It All Depends On Your Level of Awareness

         At any school in the world, including Pomona High School, you’d find yourself surrounded by peers who might be under the influence of drugs, especially marijuana. Marijuana can hinder a student’s success in school and in the future. Therefore, Pomona High School should take further actions to create awareness of the consequences caused by drugs.

               Marijuana is the number one drug substance used by teens in America. Cannabis is a term that refers to marijuana and other drugs made from the same plant which contains THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical. Students have the curiosity to experiment with marijuana, and once they inhale it, they become addicted do to the effects of THC. Others might not have the same curiosity, but they were urged by a group of friends. According to private and government studies, teen drug abuse can also be caused by anxiety, anger, depression and even boredom.

            One of the security guards from Pomona High was asked of the symptoms one can get from being high and he exclaimed, “ as drug users walk pass me, their eyes become very red and the pupils become wider.“ The most obvious symptom, according to the security guard, is the odor after inhaling marijuana.  When the security guard acknowledges that the students are under the influence, he immediately takes them to the principal’s office; the principal suspends those individuals for five days, holds a parent conference and assigns a SAP referral which means that the student has to be tested for drugs. If the offense occurs again there is a five day suspension, second parent conference and a transfer to another school. Although these punishments may seem severe, they are not sufficient.

             A student at Pomona High was asked to give details of the effects marijuana has on him and he said, “Sometimes I forget things that happened, depending on how much I inhale. It becomes difficult for me to study and do my work in class. Within a few minutes of inhaling marijuana smoke, I feel intoxicated, rapid heartbeat, some loss of coordination and balance, and a slower than normal reaction time.”

            As a result, drugs affect a student’s academic performance. Many of Pomona High School teachers have observed that the students who often sleep and are constantly absent or late, are the same students who inhale marijuana. Among a group of long-time heavy marijuana users in Costa Rica, researchers found that the students had trouble when asked to recall a short list of words (a standard test of memory). Students in that study group also found it very hard to focus their attention on the tests given to them.

Many of our students and staff do care about the effects that marijuana has on their peers and they all contribute on making Pomona High a school of discipline, with healthy kids. In our school we have a drug-free week, where rubber bracelets are distributed to every student with a quote that says “Say no to drugs, be drug-free.” In addition our principal organizes an event where other school’s come to explain to us how important it is to be drug-aware. Maybe twice per year the police and their drug dogs come to our campus to catch any drug abuser, which is not enough due to the alarming rate of students who carry drugs on them and carry these drugs on a daily basis. Although these efforts create drug-awareness, they do not help the students’ education. Research shows that appropriate principal monitoring can reduce future drug use, even among those adolescents who may be prone to marijuana use, this includes those who are rebellious, cannot control their emotions, and experience internal distress. To address the issue of drug abuse in our area, it is important to get involved in drug abuse prevention programs in our community. Only then will we be able to understand the corruption and effects marijuana has on our education and our future. 

-Maria Avila