Drugs shouldn't be done at all but definitely not in school

By NeAisia H.

Being intoxicated at school is like trying to read a book while on a rollercoaster. It doesn’t make sense.  However, teenagers still try to ride that metaphorical coaster--that is, they do drugs during the school day. Although AHS has recently had to put smoke detectors in the bathrooms to prevent students from smoking or vaping at school, the smoke detectors have not solved the problem because students are still smoking in the bathrooms. While the vast majority of students are not taking drugs on campus, according to the CDC, “In 2022, 30.7% of 12th graders reported using cannabis in the past year, and 6.3% reported using cannabis daily in the past 30 days.”  These numbers help put into context roughly how many students are intoxicated during the school day.  It is a problem. However, drugs should not be done at all, let alone at school. 

Students shouldn't be doing drugs in school because it keeps them from being focused on work in class. Students are sleeping in class from getting high during lunch, they are also walking around with low eyes and looking confused, sometimes they are just so out of it they just stand there and staring.

When students are doing drugs in the bathroom it keeps other students from using it when they actually need to use it. There are multiple students in one stall in the bathroom trying to smoke because maybe one friend doesn't have a vape or they all do and are just passing it around when there are students that are waiting to use the bathroom.

Drugs mess up them mentally and affect their education. Some students are not passing because they are more focused on drugs than school. You have students that are distracting other students in class asking them for vape or other drugs. Students are asking to go to the bathroom to get out of class to do drugs. It’s like coming to AHS not to learn but to acquire, use, and sell THC or nicotine.

Despite obvious reasons why doing drugs during the school day is problematic, there are reasons as to why students may disagree with me. Some students would say it makes them focus better, or it keeps them calm, specifically when taking THC. However, these teenagers are fooling themselves.  According to a paper published by the University of Washington, “With regard to neurocognition, marijuana intoxication is associated with deficits in processing speed, attention, working memory, decision-making, motivation, time-perception, and reality testing.”  In addition, “Using marijuana to cope with anxiety may offer some short-term benefit, but well-controlled studies indicate that use of marijuana is associated with increased likelihood of substance use disorders.” In sum, students might feel like marijuana is calming them down or helping them focus, but the science says otherwise. 

I wanted to know how people felt about using drugs at school. So, I thought it would be interesting to ask students at AHS about their thoughts on doing drugs in school. Student KaNieyah H. said that people might do drugs at school because they are having problems at home, and this is their reason for trying to deal with the problems. Another student, Promiz J., pointed out that they are just trying to fit in with the crowd.

In short, even if a student might have his or her reasons for taking drugs on campus, those students are decieving themsevles, as it will ultimately cause more harm than good.