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What I Learned About Alcohol Dependency and Drug Addiction in High School

July 21, 2009

When I was a sophomore in high school, I took a substance abuse class. At that time period, I did not realize that alcohol abuse in reality was a sub division of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse, I read a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous, their meetings, how their programs have twelve steps, and how successful the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has been for people all over the world. I also learned quite a bit about alcohol treatment and the various alcohol rehab programs that are often available to people who engage in abusive drinking.

Some of the negative outcomes linked to alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class definitely startled me. The ruined lives and many serious issues experienced by most alcoholics made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. In a word, I did not want to face the wreckage and destruction that alcohol dependent people almost always experience.

Reflect on this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old teenager wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What adolescent wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that drinking alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teen wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related difficulties before he or she becomes twenty-one?

What teenager wants to go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would an individual engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause difficulties in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after an individual has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would an adolescent want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that centers on hazardous drinking?

These issues were so significant that I discussed some of them in class throughout the school year. What was entirely amazing to me was the number of students who basically didn’t care about the injurious consequences of irresponsible drinking that I discussed. It was almost as if they couldn’t care less about reality and how these results can wreck their lives. For the first time in my life I started to grasp a saying that my grandfather used to say to me all through my teen and pre-teen years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

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