The issue of drug use or possession on school campuses nowadays is one of the top 10 reasons why high school students receive bad grades or even drop out of education. Though some drugs can be used for medical services, such as prescription drugs or cannabis, the issue of teens withholding and taking drugs should not be permitted.

Popping a pill or taking a whiff doesn’t just affect one’s physical being, but it affects their mental being. The effects of doing drugs can be lifelong, yet adolescents neglect that fact and live in the moment. Getting high once can easily turn into twice, or even three times. This can kill the brain cells and cause a scholar’s intelligence to diminish.

The human brain can develop up to age 25, meaning anything a student does can affect the brain’s function positively or negatively. In the human brain, there are neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters function to carry messages across the brain, attaching to a receptor in the process. When a teen does drugs, they can manipulate the normal patterns neurotransmitters use, altering the way their brain thinks or processes information.

Others may say that drugs are a fun, easy way to avoid stress and anxiety, but I argue that drugs themselves can cause stress. Involving drugs in one’s lifestyle can cause grades to drop, self-confidence to plummet and a higher risk of harming oneself. Though some hear stories of people doing drugs and still getting good grades, this is not typical. Most who abuse drugs have an increased number of absences and a heightened potential to drop out of school overall.

But everyone’s asking, ‘how are we supposed to solve such a huge problem like this?’ The solution is simple. High schools and universities alike should hold pep rallies and assemblies discussing the issues and lifelong risks of getting high. They should inform teens of the risk factors caused by drugs and how their everyday lives will be affected to influence their decisions around drugs.

The risk of drug abuse among adolescents is life-threatening and a negative issue for all teens. As a student body, we all should act against the use of drugs and hold grades higher. Now let me ask this question, would you rather get high or high grades?