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Video Questions:
What does this quote mean?
This quote means that drug addiction can affect anyone and if left untreated, an individual’s life will be ruined or even lost in the process. This is a guarantee and not something that may happen to an individual struggling with addiction. The condition worsens until it has taken a hold on your life and destroyed it in the process.

Thinking about Ryan’s story, what could he have done to avoid jail? His parents could have found a facility to place him in instead of pressing charges against him. Ryan could have suggested this to his parents because he knew he had a problem.

Thinking about what michael was going through, is there anything else he could have done knowing that his doctor prescribed him the medication? He could have communicated to one doctor that another had already prescribed him a different medication just so he was sure that he was supposed to be taking as much as he was.

Thinking about Michael’s parents, Avi and Julie, what advice could you give to parents of young adults relating to prescription painkillers? I would tell them to be involved as much as they can. Ask the questions. See how much of each type of medication is prescribed. Ask the individual if they are feeling different, finding certain tasks to be more difficult, finding the world kinda hazy etc. Then I would tell the parents to try to attend the doctor’s appointments, double check intended dosages, ensure that the doctors were all prescribing the lowest dosage for the pain or problem and I would work with the child to develop a plan to slowly step them off of their medication. These types of medications are not meant to be taken for the duration of your life. They are there to fill a temporary need while a permanent solution is worked out. Everyone prescribed them should try to slowly wean themselves until the medications are no longer necessary or ask their doctor what permanent solutions are available to replace the high dosage of prescription meds. When your child admits to feeling out of control, seek help immediately. If you feel that your child is possibly addicted, seek intervention for them as soon as possible.

Knowing what you know now about the decisions and consequences surrounding prescription drugs, what are3 things you plan on doing in your life?

Avoiding all medication unless absolutely necessary and prescribed

Only taking medication for the duration of time it is absolutely needed

Asking for a lower strength medication if prescribed medication is too strong.

My overall plan:
Schools should be proactive in combating prescription drug use amongst students. The major points of my plan are as follows: A school policy could be enacted that requires random drug screenings on students. In order for this to be ethical, parents and students would be warned at the beginning of the school year that it is part of what the school does so that students aren’t surprised when it happens. Results would be kept strictly confidential, parents would be notified first and a meeting would be scheduled to see how to best proceed in the case of a positive drug screen. Additionally drug dogs could routinely patrol the campus to cut down on the number of drug dealings that occur while on school grounds. Health class would contain a mandatory drug program where children are able to see actual drugs and learn about what effects they have on the human body. Resources would be provided through school counselors for those seeking assistance with addition. For those voluntarily seeking aid, no punishment would be given. The overall goal would be to prevent students who haven’t taken drugs from ever trying them while at the same time providing assistance to those students currently on drugs so that they are able to safely discontinue them. Nothing would be forced on the students and no punishment would be given for those actually testing positive. The key here is that once a positive test occurs, parents are notified so that they can choose how best to proceed with the information they are given. This would combat the cases where the parent just has no idea that their child has drug habits until long after the addition has taken a hold of their life.

I think knowledge is the best preventer for all types of drug addiction. If you see someone under the influence of drugs and you learn how much of a hold drugs actually has on their life, you are less likely to want to try them. Providing alternative methods for recreational fun so that drugs are less enticing, is also something that should be done. For someone who doesn’t know the ramifications of drug usage, you could have a conversation with them discussing the withdrawal aspect and the effect the drugs have on their body. Doing so might have them at least think twice about trying drugs in the first place.

Other concerns over my plan would be a parents or students need for privacy. I would hope that with open disclosure over the fact that routine random screenings would happen, parents and students wouldn’t feel blindsided by the process. Their privacy would be still respected when it came to obtaining and releasing the findings of the screenings but privacy concerns alone wouldn’t be enough to except them from random screenings. Critics of my plan would additionally argue that school districts lack adequate funding to preform the searches and drug tests or that the tests are not proven to reduce drug usage rates. I would counter the first point by showing how funding could be obtained. Whether by donated money raised through fund raising events or by using state money allocated for drug testing. Federal grants have money allocated for precisely this purpose. To combat the second point i would argue that we are not trying to punish the children who are testing positive. Doing so would have them rebel and turn away from seeking help, or worse, would push them into harder drug use. However a positive test could make the difference in the life of an individual who’s family is unaware of their drug use. Through proper intervention and support, the child would be better equipped to make the decision for themselves before addiction has fully taken ahold. Early prevention is key and even if the drug tests alerted parents to children who simply tried the drugs experimentally and were then caught, they might think twice about doing them again once their parents were involved in the process. In the case of Ryan in the video, he experimented and it later led to a severe addiction and then jail all because the drug use got out of control. My plan would help kids like Ryan have access to resources before the point of jail or death because it would give them other options especially in the case where their parents feel like they don’t have any. Chris’ mother was correct in saying that resources are difficult to find on your own and typically when you do find them, you have to go through many hoops in order to obtain services. By having the school involved, the process is outlined for those parents seeking help but unsure where to go next. And because insurance companies only want to pay for the simplest amount of treatment that will aid the child, by catching addition early and being involved early, you’re more likely to obtain the adequate amount of help in order to combat addiction.

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Researchers warned parents that the source of drugs is now the family medicine cabinet more than any dealer. 

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Researchers warned parents that the source of drugs is now the family medicine cabinet more than any dealer. 

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Teen Prescription
Abuse

 

1) What are the
major facts? The fact still remain that no matter how much you as a parent
try to keep your own prescriptions out of eye sight and in private places keep
them away from your child. This type of drug can still be at hand in most of
their friends or other family members home. Its best to educate your child on
the effects of prescription pills, this type of drug can still be at hand in
most of their friends or family members home. 

2) What are the
major ethical issues? Decision on the student’s age and history for taking
a class that teaches the effects of pain prescription usage. Considering
parental permission over their child in taking this class for school credit.  

3) What are some major views and
concepts? Considering the fact
that approximately 19.5 million Americans consider themselves illegal
substances users and 22 million Americans are coping with substance-abuse
dependency issues, it’s a given that most professional school counselors will
work with this issue more than once in their careers. 

4) What might be
more relevant in deciding? Getting
an idea of how teens feel about prescription pills verses street drugs taking a
survey to get a better understand of how our teens think about the cause and effects.
From a survey that was taking in a random high school “Forty percent said
prescription medicines were "much safer" than illegal drugs, while 31
percent said there was "nothing wrong" with using prescription drugs
"once in a while." The study further found that 29 percent of teens
believe prescription pain relievers are non-addictive’’ wit 

 
5) Determine how critics might try to
argue against it? Parents’
rights vs. child’s rights: Nothing can take a faster turn into an ethical
dilemma than the debate between parents’ rights and the child’s rights. When
dealing with substance use and abuse.

6) Present rebuttal
or counterargument it has been augured that the percent of teen prescription
pill usages as raised over the past 10 years. I believe that is we implement an
education program into the school system that will make taking a class that educates
teens on the effects of all drugs including prescription pills as a core credit
class can possibly control this percent from continuing to rise. 

http://schoolcounselor.org/magazine/blogs/may-june-2007/the-ethics-of-substance-abuse-issues

http://www.nbcnews.com

T.Clark

 

 

 

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Teen Prescription
Abuse

 

1) What are the
major facts? The fact still remain that no matter how much you as a parent
try to keep your own prescriptions out of eye sight and in private places keep
them away from your child. This type of drug can still be at hand in most of
their friends or other family members home. Its best to educate your child on
the effects of prescription pills, this type of drug can still be at hand in
most of their friends or family members home. 

2) What are the
major ethical issues? Decision on the student’s age and history for taking
a class that teaches the effects of pain prescription usage. Considering
parental permission over their child in taking this class for school credit.  

3) What are some major views and
concepts? Considering the fact
that approximately 19.5 million Americans consider themselves illegal
substances users and 22 million Americans are coping with substance-abuse
dependency issues, it’s a given that most professional school counselors will
work with this issue more than once in their careers. 

4) What might be
more relevant in deciding? Getting
an idea of how teens feel about prescription pills verses street drugs taking a
survey to get a better understand of how our teens think about the cause and effects.
From a survey that was taking in a random high school “Forty percent said
prescription medicines were "much safer" than illegal drugs, while 31
percent said there was "nothing wrong" with using prescription drugs
"once in a while." The study further found that 29 percent of teens
believe prescription pain relievers are non-addictive’’ wit 

 
5) Determine how critics might try to
argue against it? Parents’
rights vs. child’s rights: Nothing can take a faster turn into an ethical
dilemma than the debate between parents’ rights and the child’s rights. When
dealing with substance use and abuse.

6) Present rebuttal
or counterargument it has been augured that the percent of teen prescription
pill usages as raised over the past 10 years. I believe that is we implement an
education program into the school system that will make taking a class that educates
teens on the effects of all drugs including prescription pills as a core credit
class can possibly control this percent from continuing to rise. 

http://schoolcounselor.org/magazine/blogs/may-june-2007/the-ethics-of-substance-abuse-issues

http://www.nbcnews.com

T.Clark

 

 

 

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Yes, I do believe that schools could combat this problem of teens
being addicted to pain killers. I think one solution would be for the schools
to have seminars’ or classes that are a part of the core classes to make sure
everything is explained fully to all students. These classes would in detail educate
teens on the seriousness of the addiction that painkillers can cause. However, I
don’t think this alone is a strong enough approach to reduce drug addiction among
teens. I believe it’s also in the parent’s best interest to further explain to their
children the importance of drugs of all kinds, and the affects they have on the
mind and body. (T.Clark)

  

 

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Yes, I do believe that schools could combat this problem of teens
being addicted to pain killers. I think one solution would be for the schools
to have seminars’ or classes that are a part of the core classes to make sure
everything is explained fully to all students. These classes would in detail educate
teens on the seriousness of the addiction that painkillers can cause. However, I
don’t think this alone is a strong enough approach to reduce drug addiction among
teens. I believe it’s also in the parent’s best interest to further explain to their
children the importance of drugs of all kinds, and the affects they have on the
mind and body. (T.Clark)

  

 