“Livin’ young, wild and free,” Wiz Khalifa brags in his recent hit single, which glorified drug and alcohol use. Although glorified by pop culture, drugs have serious health effects which far outweigh the shallow benefits highlighted by popular songs.
Massapequa High School has hosted countless drug prevention assemblies over the years, mainly focusing on alcohol, marijuana, and heroin as the gateway drugs and most commonly abused drugs of suburbia. However, there is a new competitor, commonly known as crystal meth.
For the past few decades crystal meth has been most commonly found in rural and urban areas, but recently Mexican drug cartels have been targeting middle and high school students, especially those living in New York suburbs.
According to the Centers of Disease Control, in a survey of meth use by high school students, high school freshmen and seniors are the students most likely to use the drug. According to the survey, 5.1 percent of freshman and 5.2 percent of seniors used meth in 2009 in New York.
The statistic of meth use by high school students in New York has been on the rise since 2005 when it reached an average of 3.3 percent of all high school students.
Some students are surprised about these statistics.
“I expected it to be lower…you never really hear about it that much or at least in MHS,” junior Jared Lamm said. “And in the future I’m sure this number will decrease as schools and police begin to crack down on the kids using any type of drugs.”
As Lamm suggested, statistics do show that the national average of high school students participating in the use of methamphetamines is decreasing, but the rate of use in New York continues to show an increase as Mexican cartels focus on New York suburbs, especially on Long Island.
However, meth has not been a significant problem at MHS. Mr. Howard told The Chief that drug-finding dogs come “unannounced a number of times over the year, and go through the halls of the building, smelling lockers and locker rooms.”
Howard also explained that if a dog sits in front of a locker both sides of the locker are checked. If a dog sits in front of a locker like the ones in the science wing, all of the surrounding lockers are checked; parents and students are also notified. “However, we’ve yet to find anything.”
Although there have not been any confiscations of paraphernalia by this method, Mr. Howard makes it clear that the use of the drug dogs in the school is quite beneficial to Massapequa’s goal of raising awareness. Conversations that come as a result of these searches allow the administration to discuss the dangers of drugs with students and their parents. Even if a student is not a user, or is not using at school, there may be residue on their clothing from their friends who do use. Either way, the dogs allow for Massapequa to raise awareness of the potential dangers of drug abuse in the community.
Mr. Howard also made it clear that the “number of students at MHS that really abuse drugs is much smaller than people think.” In fact, it’s less than one percent of the student body, which is about less than half of the national average. “We haven’t seen any of it in this school.”
Speculations have arisen and junior Olivia Axelberd believes “[it’s] probably because kids have money to spend and they don’t know what else to do with it and it seems like getting high is the popular thing to do. Now that it’s becoming cheaper, it has more of an appeal to kids and it seems to be becoming more accessible.”
Crystal meth is a powerful central nervous system stimulant that stimulates brain cells and increases feelings of pleasure, overall mood and body movements. Users of meth are also at high risk for addiction due to the drug’s propensity to inhibit the body’s ability to produce dopamine, which disables users from gaining pleasurable feelings naturally or from anything besides meth.
Not only will meth provide the user with an exclusive euphoria that he or she would not be able to obtain otherwise, the high lasts six to twelve hours on average, versus a marijuana-stimulated high between one and three hours, according to www.healthadel.com.
Teachers are very concerned about students getting involved in the use of drugs such as crystal meth.
“Unfortunately, this is the time in a student’s life that many choose to start experimenting with illicit drugs and alcohol,” said AP biology teacher Mrs. Frontino.
“It is scary to think that they are engaging in behavior that is so addictive and deadly. As teachers, we hope to inform students of the dangers so they learn to avoid it and figure out coping mechanisms to deal with the stress and boredom they often face.”
However, Massapequa is not alone, “I think that drug use in Massapequa is a problem that all communities face nowadays,” Mr. Howard said. “The availability of prescription medications is really causing drug problems all-around to worsen. Kids are going to parties and stealing from people’s medicine cabinets, and doctors are over-prescribing or don’t know who they are really prescribing to, like Dr. Saji Francis.” Francis was arrested not more than a block from the high school in 2009 for selling opiate prescriptions, according to www.newsday.com.
Every school has to worry about the potential dangers of drugs, alcohol and other destructive decisions infecting its student body. Although methamphetamines have not been a problem in MHS, the administration and faculty will continue to do their best to raise awareness and help students make more constructive decisions.