Use of Education for Controlling the Use of Illegal Drugs - Research Paper Example

[Your full full October 22, Use of Education for Controlling the Use of Illegal Drugs Before going to discuss the power of education in controlling illegal drugs, let us get a better understanding of the issue of illegal drug use. Use of Illegal drugs has become a common issue related to youth. There are many reasons why youth likes to take drugs. Some of the main reasons include bad company, intoxication, and temporary decrease in depression. The intoxication associated with the use of illegal drugs and the relaxation that a person feels by taking illegal drugs are some of the main causes behind increase in the graph of illegal drug use.

We can control illegal drug use through three main ways. Those ways include sending drug users to jails, psychotherapy, or educating drug users individually to help them control their habit of taking drugs. In this paper, we will discuss how we can use education to control the use of illegal drugs. Providing education is the most effective way to control the use of illegal drugs (Debbies). Education can be used to create awareness among people regarding consequences of using illegal drugs. Drug education for students should begin at the age of 12 and should last until the age of 18.

The reason is that the age of adolescence is the most critical stage of a person’s life because at this stage of life, a person learns different behaviors and adopts different habits. Therefore, if the education regarding illegal drugs will be given to the students in this age, it can really help students keep themselves away from the use of illegal drugs. Elders can educate the youngsters to makep them stay away from the use of drugs (Mariam). Parents and media can also play their roles in controlling the use of illegal drugs.

Parents can provide proper counseling to their children if they find them using illegal drugs. Media can also play its role by creating awareness and discouraging the use of illegal drugs. Here, we must say that education should not only be given to the students who are not drug users but also it should be given to real drug users in order to make them leave the habit of taking drugs. Moreover, education at individual level is also very effective; rather we can say that individual education is even more effective than classroom education.

The reason is that in classroom education, teachers cannot fully concentrate towards every student, which may affect students’ learning whereas in case of individual education, teachers can give proper attention to each of the students, which not only improves the process of learning but also makes students fully aware of the consequences of taking illegal drugs and other substances. Education is the best way to control the use of illegal drugs. “Education and outreach are becoming major parts of establishing a more effective program to keep drug abuse out of the workplace” (Oliver).

Talking about youth, we can say that education not only creates awareness but also injects a sense of social responsibility in the minds of the students. Teachers need to educate students that use of illegal drugs can adversely affect their decision-making abilities. They should also tell young students that a person who takes illegal drugs forgets his/her moral and ethics. Teachers also need to make students aware of the fact that the use of illegal drugs not only creates problems for the people who take drugs but also for the people with whom they live.

Go states, “Illicit drug users are unaware of the fact that drug abuse indirectly or directly affects their family, their neighborhood, their business, their education and their health adversely”. The educators can use the method of operant conditioning to control the use of illegal drugs. Psychologists can make children change their behaviors by using the concepts of reward and punishment. Positive reinforcement and behavior analysis can also help psychologists deal with the problem of the use of illegal drugs.

Psychologists can analyze the behaviors of the suspected drug users and can reinforce them positively to make them control their habit. Summing it up, use of illegal drugs is a very dangerous habit, which can only be controlled through proper education and strong will power of the drug users. It is the mutual responsibility of the teachers, parents, media, and the government to create awareness among youth and adults about the consequences of using illegal drugs in order to make them control themselves from adopting the habit of using illegal drugs.

Works Cited Debbies, Jim. “United States Drug Control Policy.” Ezinearticles.com, 15 Aug. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2011. Go, Pauline. “How Drug Trafficking Affects The United States And Its Youth.” Ezinearticles.com, 07 May 2008. Web. 22 Oct. 2011. Mariam, Gul. “Reduce prescription drug abuse by educating about ill-effects.” Articlesbase.com, 05 Jul. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2011. Oliver, Bill. “How to prevent drug abuse in your workplace - includes related article.” Findarticles.com, 11 Dec. 1993. Web. 22 Oct. 2011.