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More Than A Buzz

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Earlier this week a woman was driving the wrong way on a highway that ultimately resulted in the death of eight people. After the toxicology report, it was announced that she had been under the influence of alcohol and marijuana. This tragedy brings to light the extremely serious and deadly consequences of driving under the influence. DUI’s are usually reserved for Hollywood stars and wealthy socialites, which somehow diminish the severity of choosing to drive under the influence. Usually people see a humorous mug shot and think no big deal of the situation except on how this situation may affect their TV programming. DUI’s are a big deal; every time someone chooses to drive under the influence of a substance, they are recklessly putting themselves and everyone on the road in danger. Enough jokes about DUI’s, the accident that claimed the lives of one infant, three young girls, and three innocent bystanders is no laughing matter. Think before you drive about just how wrong everything can go when you’re buzzed.

- Ruben

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The Bitterest Pill, The Sweetest Sin

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

A friend of mine was complaining about having what he called small seizures off and on again over the past month. That same friend also does drugs on what I would call a regular basis. Initially I linked the two problems but he turned my diagnosis away, saying he’d been one step ahead of me, and in fact, believing the same thing, had stopped his little habit for a few weeks. Sadly enough, today, using terms such as serotonin and melatonin, he explained that we’d both been right before. Worse, those seizures happen because he’s already well medicated. I’ve always been against recreational drugs, but this little mishap set me off. I know that I can’t stop everyone from doing them though I wish they’d take some sort of consideration for themselves. Apparently, LSD, as he informed me, once taken 50 times or more, makes you clinically insane. I think the first time should be enough for that declaration. I know that he can count though I doubt he will stop, and I think watching him slowly off himself is the hardest part. I get that they make the world a little brighter but still, who really wants to see that white light with their tunnel vision?

 

- Eric

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Pressure

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

Decisons. Whether they are choices you have to make, options to choose from, peer pressure, or internal pressure, it’s hard to make a decision. In life people are given choices. We have to choose one thing or another. It can be hard to pick the right thing. The thing that’s really hard is peer pressure. Peer pressure is a big thing in the teenage world. Other people try to get us to do things. It can be our friends, our boyfriend/girlfriend, or total strangers. They try to get us to do things we might not want to do. They do this by making what they want you to do seem great.

 

A lot of teens are pressured to do drugs or have sex. Our parents told us not to do that stuff but what if you are a girl and your boyfriend wants you to have sex? You have in your mind already to have sex after marriage. You think, “If I don’t do what he wants then he will leave me.” Girls, don’t think that! If he leaves you because you don’t do it then he isn’t worth it! If you’re a guy don’t pressure your girlfriend to do it – she will be a total mess in the end.

 

Drugs are also a mess. People who pressure others usually use the line, “If you do it you will be cooler.” Don’t fall for it. You will harm your body. You are young and shouldn’t mess up your body. My grandma and her siblings had/have been smoking most of their years. One of them died, my grandma has health problems and her sister does too. It isn’t cool when you have health problems. So think about what you are doing.

 

Again this is only my opinion but it is somewhat the truth. You can decide to listen to me or you don’t have to. I’m not peer pressuring you to do anything or not to do anything. I just believe drugs are wrong and can hurt you in the end.

 

- Tatiana

 

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Debate over anti-depressant use in teens

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

Ever since I had to do an analysis of ads promoting anti-depressants for consumer education class, I’ve been interested in the controversies surrounding such promotion, but more importantly in the controversies surrounding the actual use of such drugs in teens in particular.

 

There has been a lot of press, both positive and negative, surrounding anti-depressant use in teens. It’s a debate that continues today, and some parts of the media seems unrelenting in its association of anti-depressant use with an increased tendency to be violent or suicidal. On the other hand, some people do believe it’s affective in treating depression in teens, albeit with side effects.

 

No matter what the sides of the argument are, even scientific studies on the issue still generate a lot of controversy. Some medical studies are sponsored by the companies that make these anti-depressants, and that can be the main problem people have with these studies. There doesn’t seem to be a concrete answer when it comes to this issue of anti-depressant use.

 

Given the side effects that can come with its use, should anti-depressant use be limited in teens? Or is it depicted more negatively than it should be?

 

- Allyson

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