communicate “Universal education for all families and how do we continue that conversation all year? And also the Conservation of student safety.” The Beckham community is constantly creating new ways to promote drug awareness and aid students with the help they need. The only thing that can stop a person from finding happiness is the inability to move on from past mistakes.
