I remember how, back in middle school, everything was actually going pretty well, with both the people and even the education. Everything remains the same as it was before we moved onto high school right?
Nope.
See nowadays, in our middle schools, half of the kids are selling marijuana or buying hookah pens. According to their logic, it is “healthier” or “not a drug,” yet it still has the same health risks as cigarette smoking. My brother tells me how on various occasions he will walk into the bathroom to find people using hookah pens. The thing is that it isn’t just limited to these pens. It also extends as far as marijuana, alcohol and even cocaine. Marijuana itself remains as the most popular drug among middle school children.
This is not okay.
Not all middle school students are like this.
This is true that not all middle school students are like this. Some of these kids are actually going to get an education. The problem here is that these students who are currently doing these kind of drugs still make up a large portion. Another sad part to all of this is that some parents may even be clueless to the fact that their own child is using these drugs. This isn’t the parents' fault since the majority of these kids are keeping it very secretive by hiding their pens and drugs elsewhere.
Vaping/using hookah doesn't make you any cooler than anybody else. If anything, it makes you look more stupid compared to others. You’re basically breathing in vaporized Kool-Aid. That’s not exactly what I’d consider cool.
About 40 percent of eighth-graders say it would be easy to get Marijuana.
One of my biggest questions with this issue is "where are they getting this from?" Clearly they are getting these drugs from someone in particular. A teenager cannot walk into a local gas station and buy a pack of cigarettes. Also considering which state they are in, you can’t just buy Marijuana legally. Clearly they’re getting these drugs from someone older or maybe even somewhere their own age who serves as the vendor. Whoever it is selling it to them actually made a wise choice, not by becoming a drug seller but by aiming to sell his drugs to someone stupid enough to buy them. These middle school students aren’t exactly the brightest; the fact they are using these drugs in the first place just proves my point. These not so bright students receive something that will end up killing them slowly but eventually and the drug vendor ends up making a couple bucks.
Who's to blame?
There’s so many reasons for all of this happening in our middle schools. The biggest reason could actually be peer pressure. I’m not saying it to be cliche or anything, but that’s honestly the biggest reason. If all your friends are doing something, you wouldn’t want to be excluded so this may drive you to join in. Not only that but with your idiotic high friend in the background screaming “just smoke already!” it’s understandable how peer pressure could get to you.
Another issue are the schools themselves. I find it hard to believable that some of these schools haven’t even acknowledged the fact that some of their students are like this. You’d figure giving a nickname to your school like “the weed school” would drive you to making a change to your school and crack down on this. Yet despite this, change is still yet to happen. The schools aren’t entirely to blame since after all we were required to take a health class when we were in middle school. To top it off, I’m sure we heard the multiple side effects of drugs on several occasions, yet they continue to do drugs. Parenting itself could even be an issue; maybe the mom or father has nothing against drug usage. I even know of some students who drink alongside their own parents. If I were a parent, I wouldn’t want my own child drinking or doing drugs especially if they’re underage.
If we don’t put an end to this now, imagine what these middle school students will be like in high school. Fast-forward a few years later when these same children get cars. Think about all the potential car accidents that could occur due to alcohol and drugs. Keep in mind that these kids are all probably under 14, so this is definitely a pressing issue that needs to be resolved.
No person—especially young students like these—should fall victim to drugs. We need to make a change and put an end to drug usage in teenagers. It won’t be easy, but it is definitely an issue that deserves our time and effort.
If you know someone who has fallen victim to adolescent drug-use (or any type of drug use regardless of age,) tell their parents or a proper authority figure to ensure the situation is handled properly and safely.
