# Help Me Teach 6th-Graders About Drugs! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 5, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709 "2000-10-05T02:50:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/21 "2000-10-06T16:09:13Z")
I’ve pretty much only had two drug related messages for the Kunilou kids, because I thought they pretty much covered most of the subject. 1. People take drugs (and booze) because they think it will make them feel good. Pretty soon, they take drugs to keep from feeling bad. Finally, even the drugs don’t help. 2. Drugs (and booze) make you look stupid. You lose your coordination. You laugh at the wrong time. You slur your speech. You act like a jerk or you stop acting at all and sit there like a lump. I never told them not to do it. I told them to carefully watch the people who did do it. So far, point #2 seems to be working. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/22 "2000-10-06T16:12:55Z")
"Point out that drug dealers only want your money, they do not care about you. " I won’t be visiting your pharmacy! You must educate; yet at the same time not give them info that would be useful should they want to get high. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/23 "2000-10-06T16:28:54Z")
I teach at a school. Alcohol is prohibited until they are 16, and cigarettes at all times. First offence = £15 fine. Second offence = community service Third offence = suspension Fourth offence = expelled. We teach them from age 11 onwards about the effects of these dangerous drugs. Oh, you meant other drugs! 😃 Well I back Spiny Norman: - Absolute honesty. Kids are sometimes way too bright. - Try to steer them away from seeing drug usage as a BAD thing and onto thinking on it as a STOOPID thing to do. S. Norman. So I suggest you’re ready to answer them if e.g. you criticise marijuana, and they ask if you smoke? I’ve had some success with the cost of drugs ‘what would you rather spend the money on?’. Also that some things (like sex) are complicated and you should wait until you’re ready. But nothing turns them off quicker than catching you in a lie, or a rant. Remember they watch films and listen to gossip about adults. They know some adults take drugs. They want all the experiences we have. Be sympathetic to that. And to echo InternetLegend, ‘well done on volunteering!’. ---
**Author:** ![DavisMcDavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@DavisMcDavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavisMcDavis)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/24 "2000-10-06T16:46:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rastahomie \* > \*\* > > 1. A good verse (I’m thinking the one about “…your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” but in context that verse seems to be about sex). > 2. Some discussion questions. > 3. Some games that would drive the point home. I’m thinking of building a maze in the church parking lot and having them try to navigate it while wearing Mrs. Rastahomie’s glasses (on the hope that they’ll become unbalanced and stumble around) or something. > 4. Any other ideas you can come up with. > \*\* I don’t know if you’ll find a Bible verse, as they didn’t really have, say, crack around back then. But that shouldn’t limit you - the truth is, drugs can very harmful, though not necessarily immediately deadly to your body, and the effects and dangers are much more pronounced with young children who are still growing. I’d vote against the glasses idea - what drug is that supposed to be? Plus - that just brings up the “if all they do is make you stumble why do people do drugs?” which just leads to “Because they’re fun, like the game we’re playing.” I think I would just explain that they’re especially harmful to children and they need to wait. Ideally, they’ll never do drugs but if they do, it will be because they got into a really good college with a full scholarship and don’t need to work at the deli for extra money so they have free time to fill. Okay, maybe not that last part… ---
**Author:** ![Avumede](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/avumede/32/7235_2.png) [@Avumede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avumede)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/25 "2000-10-06T17:41:35Z")
There isn’t any way you can teach 6th graders about drugs well. As people pointed out before, it you are not honest with them, they eventually won’t believe anything you say about it. They aren’t stupid. However, if you tell the truth, you’d probably would get reprimanded fairly severely, I would guess. Imagine if you taught that some drugs are fairly harmless, some drugs can teach people a lot about themselves, while other drugs are addictive and can have some pretty bad consequences. No, when people “teach” kids about drugs, they merely are expected to repeat the party line “all drugs are bad”. It’s a bit hard to believe the party line when everyone knows the most prominent people in the government has experimented with drugs themselves, including the president, all the candidates for president, a lot of Congress, etc. Even talking about drugs at all is misleading. Define “drugs”. Legal? Illegal? The legal ones are all good, and the illegal ones are all bad, because of the government’s perfect classification scheme? Would any child believe that? Anyway, probably the best you can do is to emphasise that the truly bad drugs (heroin, etc) are bad due to their addictive nature and bad side-effects, and just don’t talk about the rest. ---
**Author:** ![stormy652](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@stormy652](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stormy652)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/26 "2000-10-06T18:43:18Z")
Well, I would agree that you should be as honest as possible to these kids. I am an underclassman in high school and I remember back when they did the DARE program in 6th grade for me that it did work, or at least it kept drugs out of my mind in that period. However I DO remember that 6th grade where everyone was starting to change, its when I first heard about kids smoking and having sexual encounters, stuff like that. YOU MUST NOT LIE TO THESE KIDS! They are much smarter than you think. Most have already been exposed to drugs in some way. However I first used marijuana and booze and cigarettes in June, so there are some exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Tigreye007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b782af/32.png) [@Tigreye007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tigreye007)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/27 "2000-10-06T19:05:29Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally Posted By: Wonko The Sane_\*\* > I could come into your class and drink heavily…\*\* Hey man when does the party start? ---
**Author:** ![Ad\_Noctum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@Ad\_Noctum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Noctum)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/28 "2000-10-06T22:50:05Z")
let them watch Animal House and repeat over and over again “Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life, son” and “MY advice to you is to start drinking heavily” but seriously, if the kids are gonna experiment, they will. no punishment will stop them from biking to a friend’s house and try once… I did, and I never have since (that was in June) and Nitrous Oxide (Laughing Gas) was the coolest thing I’ve ever had 🙂 anyhow… take all considerations to this-NEVER talk down to a kid, use examples, and never underestimate kids/talk down to them. the above should be considered sins. ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/29 "2000-10-06T22:55:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\ ***Wonko:** The point being, why would you expect ANY retailer to give a rat’s ass about you? \*\* True, but if you sell a product that kills off your customer base fairly efficiently, you won’t have return customers for too long. Some businesses (some newstands for instance) thrive on return business year after year. Drug dealers do too, but not over quite the same length of time\*. Your point is good though. It’s just a matter of degrees. \*weed is probably not an effective killer, but crack, meth, and self-pity is. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2000, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/30 "2000-10-07T08:48:16Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Wonko The Sane \* > (snip)if you sell a product that kills off your customer base fairly efficiently, you won’t have return customers for too long. Some businesses (some newstands for instance) thrive on return business year after year. Drug dealers do too, but not over quite the same length of time._ Phillip Morris seems to be doing okay. Of course, Mr. & Mrs. Rastahomie’s kids are their target audience now. I think it’s important to remember that, especially in the teen years and with “lighter” drugs, “the dealer” is likely to be a friend or his older brother who just happens to have some pot, not some shifty-looking stranger who’s pushing drugs in the classic sense. A lot of getting into drugs is a gradual progression and it’s important to recognize that there isn’t necessarily a definite line between a friend who’s experimenting and a dealer who’s going to lead a kid into serious trouble. Sometimes the one leads to (or turns into) the other over time. Don’t be afraid to acknowledge that all drugs are not equal, or that some don’t cause any damage in and of themselves. You can still make the point that if someone wants to fully experience his life and make the most of his abilities, drugging himself is a mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2000, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/31 "2000-10-07T15:32:29Z")
It really is interesting to try to have a conversation–that’s a _conversation_, not lecture–about drugs with children. Last year during Red Ribbon Week (which I always manage to call “Red Wibbon Week”), I tried to sit down and have a discussion about drugs with the third grade students I had at the time. Granted, that’s pushing it age-wise; their ability to comprehend is a bit limited. But I asked them: “Why do people do drugs?” This completely stumped them. The only answer I got was “Because they’re bad?” Um…not exactly. An anti-drug Spiderman cartoon thingy was showed at the school where I student-taught at, and it seriously pissed me off. The kids who did drugs in the film were big, mean, cross-faced, and pushy…“Dooooo this, you’ll _like_ it…” The kids who said no all but had halos floating over their heads. Um…do the people who made this cartoon know that more than likely it will be the students’ **friends** who will try to pressure them into drugs? Sheesh. My personal opinion is to prepare kids for the \*reality[/] of drugs: **People do recreational drugs because it feels good.** There are other reasons tossed in there–wanting to be cool, wanting to get away, but one of the main reasons is that they like the actual effect. The other key point I try to get across to students (I have fifth grade now) is **more than likely, it will be a good friend of yours who will want you to try the drugs out.** They won’t be twiddling a mustache as they throw a black cape over their face; more than likely, you will just be at a party, or over at their house, and they’ll say, “Hey, want some?” And this is where you say “No.” Not, “No you horrible, terrible, evil, BAD man!” just…no. The “whys” can be discussed next (effects of drugs use, etc.). My experience: My high school friends were heavy into acid and pot. I never touched the stuff, and never felt a need to. And honestly, I was never asked if I wanted any because they knew how I felt about drugs. These people remained my friends–we just didn’t share in that particular experience. One friend (who I use as an example) was very heavy into pot, acid, and alcohol; he was brilliant, somewhere around 170 IQ, and won national geography awards pretty much without trying. Even while completely plastered, he could kick anyone’s ass in chess (it was pretty amusing to watch). But, by his senior year in high school, he had thoroughly baked his brain. The spark, the cleverness, the _essense_ of this person had seemed to fade away. He barely graduated, and wound up working at a tuxedo shop. Last I heard, he was a salesman at a Saturn dealership. I saw him about four years ago, and he just seemed so…far away. It saddens me. So much potential–and it was vomited from his body and flushed down the figurative toilet. What a waste. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2000, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/32 "2000-10-07T15:33:32Z")
Dammit! I am having serious issues with the italics coding as of late. I really need to use the preview option. ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2000, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/33 "2000-10-07T16:53:01Z")
Just print out Homer’s post he made while on shrooms and read it to them. That should scare them. “and if you do them, you will end up like this guy!” ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709/34 "2000-10-09T05:33:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by InternetLegend \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by Wonko The Sane \* > > (snip)if you sell a product that kills off your customer base fairly efficiently, you won’t have return customers for too long. Some businesses (some newstands for instance) thrive on return business year after year. Drug dealers do too, but not over quite the same length of time._ > > Phillip Morris seems to be doing okay. Of course, Mr. & Mrs. Rastahomie’s kids are their target audience now. > > I think it’s important to remember that, especially in the teen years and with “lighter” drugs, “the dealer” is likely to be a friend or his older brother who just happens to have some pot, not some shifty-looking stranger who’s pushing drugs in the classic sense. A lot of getting into drugs is a gradual progression and it’s important to recognize that there isn’t necessarily a definite line between a friend who’s experimenting and a dealer who’s going to lead a kid into serious trouble. Sometimes the one leads to (or turns into) the other over time. > > Don’t be afraid to acknowledge that all drugs are not equal, or that some don’t cause any damage in and of themselves. You can still make the point that if someone wants to fully experience his life and make the most of his abilities, drugging himself is a mistake. \*\* Well, ten points to InternetLegend. Hit it on the head he did, Yes… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-teach-6th-graders-about-drugs/35709.md?page=1)