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When I was a sophomore in high school, I took a drug abuse class. At that time period, I did not grasp the fact that alcohol abuse in reality was a sub classification of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse and especially about alcohol side effects, 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 throughout the world. I also learned quite a bit about alcohol treatment and the diverse alcohol rehab clinics that are frequently available to individuals who engage in heavy drinking.

Negative Consequences That are Linked to Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse

Some of the harmful end results associated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class without a doubt frightened me. The ruined lives and abundant difficulties experienced by most alcohol addicted people made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. More to the point, I did not want to face the disaster and destruction that alcohol dependent individuals almost always go through.

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

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

These issues were so noteworthy that I discussed some of them in class throughout the school year. What was entirely amazing to me was the number of students who simply didn’t care about the detrimental results of irresponsible drinking that I discussed. It was almost as if they couldn’t care less about the facts and how these effects can ruin their lives. For the first time in my life I started to comprehend a saying that my grandfather used to articulate all through my teen and pre-teen years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.

It’s Beneficial, Liberating, and Important to Remove Yourself From the Unhealthy and Debilitating Consequences of Alcohol and Drug Abuse

And even at my young age, I also began to realize how liberating, beneficial, and important it is in life to remove yourself from the unhealthy and destructive results of drug and alcohol abuse.

Recent alcohol abuse statistics show that alcohol abuse among teens is increasing in the United States. What are some of the reasons for this? More than a few chemical dependency authorities argue that alcohol advertisements brought into being by the media are a key reason for the escalation of teen alcohol abuse.

Other alcoholism experts argue that the increase in adolescent alcohol abuse is due to the acceptability and ease of access of beer, wine, and liquor in our society.

Still other alcohol abuse experts state that quite a few of our young people get involved in dangerous drinking due to the increased pressure that they experience.

From a slightly different point of view, since both parents in more than a few families work, the lack of parental guidance surely has to play a significant role in the proliferation of adolescent alcohol abuse. And finally, a variety of substance abuse experts affirm that the expansion of teen alcohol abuse is due, at some level, to our permissive society.

Coping Skills Training and Abusive Drinking

One component of adolescent alcohol abuse that seems to be poorly reported in the substance abuse research results, nonetheless, is the nonexistence of educational programs that teach teens how to augment their coping skills so that their excessive drinking behavior is extensively lessened or gotten rid of.

Stated more explicitly, scientific research has shown that there is an indirect correlation between poor coping skills and hazardous drinking. Essentially, this means that the poorer the coping skills, the higher the frequency of alcohol abuse. To the degree that this is a truthful line of reasoning, why isn’t coping skills education a primary part of the educational core curriculum in all of our junior high schools, elementary schools, and high schools?

A Society That Accentuates Youth Coping Skills

Let us construct a scenario for for the purpose of illumination. Let us imagine a society in which students are trained how to develop excellent coping skills all the way from kindergarten up to and including their final year in high school.

In such a society, when life gets difficult, individuals who are “coping skills masters” will be able to respond in a healthier and more rewarding manner, as opposed to others who fail to execute their coping skills.

More specifically, students who show evidence of first rate coping skills will be more able to think proactively and display top-shelf decision making as opposed to teens who, because they are deficient in good coping skills, are drawn to the “quick fix” of hazardous drinking.

What would happen in the above “ideal” society, additionally, if students not only obtained top shelf coping skills training but also got an exclusive education that outlined the short term and long term destructive costs associated with drug abuse and alcohol abuse? Emphasizing these drug and alcohol abuse facts, along with more highly developed coping skills education, it is declared, would help students keep away from the clear appeal related to underage drinking and, consequently, would substantially lessen the alcohol abuse displayed by adolescents in our country.

Youth Excessive Drinking: Conclusion

There are surely many convincing reasons why so many of our teenagers drink in an excessive manner. Such a thorny problem demands an all-inclusive and more applicable educational and preventative response by our parents, politicians, students, and educators so that our adolescents can learn how to cope with life’s difficulties in a more rewarding and accountable way rather than resorting to hazardous drinking behavior to solve their problems.