Drug Trafficking of College Students in United States: Are Parents and Academic Teachers Responsible to Stop It?

Drug Trafficking of College Students in United States: Are Parents and Academic Teachers responsible to stop it?
M. Vanessa Millan ENG 122: English Composition II
Teresa Plummer
September 3, 2012

Drug Trafficking of College Students in the United States: Are Parents and Academics responsible to stop it?

Drug dealing on college campuses currently presents one of the most challenging problems on the US social and legal agenda. The cases of drug trafficking are serious and require immediate attention from the responsible bodies. The tendency of drug dealings on college campuses is increasing and hazards normal functioning of civil society. Therefore, authorities are taking the drastic actions against drug dealers. The college’s authorities have focused its efforts on the criminalization of drug use. This authorities in accordance with the government have to no avail, spent countless billions of dollars in efforts to eradicate the supply of drugs in the campuses. Efforts of interdiction and law enforcement have not been met with decreases in the availability of drugs in campuses and the whole country. Apart from being highly costly, drug law enforcement has been counterproductive. Current college drug laws need to be relaxed. The college’s authorities need to shift spending from penalization to education, treatment, and prevention. Drug trafficking has become an increasingly growing problem at colleges in the United States; today more students are buying, selling and using drugs. Students think this is a fast and very easy way to get money, not knowing all the risks. Are the parents responsible to stop this problem? Or, are the academic teachers responsible to stop it? Who is more responsible? How they can help? What they can do? Which programs will help to really stop this problem? One will say it is the parents responsible to stop this problem. On the other hand people will agree it is the teachers’ responsibility to stop and fight it. The parents will be responsible of drug trafficking between college students. The academics will be also responsible of this drug trafficking at college level. This theory could be accepted in accordance of what Urie Bronfebrenner wrote in his ecological Theory (Bronfebrenner, 1979):
“The microsystem consists of our primary daily environment: family, school, neighborhood, religious, and group affiliations. Each of these interactions may range from excellent to poor and thus have a direct impact on the daily development of children”.
This theory is showing how all the good and bad behaviors are learned from the students from their families and from their school. In accordance to Bronfebrenner, all the first knowledge we acquire comes from the first circle that surrounds us, and this is form by our family and school. According to the recent National Survey on Drug use and Health research (2010), college campuses experience drug trafficking problems. Surveys report that college students involved in drug trafficking in accordance of the use involved amphetamines (6.5 percent); marijuana (32.3 percent); cocaine (3.7 percent); hallucinogens (7.5 percent); and ecstasy (3.6 percent). In many reported cases, the use of these illicit drugs has resulted in hospitalizations for overdoses, date rape crimes, deaths, and many other personal tragedies. It has being shown one of the main reasons that students don’t use drugs is because of their parents -- because of their positive influence and because they know it would disappoint them. That’s why it is so important that parents build a strong relationship with their kids and talk to them about drug abuse -- the earlier the better, (Davis J. 2001 1st paragraph). The same will apply to the academics, if we go from the fact that the School turns to be the second home and the second place where students spend half of the time in their lives. In this case, academic teachers should have to spend more time talking and guiding the students into more after school activities. They should take responsibility of stopping this drug trafficking problem. In first instance they must find out if the problem exists. How do both parents and teachers have to do to figure out if the drug trafficking problems exist? The research process was very easy. It started from a list of questions the parents asked to the college students. We started with the parents by following the National Crime Prevention Councils’ short steps to prevent drug use and abuse. Simple questions, for example: What are you doing after school? Who are you friends? Could you invite you friends so I can meet them? Which sports you are into? Are there any after school activities you are enrolled to? The parents were always aware on the students’ behavior. Parents had a special observance into their feeding and sleeping behaviors. The parents had the relevant conversations on the subject of drugs, what are they and which will be the consequences of using them. Serious discussion took place on rules and punishments. Real punishments were applied when these rules were broken. Talks about drug influences, legal consequences up to reach the risks of being death just by getting involved or being around of people that uses drugs and deals with them. After we went into the academics side, the teacher’s job was a lot more complicated. The questions were set more like a class. They applied the knowledge and took some courses into the theme and brought bring people who were extremely specialized on the drug and abuse subjects. The academic teachers were into a very stretch communication with the parents about the students’ behaviors. This communication was more difficult, because at college level they confronted the problem, of not having the luck of be dealing with adults. The parents were less involved into the students’ activities. The parents’ inattention was the biggest mistake. This inattention was the main cause of the miscommunication between parents and academics. The parents had involved themselves into every single student’s activities. The bimestrial group activities were very successful. The parents and teachers days at each college campus took place. Important steps have been taken to address the unique needs of special populations affected by the drug trafficking problem. With regard to college and university students, the Administration has partnered with college and university leaders to advance prevention, early intervention, treatment, and recovery initiatives on campuses across the country. The Administration initiated the Vet Corps program to recruit veterans to serve in community coalitions across the country, providing economic opportunities, housing, health care, and drug prevention and treatment services for veterans and their families. And the Administration continued to provide funding support for family-based treatment and forged new partnerships to improve policies and programs responsive to the unique needs of women and families affected by drug trafficking and use, (National Drug Prevention p.4). This is a very important subject, for the students, the teachers and the society in general. The whole world relays on the future generations’ education. If the society wants to extinguish the drug trafficking problem, it has to start from the first area. The students’ education is the first area from the elementary up to college level. It is necessary that college students take their own responsibility. The teachers must take responsibility. Students must take action by stopping this drug problem. The teachers have to be more strict and tough and take real action into stopping this problem. The teachers must enforce the communication between parents and students. The college academics should give more forums about drug trafficking, use and abuse. If not, the danger still be growing up and will continue encouraging college students to sell, use and abuse drugs. All of the options in the area of combating drug trafficking includes a strong segment involving the education of the people about the harmful effects of these dangerous, mind-altering, and sometimes addictive drugs. As said by actor Carroll O’ Connor, after observing this nation’s drug policy for years, and after losing his son Hugh to drugs, put the Case succinctly: It is time to admit that our approach to the drug problem has failed. After more than a decade of the “war on drugs”, too many lives are still being shattered. We spend billions to enforce laws that return small benefit. The hard drug market is strictly illegal, and the drugs are everywhere easily obtainable. We run from the drug problem and hide behind verbiage that demands no special action and no new expense: “Work Education! Education is the sole remedy! People must learn to refrain; they have to do it by themselves”, (Gary James 2001 p. 14). The research shows parents expect the university or college not only to provide intellectual opportunities for their sons and daughters, but also to protect them from harm. From the beginning, the institution enters into a covenant with students and their parents. The understanding is that the exploration of new ideas will occur under conditions flexible enough to allow for discovery, but with sufficient controls to ensure a reasonable measure of safety. This will only be able to be a satisfactory result by the coordination of the integration and synchronization of all participating agencies’, such as the parents itself, the academic and the entire nation initiatives are required to ensure a regional unified effort. Furthermore, there is the current need to enhance and increase the free exchange of narcotics intelligence and information among competent authorities, parents and academics. It has to be a unification of efforts to stop, fight and try to solve the drug trafficking in colleges and in the entire society. Parents have many concerns in regards to the stop the drug trafficking in college students, safety being their top priority. Academics need to become more creative when it comes to getting the students involved into as many activities as they can to avoid the temptations and be totally focused into their behaviors. It is all the community’s responsibility to fight the drug trafficking at all and in every single place. It is a communal responsibility. Working to eliminate drug trafficking is an ongoing, difficult process. But as more and more of the college’s students the parents, academics and the whole community enter the world with fewer barriers to achieving their potential, you will know that rising to the challenge of maintaining a world without drugs will be well worth the effort.

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