Drug Abuse at School (6C Yam Hoi Ching)

Dear Editor,

        I am writing in reply to the letter sent by Amy Lau which posted on the South China Morning Post on 11^th September, 2012. We are of one mind that we both opine schools need to be more proactive on the drug problem at school.

         The problem of drug abusing at school is deteriorating as a survey conducted by HK Youth Federation last month found out that a quarter of the interviewees are taking drugs, Compared with the statistic of last year, the number of cases is escalating, there are nearly 10% increase in the number of cases of drug abuse. This alarming increase of drug abuse cases remind us that we should not turn a blind eye to this problem.

        Before suggesting solutions to the problem, I would like to examine the causes and effects of drug abuse so as to take the right remedial steps to correct the shortcoming. First of all, owing to great pressure from academic field and high expectation of parents, adolescents deem taking drugs such as cocaine and ketamine as an excellent way to escape from reality. They deem that taking drugs can help them to relief stress and pressure. In addition, it can let them forget the unhappiness in real life. Secondly, driven by curiosity and peer pressure, they want to try drugs to fulfill their curiosity. Nevertheless, teenagers have never thought of the destructive effect of taking drugs. They never notice that taking drugs do leave a permanent, deep scar on their health. Ranging from confusion to memory loss, from cold sweat to coma, there are undeniably a raft of detrimental effects on their health.

        Here comes to some solutions of drug abuse. Admittedly, prevention is always better than cure. Defensive measures should be done before it is too late. Education is the best precautionary measure of drug abuse. Schools should organize different kinds of anti-drug seminars to students to correct their misperception about drugs as well as the considerable amount of disastrous effects of drugs on health. This kind of anti-drug seminars can deter them from taking drugs. On top of the preventive measures, it comes to the remedial measures, what the schools should do to mitigate the problem is to grasp the nettle. Teachers play an important role in supervising and identifying students unusual behavior, for instance, if their students go to toilets for urinating frequently or they find their students hard to concentrate , they have the responsibility to find out the reasons, as these are main symptoms of drug abusing. After discovering the drug addicts, they should be sent to rehabilitation center or social workers for counseling service.

        I hope after the school has adopted the above measures and be more proactive, the number of case of drug abuse will soon be curbed and will be eradicated eventually.

Yours faithfully,

Chris Wong