Substance Abuse In Students

Zero Tolerance policies and drug testing in schools may identify students in trouble but often


are used to identify children for expulsion. Our neglect to prevent and treat the problem of

substance abuse among students has profound and destructive implications
The more a student uses alcohol, marijuana and other drugs of abuse, the lower his grade point

average is likely to be. Alcohol-dependent youth fare worse on language and attention tests than

non-dependent youths. Heavy and binge drinkers between the ages of 12 and 17 are significantly

more likely than non-drinkers to say that their school work is poor (49.2 percent for heavy

drinkers, 44.7 percent for binge drinkers vs 27.5 percent for non-drinkers) and more than four

times likelier to say they cut classes or skip school.


Because their brains are still developing, teens who drink to excess may be destroying greater

mental capacity than older drinkers; at a level of three drinks, younger drinkers demonstrate

performance impairments 25 percent greater than older drinkers.

High school students who use alcohol or other drugs frequentlyare up to five times more likely

than other students to drop out of school.Students who use marijuana before theage of 15 are

three times likelier to drop out of school before age 16 and twice as likely to be frequent

truants. Adolescents who use marijuana weekly are almost six times likelier to cut class or

skip schoolas those who do not (60 percent) vs 11 percent).

Adolescents who smoke have poorer perceptions of their own health and more health-related

hospital visits than those who do not smoke, and teen smoking is linked to development of

depression and anxiety disorders. These physical and mental health consequences of smoking

prevent students from functioning optimally in school and increase the risk for missed days.

Student substance use, particularly heavy or frequent use, is associated with increased levels

of delinquent behaviors. Students reporting drug selling and early drug use are far likelier to

engage in violent behavior.

The earlier a child smokes, drinks or uses drugs, the greater the likelihood or dependence on

those substances and of academic failure and brain damage.By the time a teen graduates from

high school, he/she will be faced with a conscious decision of whether or not to use tobacco,

alcohol or other drugs. Each student's choice is related largely to the interplay of two factors.

Availability: The more available tobacco, alcohol and drugs, the more likely to smoke, drink or

use them. For example, amongyouthwho say that it is fairly or very easy to obtain marijuana,

12.9.percentarecurrent users; amongthose who saythat it is difficult to obtain marijuana, only

3 percent report current use.

Perception of Risk: Students are more likely to smoke, drink or use drugs when they believe

that the harm associatedwith use is low. For example, teens who believe there is no risk or

only slight risk of harm in smoking marijuana use a month is six times likelier to be

current marijuana users than teens who believe there is moderate or great risk of harm

(18.5 vs 3.1 percent).

This Will Be Continued