battling substance (mis)education
At Samo, it feels like every day might include false fire alarms triggered by alleged vape use or students getting caught with drug paraphernalia. Drugs, sex and alcohol are not a new part of the high school experience. However, with social media not only glorifying but expanding access to drugs, the nationwide drug epidemic continues to worsen. Given this reality, it’s crucial for students to have access to reliable information about the potential harms of drugs.
Marijuana
As California residents, where recreational use of cannabis is legal for people 21 and over, SMMUSD students are inevitably exposed to the phrase "California Sober," which refers to a person who consumes marijuana but is abstinent from alcohol and all other drugs. The name itself reflects just how normalized cannabis usage is in California, contributing to a culture that continuously minimizes risks of weed usage and believes weed use is harmless and routine. Though marijuana is often used as a form of self-medication for depression and anxiety, frequent usage has been linked to dependency, psychosis, depression and other mental illnesses. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, THC (the psychoactive compound in weed) can alter the brain’s reward system and stifle the development of areas of the brain that manage stress and process emotions. Purchasing weed from an illegal drug supplier or even from dispensaries is never without risk. The California Department of Cannabis Control has discovered rates of the insecticide chlorfenapyr, greatly exceeding state limits and federal standards, in both illegally and legally sold cannabis products. Exposure to chlorfenapyr can damage the nervous system and can, in extreme cases, lead to respiratory failure or death. Underage marijuana usage, despite how accessible and normalized it may be in our community, remains illegal and poses significant mental and physical health risks.
Alcohol
For many students, partying is a critical part of the high school experience. These highly stimulating social events, however, may spur social anxiety or insecurity. Adolescents often turn to alcohol — "liquid courage" — to combat their fears. Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) confirmed alcohol to be more popular amongst teens than tobacco products, nicotine vaping and marijuana, with 3.3 million 12 to 20-year-olds reporting binge drinking in the past month. Binge drinking is often viewed as just a danger to the liver; however, alcohol is medically linked to a wide variety of issues, leading to around 178,000 deaths per year. Though social pressures and anxieties are inevitable, arming students with both healthy coping mechanisms and knowledge about the risks of drinking will allow them to make educated decisions about their health while they are in the moment.
Birth Control, Sex and Abstinence
Birth control — generally known as “the pill” — is effective at preventing pregnancy, and has thus been criticized by conservative politicians such as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for its supposed similarity to abortion. With organizations providing access to contraceptives, such as Planned Parenthood, under attack by the Republican party, the future of "the pill" is uncertain. However, birth control has many other uses besides its primary function: it can also manage menstrual cycles, reduce period pain and treat conditions like endometriosis, which can be debilitating. Birth control is often demonized on social media by self-proclaimed "holistic" influencers who claim that the pill is unsafe for individuals with mood disorders, causes hormonal imbalances or, as a rapidly spreading myth on these platforms suggests, leads to cancer. Let’s set the record straight: the pill can lead to side effects in a minority of patients (acne, weight gain, etc.) and has been linked to a slightly increased risk of certain cancers, such as breast or cervical cancer. However, research has also shown that taking the pill reduces the risk of ovarian, endometrial and colorectal cancers (American Cancer Society). The information about birth control that non-medical “experts” spread online uses fear-mongering to spread their content rapidly and influence viewers with a lack of media literacy. Now, more than ever, as women's reproductive rights become more at risk for reversal, it’s important to advocate for access to contraception and work to dismantle misinformation.
The solution is not limited to abstinence–at least not in the sense of shaming individuals for their choices or ignoring the complexities of drug use and sex. In a society so deeply intertwined with pharmaceutical solutions and in a community of high schoolers that will inevitably be exposed to drugs in some way or another, comprehensive and consistent education, beyond school hours, is the only way to combat the onslaught of falsities and social pressures found online. Should students seek out fact-based information about the risks of drugs, they can make informed decisions about their health instead of relying on misinformation and stigma to guide their choices.