Drugs and Alcohol

Traditionally, it has been believed that adolescent boys use drugs and alcohol more than girls do. Disturbingly, recent studies have disproved this view. A recent Monitoring the Future Survey reported that, while girls tend to drink alcohol at about the same rate as boys, girls were apt to use inhalants and stimulants more frequently.

Few children drink or use drugs while in elementary school. As they go through middle school, however, an increased number take part in drugs and alcohol. This is due, in part, to their increased exposure to more kids from diverse backgrounds in middle school, but, as evidenced by the increase in drug use as students near high school age, is also a result of their attempt to adopt what they believe to be adult behaviors. According to the National Household Drug Survey, the rate of illicit drug use rises dramatically for girls over the period of middle school to high school. Whereas twelve to thirteen year old girls have a rate of use of just 1.9%, that percentage increases to 10.6% for girls fourteen to fifteen years of age. Meanwhile, 50% of the students participating in the Who's Who Among American High School Students Survey, 1999, admitted to some alcohol use.

Why this increase in drug and alcohol use? In part, the use of drugs and alcohol is seen as a "rite of passage" for many kids in our society. They see the adults in their lives, as well as role models on television, in movies, magazines, on billboards, etc., drinking and using drugs for a variety of purposes, both medicinal and recreational. As they attempt to assume their position as adults, many youth adopt the most visible and least mature behaviors displayed by adults. In response to the expanded social groups in middle school and her increased consciousness of the opinions of her peers, the middle schooler may use drugs and alcohol as a result of social pressure.

Many kids believe that "everyone" is doing drugs and drinking alcohol, when in fact, according to "Straight Facts About Drugs and Alcohol" by the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, fewer than 14% of twelve to seventeen-year-olds have used marijuana and fewer than 2% have used cocaine. Illicit drug use is somewhat visible, however, with 54% of high school seniors, 47% of tenth graders and 29% of eighth graders reporting the use of an illicit drug (including alcohol) at least once. Finally, the middle school girl may be dared to experiment with alcohol and drugs, or she may just want to try them out of curiosity or for fun.

Recreational use of drugs and alcohol leads, in many cases, to the abuse of these substances. Obviously, there are many negative consequences to the overuse of drugs and alcohol. Headaches, blackouts, mood swings, edginess, weight loss, inability to concentrate, deteriorating health and physical fitness, decreased school performance and trouble in school or with the law are just a few of the signs of drug and alcohol abuse. Most disturbing is the fact that alcohol-related accidents are the leading cause of death among fifteen to twenty-four-year-olds.

Clearly, not all adolescents who experiment with drugs and alcohol become abusers. Those young people who are most at risk for being abusers are those who have a blood relative who's an alcoholic or drug addict, have grown up surrounded by heavy drinkers, and those who become enamored with drugs and alcohol with their first experience.

Children of alcoholics (some seven million under the age of eighteen) face additional problems aside from being much more likely to become alcoholics and drug abusers themselves. They are more apt to need psychiatric treatment for conduct disorders, depressive symptoms and anxiety. During their pre-teen years, they may have experienced physical problems such as headaches, stomachaches, fatigue, etc. even though they are suffering from no recognizable illness. Some children from alcoholic families become more responsible and resilient, but may experience no personal satisfaction in their capability. Adolescent children of alcoholics may also be more inclined to attempt suicide than their peers do.

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What Some of the Girls Said:

About Drugs and Alcohol:

• I met a friend last year in seventh grade and I smoked pot and I drank because I thought that I'd be accepted by older people, and people would think I was cool and it was all fake. And I stopped and now I have more friends and self-confidence.

• I felt like I didn't care about anything, and so it really didn't matter what other people thought about me then, and I felt the people that I was doing that stuff with like me more when I did it than when I didn't do it. And I felt I had better friends then when I was doing it. Then I and realized that wasn't true.

• I'm not going to try smoking like a regular cigarette. I'm gonna try smoking weed though. because I want to.

• I really realized that smoking/drinking, all that stuff, doesn't help you. It just tears your life apart and your family, too.

• I've never experimented with any of those things. I think that's just a really bad choice, and I think that if you wanna drink when you're of age and you do it responsibly, that's fine. I think that's bad for your life and it's a bad lifestyle. But if you want to, that's fine ëcause it's legal. But drugs are just illegal.

• Why do they even sell drugs or sell alcohol, all's it does is kill you. It just ruins you. Just ruins your life, that's what I think. That's what it did to my dad. I mean he's been doing it since he was about fifteen. He was a straight A student before that and now he's not the brightest. He shot himself because of it. He is been through tons of little things to try to help and I mean he's bad.

• Like I have some friends that smoke weed, they're not gonna pressure me into doing it, because I would never feel pressure around them because that's just how they are. And if they were gonna do that then, they probably wouldn't be my friend anymore. I don't really see any changes in them, cause you can't do it in school or whatever.

• I would never turn to drugs or alcohol just because I'd only be making it harder on myself in the long run.

• I personally don't do drugs or never will do drugs, so I don't really like the whole idea about drugs, I mean it messes you up.

• The most important issues facing the young girls my age, around my age, from like twelve to fifteen, it'd have to be sex, sex and drugs. I'd have to say that. For drugs, it's a lot of pressure, too. You see a bunch of girls or guys or a big crowd of people doing it and it's like I wonder what that's like? You know, why do you need to try it? What's the use in it?

• I've never tried drugs. I just thought that they're just not appropriate and stuff. All the guys at our school are "I'm a druggie." They think it's so cool. They think it's cool. It's lame. I'm gonna talk about being an alcoholic and skipping AA. I'm cool cause I do drugs. Doing drugs and drinking, I'm cool. Do you go out with me? Yeah, come on. I know they're wannabes and I do see why they want to be. Want to be. I mean, it's so stupid and it's so funny.

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About Living in a Family That Abuses Drugs or Alcohol:

• You're so angry that you just want to do whatever that's there and maybe your friend has weed or something, and you think maybe I'm gonna do that, and I won't have to think of my family. But, it wears off, and you eventually have to do it again. And then pretty soon, you want to keep doing it; you're addicted to it. Like smoking pot and drinking's the same exact way. Um, my most of my family are alcoholics, but I know I'm not. because I see how they act. I see how their life is, I see that, and I'm not gonna grow up to like them. I've seen the way that they are; it's the exact opposite of what I want to be. I don't want to be like them. So, I still love them and everything.
  
  
• We thought, you know, maybe we were cool, if we drank. We tried it, and I don't think it'll ever happen. Never cause I don't like the taste. And just seeing the way my family members act, it makes ëem look so dumb and stupid. My family, when they're like that, it's embarrassing. And I would never want to embarrass myself like that.

• But, when they're drunk, they don't really see what's going on. The next day, they'll be like all hung over, and all crabby and stuff, and is that how you want your life to be for the rest, you know, is that how you want to act? Is that how you want to wake up, the next morning, be like crabby, and yelling at us, and you know just getting us mad at you.

• I don't like how my mom or dad act when they're drinking. I think they could be a lot worse off, but my mom's a complete bitch when she's drinking. She acts stupider when she's drinking. And she would make decisions that she normally wouldn't, and I've seen a lot of people around me get really messed up from drugs and alcohol. I had an older cousin and I looked up to her because she's twenty-one and she only drinks when she's at parties. And she doesn't do drugs, or anything. And she's a really big influence on my life. And I really admire her for that. And I kind of would like to be like her you know. I don't want to be a mess up.

• When my mom and dad used to drink, I used to go in my room and lock my door, just sit in there, and play with my dog. And then my sister would come in, and you'd just hear a bunch of yelling and stuff. My ma and dad used to get into fights every single night. It just seems stupid when we see all these people just walking around, falling down stairs and stuff, and it's funny lookin' I mean when you see them guys like run into walls and stuff, and they're like hee, hee, hee like that.

• I know I did it because it looked like when my brother was drunk one night, he was really funny and stuff, he gave me money and stuff. I thought like oh, that would be so um, it'll be so cool, to drink. So, I drank one time, and I drank and well, I don't remember much of that night. I haven't drank ever since. I drank like a sip, like not, like fooling around and stuff, I just take a sip and stuff. But, I don't like drink more than half a can. Ever.

• Alcohol has had like a huge influence on my life. My grandpa's like this total drunk. He smokes, and he's one of the people I think that I hate the most in my life.

• My dad and my step-mom were big drunks and potheads. And me and my stepbrother, we would always get kicked out, cause they would always be drinking. So they would kick us out, and we'd just sit outside sometimes. It was dark, and sometimes it was early in the morning. So we'd just sit outside, throw rocks around. Otherwise, we'd go find things to do, like we'd go make trails and stuff and then we would always sit and just talk about why they always drink so much, and he just said well, it's stupid, it's a stupid thing to do. And then we just made a promise that we were never gonna drink. Because you know, they would hurt us, that hurt us a lot that we just had to sit there and watch ëem get completely messed up. We'd just go outside and wait till we could actually come back in. I know that I'm never gonna turn out like him.

• Well with me drinking was like almost an everyday household thing. And, when my mom got married, her second time, my step-dad would come home maybe every other night drunk, waking me up, because I didn't do the dishes right or something. He'd slap me in the face to wake me up. My mom couldn't do anything about it. She was getting beat too. And it was really hard on me, I was the oldest and I had to be strong for all my sisters and brothers. And I took a lot of beatings. One time, I got woke up being pulled by my hair out of my bed, and I had to go upstairs, and re-do every single thing, from cleaning because he was so drunk. And he threw me up against a wall and slapped me in the face with this sponge, but that didn't really hurt, until he threw me up against another wall because I was trying to help my mom get out. And this ten-pound clock fell on my shoulder. Almost broke it. So alcohol's had a big influence on my life.

• A group of my friends that I hung out with at one point did get into that and I felt very uncomfortable with that and I ended up completely not hanging out with them anymore because I didn't want to be around that. My dad smokes and it is not something that I like. It drives me crazy because I hate the smell and I think it's disgusting and I have a history of alcoholism in my family and it's not something that I want to take any chances on.

• At our age I think we should be more thinking about what to do with our life besides the negative risks and it's unhealthy, these things at our age and we're not ready for them and especially smoking, alcohol and drugs, we should never be ready for.

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Beyond the Butterfly is co-produced by Wisconsin Public Television and NEWIST/CESA #7 (Northeastern Wisconsin In-School Telecommunications).