NEW EPIDEMIC STRIKES YOUNG TEENS

High school students are facing a new phenomenon. When you think of
Grades 8 and 9, you think of students who are still young and naive.

They have just finished elementary school and are only in the
beginning stages of their teen lives.

This is what one would think, but the reality is youth are starting to
get into very harmful things at a very young age.

Experimenting with various types of drugs, such as marijuana, is the
norm for youth nowadays. What they do not realize is many drug dealers
are beginning to lace their marijuana with methamphetamine, also known
as crystal meth, to get these youth addicted. Crystal meth can be
addicting from the first try and can also kill you.

Another popular drug of choice for young teens is methylenedioxy
methamphetamine, also known as ecstasy. One of the most common ways in
which people have died from taking ecstasy is from overheating, or not
drinking enough water; a risk that is much greater when ecstasy is
used in combination with alcohol. There are many teens out there who
do not know this and ecstasy is commonly taken at school dances or
raves. These are two situations where it is so easy to overheat and
become dehydrated from dancing in a huge crowd of people.

Why is this problem becoming more and more prevalent amongst teens?

Nowadays, many parents are not home very often due to work and because
of this there can be a huge lack of communication as well as
supervision between parents and their children.

There are also some parents who are not aware of any of these issues.
As a society we should spend just as much time trying to educate the
parents as we do the children. This will help to increase the
awareness of parents so they can keep a closer eye on their children,
and also so they know what symptoms to look for. If we are all aware,
maybe we could save more kids from getting addicted to these drugs,
and even possibly death.

Khela Harshan is a Grade 12 student in Writing 12 at Correlieu
secondary.