should we

Should we or shoudn't we?
Drugs in Amal

by Na'ama Hagay and Ravit Mayost, Amal Aleph Comprehensive School, Ramla

Drug abuse has become a very widespread phenomenon nowadays. In Israel, it has been increasing since the Six Day War, which brought about a lowering of prices and easier access. In western countries, it has been increasing as one of the symptoms of the rebellion of youth. Society strongly opposes this phenomenon and it tries to spot the drug abusers and punish them.

There are a number of reasons why people take drugs. Drug users often come from broken, lower class families, but there are also others from rich and middle class families. The former do it in order to escape from their miserable lives and the grim reality in which they live. They are bored because they have everything and they have no goals to achieve, so they look for new experiences and a new interest in life.

A drug abuser goes through three stages. First, he enjoys his new situation and considers himself lucky because he can get "happy" whenever he chooses to. Then, he realizes that he needs the stronger drugs that cost a lot. At this stage, he cannot function without the drugs, so he shivers, shouts and cannot control himself. In the next stage, the drug abuser is a seriously sick person. His inner organs no longer work. Irreversible damage has been done and the addict will sooner or later die.

Drug addicts can be saved if they are spotted in time. Attempts to help abusers withdraw from drugs have been made in mental hospitals. However, only 2% of the patients succeed in quitting. Effective treatment costs a lot of money because the addicts must be kept in special centers for long periods and given very expensive medical care. Most of the families cannot raise such huge sums of money and they seek the help of society.

We found out in a survey of 10th graders that drugs don't have a serious significance in our school. A lot of students answered, "I have never used drugs." The students in our school care about what is going on around them.

When asked the question what would they do if they found out their friend was using drugs, one 10th grade student answered, "I will tell his parents." Another student said, "First of all, I will go directly to him and talk about the implications of using drugs. If that does not help, I will to to a responsible authority."

Do people use drugs for social reasons? According to our survey 33% of the girls answered that people do use drugs for social reasons, while 36% of the boys answered that they do not. One math teacher said, "I think that people use drugs because of social pressure or because of personal problems." A Hebrew literature teacher said that people use drugs because they want to be cool.

From the survey, we conclude that despite the negative media attention that Ramla gets as a city with a drug problem, the students of Amal Aleph say "NO" to drugs.

This article previously appeared in The Amal Sun - The Student Newspaper of Amal Aleph Ramla, May 1998.

Amal Aleph Ramla school site