Barbara W. Coles Trader
Introduction
Faced with the threat of death and diseases, the number of teenagers who have been experimenting with alcohol and marijuana have declined according to the current U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study. However, an increased number of teenagers are using Cocaine. Cocaine was once an exotic and expensive drug that is becoming more available due to lower prices. Cocaine and other drugs are not harmless recreational drugs; they are poisonous to the human body.
A theoretical assumption that we call the “compliance model” which includes most of the campaigning efforts are still ignored by many of our youngsters. Many of the adolescents have a tendency to think that the “multi-media compliance model” inadequately oversimplifies the communication process. In return, a large number of the adolescents remain naive and simplistic thinkers.
The “basic theoretical model” includes two stages in the process of behavior change: motivational and behavioral management presenting ways to avoid consuming, purchasing and selling harmful drugs. Symptoms common to all narcotics and the human body effects will be included in the teaching strategies. Meanwhile, the students will do studies of statistical teenage drug abuse: interpreting data in frequency distribution tables and graphs.
Self awareness is to know one’s self and others, to make meaningful futuristic decisions and act on them. Probability: Students will be comparing two numbers (ratio) and problem solving techniques with percentages of adolescents who have self-esteem and those lacking self-confidence.
The Problem
The teenage students will learn about narcotics, abuse, addiction, statistics, the threat of diseases, death; and, how to program themselves against using drugs abusively.
Alcohol, nicotine and marijuana smoking research have shown a similar decline in daily use: shown from 11% of all seniors in 1978 to 7% in 1979 and 5% in 1984. Meanwhile, there is a more threatening narcotics being used by teenagers; it is cocaine. Cocaine derivative can presently be purchased in Southern California for $10.00 to $25.00. In the Northeast states, 11% of the students admitted that they had used cocaine; the states in the West 9%; the states in the South-4%; the North Central states 2%. The figures are alarming, because the addictive quality of cocaine has been laboratory tested with rats. The laboratory tests have found that rats given access to unlimited quantities of cocaine will eat the substance to the exclusion of everything else until they die.
The causes of drug abuse among teenagers are disturbing, because studies reveal that the adolescents are seeking where do they fit in their society. Therefore, when adolescents have difficulty meeting society’s demands and they have their own internal demands to confront the result can be extreme anxiety and a feeling of powerlessness; therefore, the need to relieve these tensions can result in drug experimentation. The adolescents are given a temporary “high feeling,” an exaggerated sense of competence and power.
Preventive Procedures
The students will be given information that includes objective information about all types of drugs and their effects on the body. The intervention will include assistance and support to adolescents during critical periods of their lives through counseling, the use of hotlines and the like.
The alternative program will include promoting confidence, selfreliance, challenging experiences of success in school, restoration projects, volunteer services and helping such causes as environment preservation in the community.
An Educational Setting
Group discussions and role playing techniques will be utilized to help the students improve their ability to cope and make decisions. Clarifying values and improving problem solving skills within a structured setting in the classroom; for example, the teacher will point out the type of data that will be used, and situations where the mode/range of a set of data is utilized; the students will design frequency tables, organize the data, use stem-and-leaf displays. The synonyms for the various drugs will be inclusive and problem solving within the “classroom world” for the “outside world.”
Narcotics and the Effects
