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Teachers and Coaches: Your Influence is Important
As teachers and coaches, you know that drug abuse represents a significant threat to academic and athletic success for some students. Recent research has shown that heavy marijuana use interferes with the ability of young people to concentrate and retain information, and may inhibit full cognitive development.
Your regular presence in a student's life provides a unique opportunity for you to educate teens on the effects of marijuana on learning, as well as how it can limit or altogether jeopardize such things as college, sports, and scholarships. More importantly, your willingness to talk about the dangers of marijuana may deter a teen from experimenting, and possibly falling into a downward spiral of long-term drug abuse.
Most schools and school districts have strict rules about drug and alcohol abuse. However, it is up to you to consistently enforce those policies.
In some instances, you may be the only adult a student approaches about a drug problem. While you should always encourage students to speak with their parents and get help, you can also use your unique leadership position to prevent or steer a student away from drugs. For example, talking to a student about the consequences of getting caught with drugs during high school on college admission may be enough to convince a teen to avoid use completely.
Tips for Teachers
You are more likely than most school officials to learn of substance abuse. Whether you overhear a conversation or notice changes in grades or attitude, you can directly confront a student about changes in behavior, or you can work drug messaging into your lesson plans.
- Alert students of your school's "no tolerance" policy and consequences associated with noncompliance. Legal problems or school disciplinary actions can go on his or her permanent record, making it difficult to get into institutions of higher education.
- Make the student aware of the cognitive and psychological threats associated with marijuana use.
- Address the academic threats associated with marijuana use in your lesson planning. For ideas and suggestions how to work this messaging into your teaching, visit TeachersGuide.
Tips for Coaches
You have a vested interest in keeping student-athletes off drugs. As a coach, your role is to encourage sharp minds and strong bodies through training and discipline. Marijuana not only impairs memory and cognitive ability, but also slows reaction time and damages the cardiovascular system. Coaches also need to know the risks, signs and symptoms of performance enhancing drug use. Many of these substances are easy to obtain from the local stores, on the Internet and from friends. Emphasize to your student-athletes that they can achieve success without artificial substances.
- Educate student-athletes on the dangers of substance use and actively enforce rules that suspend or remove all players found to be abusing drugs or alcohol. Remember, because a student-athlete is under your supervision for part of the school day, their abuse of drugs will not only negatively affect the team, but also the school as a whole.
- Confront the student. Let the student know that you are aware or suspect he/she is using marijuana. Be patient. Listen. Let the teen know that you wouldn’t bring up the topic if you didn’t care about him/her. Remind the student that he is not only jeopardizing his/her season, but that of the team’s, as well.
- Talk to the team as a whole. Your speech doesn’t have to be fancy. Simply remind them of the consequences for breaking substance abuse rules and tell them that you have access to experts in the community and if they need help, you’ll be there.
Influential adults should use their positive influence and resources to prevent and address substance abuse. You can start by reading When It’s Not Your Kid, How Do You Deal With Drug Use and Drinking?
To receive more information about substance abuse, visit the Get Resources page.
To find a drug treatment facility of specialist in your area, visit the Get Help page.
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