Hello my name is Amanda. Today I am going to be talking about how students should be taught about drugs early in their education. I have been very privileged to be able to come and learn here at the University of SanFrancisco and my high school the Edmund Burke School. As we all know before coming to college we all had to take an online course about drugs. Maybe for some of you that might have been the first time you every really learned about drugs. For me it wasn’t. I was luck to be in a high school with a strong Health and Values program. During sophomore year of high school we learned about drugs and were given this book. Unlike some programs we weren’t told that drugs were these scary things that should be avoided at all costs because they were bad. We were just told here are different types of drugs, here are what they do, here are consequences of doing them. We also got to research a drug of our choice and teach the class about it.

Now there are many people in the world who’s first education on drugs is in college. Or their only education was don’t do drug. Say no. Drugs are terrible things that will kill you. I think that should change. I believe that student should be taught about drugs in high school at the least. That these courses should be based on facts instead of fear and abstinence. Telling people not to do things or that they can’t have things will make them want it more. Teaching by using fear won’t actually educate them about it. Drug education should be taught in a way that informs students of different types of drugs, their effects, what forms they come in and the consequences of them. It should also be taught in a way where it lets the student use the knowledge they gathered to make the decision themselves about whether or not they want to do drugs. And if they choose to do it then they should be responsible about it.  Also having them learn at a younger age will make it less likely that they start then. It is important to teach them at a younger age because it is show that it takes teens less time to get addicted than adults.

I myself have never done any drugs. But my cousin has. I decided to interview her and asked if it was ok to tell the class about her experience. She said yes. My cousin is in her 30s and is getting dentures. This is because she has meth mouth. Meth mouth is caused by Methamphetamine. It causes the teeth to blacken, rot and fall apart. I asked her about her about her drug education and would have it been helpful if she learned when she was younger. She said that she never really had one until college and even then it was treated like a joke and wasn’t that helpful. She said that her parents told her to stay away form drugs and that they were bad but never the real details. She also said she would have liked to learn about it when she was younger even though she didn’t do drugs then and that it maybe would have prevented her from ending up where she is today.

This is why I think the education system should teach their students early on about drugs and their effects. It could decrease the amount of irresponsible drug use.  Thank you. What questions do you have?