A modern school faced the task of preventing teen drug use. The human minds host widespread indifference, egoism, individualism, cynicism, aggression, disrespectful attitude towards the state, and the prestige of the military public service is falling; as a result, drugs, drinking, and crime become popular, especially among teenagers. Drug addiction has become an epidemic. The results of sociological studies show that one addict shares drug addiction to five-seven people. Considering the fact that teenagers present numerous informal groups (a group of football fans, various fan clubs, etc.) and that a fair bit of time juveniles spend in a circle of friends and acquaintances, there is nothing surprising in the rate of addiction propagation among adolescents.
Teenage drug addiction and juvenile drug sales are links in the same chain – drugs trafficking. Informing the students about how children and teenagers are lured in the criminal business, of course, is not in itself a help to prevent criminalization of minors. In addition to providing knowledge about the methods of psychological influence, a teacher should provide students with ways to recognize situations of being drawn into criminal activities and respond to them.
The reasons why young people are involved in the drug trade are the most diverse: from the general socio-economic situation in a country to a particular situation in a dysfunctional family. However, one important reason is an excessive age of criminal responsibility for crimes related to trafficking, distribution, and production. As a result, criminal organizations are interested solely in the minor distributors since adult traders cannot remain unnoticed by the police for long (Roozen et al., 2004). Besides, these organizations benefit on paying less for the services of young people.
Finally, there is a need to educate young people about the purpose of drug trade and drug addiction results, which will contribute to adolescents’ emotionally negative attitude to drug trafficking. Conversations with adolescents should be focused on a discussion of their autonomy and independence. The thesis of “selling drugs – selling yourself” can trigger the formation of an adolescent sense of self-respect, which protects him/her against the risk of involvement in drug trafficking (Roozen et al., 2004). A key condition for prevention drug addiction can be a debunking of myths about the romance and prestige of drug use.
References
Clawson, P. (1998). The Andean cocaine industry. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Roe, E. and Becker, J. (2005). Drug prevention with vulnerable young people: a review. Drugs: education, prevention and policy, 12(2): 85–99.
Roozen, H.G., Boulogne, J.J., van Tulder, M.W. et al. (2004). A systematic review of the effectiveness of the community reinforcement approach in alcohol, cocaine and opioid addiction. Drug and alcohol dependence, 74: …