First, read the following article: Johnston, L.D., Miech, R.A., O'Malley, P.M., Bachman, J.G., Schulenberg,J.E., & Patrick, M.E. (2018). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use,

Youth Drug Use Justin Case

The University of Texas Permian Basin

Youth Drug Use

I am considering a career in a social service capacity, namely, police or social work. Since I am particularly interested in working with marginalized youth, the information presented in the Johnston et al. (2018) article intrigued me. Though Johnston et al. provided a wealth of data, I found the information pertaining to the effect that college and future plans has on youth drug use, the need for prevention programs to be drug specific, and the phenomenon of generational forgetting particularly interesting.

Johnston et al. (2018) found that youth lacking future college plans are more likely to participate in the use of illicit drugs. This information should be concerning to a future social worker or police officer since many of the youth who require social service intervention are faced with familial or socioeconomic challenges that are not supportive of future college plans (Beauvais & Oetting, 2002). Environments that support future college enrollment may be a privilege many youth are denied, a disadvantage that is resulting in higher drug usage rates among impoverished youth. Providing educational support and creating clear paths to college for youth who currently lack this type of support should be a primary goal for social workers. Police officers may also play a role in encouraging college plans in order to curb youth drug use by participating in community programs that seek to rehabilitate and guide disenfranchised youth rather than only serving in a punitive capacity.

Police officers and social workers may also have the ability to curb the use of youth drug use by creating and participating in prevention programs. Johnson et al. (2017) are clear that youth do not necessarily apply the risk and danger associated with one drug to another and therefore prevention programs are most effective when they are drug specific. Rather than delivering blanket information that drug use is risky, social service providers should provide

specific, clear information about individual types of drugs in order to deter youth use and abuse. Research indicates that various subgroups create their own norms about drugs and drug use, therefore providers should take particular care that the information is delivered in a manner that encourages retention within specific populations (Beauvais & Oetting, 2002). Drug prevention information should be specific to both the types of drugs discussed and the audience it is provided to.

Further, social service providers should never consider the use of any one type of drug to be extinguished. Generational forgetting refers to the phenomenon that occurs when the use of a particular drug declines so significantly that the dangers associated with the use of the drug are no longer touted within society and a resurgence of usage occurs within a different generation (Johnson et al., 2017). Learning history is important, remembering history is imperative. Social service providers like police officers and social workers should be prepared to present information about all drugs, even ones not used frequently in order to prevent generational forgetting. Practitioners should be aware that drugs are not excluded from the social and technological advancements of society and will evolve over time in order to keep their stronghold on youth.

Interestingly, the drug usage gaps between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged youth are not as wide as many expect. Though commonly held stereotypes perpetuate the idea that poor youth partake in more usage of illicit drugs than privileged youth are deeply rooted within society, research actually indicates that the factors associated with youth drug use are common to all ethnic and socioeconomic groups (Beauvais & Oetting, 2002). This information supports the assertion that social service providers should seek to address drug use within all youth populations by approaching each population with a specific prevention plan

suited for the needs of the population. A multidimensional approach that recognizes the unique needs of unique youth groups is best suited to address youth drug use since all youth groups partake in drug use, albeit at different rates of onset and cessation (Beauvais & Oetting, 2002).

Addressing youth drug abuse does not come in a one-size-fits-all solution. Social workers and law enforcement officers should utilize the research and community resources available to them to tackle the needs of all youth since no group is spared from this epidemic.

References

Beauvais, F., & Oetting, E. (2002). Variances in the etiology of drug use among ethnic groups of adolescents. Public Health Reports, 117, 8-14.

Johnston, L.D., Miech, R.A., O'Malley, P.M., Bachman, J.G.,  Schulenberg,J.E.,  & Patrick, M.E. (2018). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2017: Overview, key findings on adolescent drug use. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/148123