Drug and Alcohol Use in Public Schools

Drug and alcohol use in our public schools is one thread in an enormous tapestry of dangers that public school students face each year. According to a recent survey conducted by the Bureau of Justice, 70.6% of high school students drank alcohol and 34.5% smoked marijuana. That over half of high school students abused stimulants, other opiates, tranquilizers, sedatives, hallucinogens, cocaine, inhalants, steroids, or heroin should be quite sobering to parents concerned about putting their children at risk.

It’s not difficult for high school students to obtain illicit drugs. According to another survey (found on the same page as above), 85% of high school students claimed that they could easily obtain marijuana. 29% of students claimed that they had been offered some kind of illicit drug that year at least one time.

A slightly more subtle influence is creeping into our public schools as well. Legal prescription medication for behavioral and learning disorders such as ADD, bipolarity, and depression are becoming more prevalent than ever before. There is concern that we are unnecessarily overmedicating our children. Problems arise when students who just need some extra attention from teachers or have trouble staying on task are given drugs to keep them in line.

Parents need to understand that they cannot trust their school teachers and administrators to keep their children safe from these serious risks. They are often unaware of illicit drug use and ambivalent about prescribing prescription medication at the drop of a hat. Only you can be sure that your children are able to just say no. There is only one place that parents can ensure the safety of their children: the home. Homeschool students never have to deal with peer pressure and are able to learn according to their own skill level, removing the need for unnecessary prescription drugs like ritalin. The only way that Southern Baptist parents can ensure the safety of their children is through homeschooling. Expecting ones kids to go to the public school without sampling drugs is like throwing them into a furnace and expecting them to come out unburned.