“In the school settings, teenagers draw conclusions about alcohol and drug abuse from what they see and hear from their friends, classmates, and teachers.” -Philip (2006) This is your brain on….:Understanding and curbing adolescent substance abuse.

When I read the blurb on the Education Connection in this chapter of Philip’s, I couldn’t help but think back to my middle and high school years in health class. Yes, I had the stereotypical health class where we talked about the dangers of drugs, alcohol, abusive relationships, teen pregnancy, and amongst other cliché topics health teachers are forced to talk about with adolescents. But, what striked me the most was the quote on how “teenagers believe that there has always been an association between fried eggs and your brain!” which is entirely true because I remember that’s how the topic for open discussion on drug abuse began in class. Of course, this didn’t do anything to make my fellow classmates think twice about the dangers of becoming into contact with drugs.

I grew up in a typical mostly white middle class suburban town where I could say drugs weren’t “openly visible,” but however some of my classmates did have some crazy parties where there was obviously underage drinking ongoing as well as the usage of marijuana and perhaps other types of ilicit drugs. Once in awhile, these parties would be busted by the local police and the host of the party just got a slap on the wrist for his/her wrongdoings. It wasn’t until after I graduate in 2009 that I started to hear how my town was slowly becoming a commonplace for known heroin users where at least 3 of my classmates have overdosed and died from the disease. What I am trying to say is: these “scare tactics” that the author mentioned definitely don’t work. Teenagers will always be walking around with the mentality that they are invincible and will never succumb to the drug like Brian did with cocaine in this chapter, but there needs to be “expections and penalities regarding use by students, they help reinforce the fact that underage drug use is not an acceptable form of behavior” (Philip, 2006).