Searcy Ark., (LP) — Drugs are a big deal around the world, especially when it’s used for the wrong purpose and by the wrong people. Citizens in Searcy have been getting a hold of drugs and consuming them when they are not supposed to. Teens are the majority of the people who have a way of getting drugs, consuming them and facing the consequences. Teen drug abuse results from bad influences from peers, stressful events, mental disorders, etc. Teens getting a hold of drugs has many consequences towards their life because it basically changes their lifestyle. They become less focused, they get in more trouble, they tend to drop out of school and that really has an effect on them when their adults. Certain factors like the internet, their friends, and the teens social behaviors play a big role in their choice of doing drugs. Teens in high school from freshman to seniors have a high rate of drug usage in the recent years. Statistics show that more than 47,000 people have died from drug overdose in the year 2014. Including drug deaths, Arkansas is listed as the 25th highest death rate in the country. Drugs like opioids and methamphetamine have a high percent of usage in Arkansas. Drugs especially like those are some of the most dangerous drugs out there and shouldn’t by any means be used for anything besides medical use. Teens these days clearly don’t get the message and think it’s the trend these days to do drugs. They get influenced and think it’s cool to do drugs, even knowing the consequences of what can happen, teens do it anyway.
Teens in Searcy have been affected by the use of drugs. It has affected the community and families of those who have abused drugs. Families like Jewell Duncan’s have been affected by drugs. Her mom was a drug addict, which caused her to have “a rough childhood” states Jewell. Many other families can relate to her story because they have family members that went through or still go through drug usage and abuse. A lot of teens and adults that have done drugs in the past or are doing it currently, go to rehab centers to cure themselves of drugs for good and get help.
Drugs are affecting school because schools have students who do drugs and many of them drop out because of that. Students also sell drugs at school and come to school after taking drugs and that effects their behavior in school. Students performance changes after they do drugs and their grades drop after they do drugs because they can’t concentrate so they flunk. A teen’s high school experience tarnishes as they get more and more into drugs, which also effects the teens family. A teen that does drugs in school or sells it most likely gets caught and gets in trouble, they can either get suspended, expelled or even have to the police. A teen can get evicted with drugs and get probation parole, or go to juvie or jail. Officer Davis deals with many issues in school concerning teens carrying or selling drugs at school. He says ” I deal with so many issues that have to do with drugs its insane.” He is the police officer of the school so he deals with problems like that.
Teens that are addicted to drugs or any other substances mainly go to rehab centers to get cured and cleansed of anything that can ruin their life. Jim Clark works at the Wilbur D. Mill Treatment Center. He has been working in the rehabilitation field for about 25 years around the state of Arkansas and has been settled in the Searcy center for five years. He has dealt with many families that have been affected by drug abuse. The center is a behavioral health facility that treats people with addiction. They rid them of any drugs, stabilize them, give them group and individual sessions. Jim states that the facility, “helps steers the people in the right direction, motivates them and helps them get back on their feet.” Jim deals with many different kinds of people that suffer from substance abuse like doctors, lawyers, NBA players, golf players etc. He said ” I’ve dealt with people that have had high accomplishments and goals and they all fell apart when they started drugs.” Cases that deals with any kind of substance comes from the police and patients who turn themselves in.
When the patients are in the facility they go through their cycle of cleansing and rehab and it is “ranging from 8-22 weeks, it just depends on the individual.” Jim said that, “people that abuse substances or drink do it because of a disease, mainly like depression.” The majority of the patients that are in the treatment center have some sort of disease, mainly depression or a mental disorder. Jim says, “that’s the reason they do drugs is because they have a disease.” Jim has had 2500 patients over the past year that went through rehab for drug abuse.
Teens that do drugs have a reason to do it. Jim Clark says, “The environment they grew up in, the kind of families they have, the support they get all plays a big role in their life and if they don’t get that nourishment while their growing up they get depressed causing them to get into drugs.” There are more than 5000 kids in foster care and many other kids who don’t have a stable home. The rehab center gets many of those cases with people from situations like that and they try to get them in their own feet. Clark says, “We passed Garrett’s Law which makes sure every woman that is pregnant gets tested and so does the baby. If the baby is positive, it is separated from the mother and she goes to rehab until she can cure herself and be ready to take care of the baby drug-free.
As Jim says, “There’s no possible way we can stop this epidemic because drugs always get around, people sell it and make money for a living, it’s a never ending cycle.” The rehab along with the community can contribute and at least motivate those in need of motivation. A little can go a long way, words and encouragement can save a life.
