|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Five days a week, for almost seven hours a day, children spend their time learning, playing, and interacting with others at school. During these impressionable ages, learning at school can influence who children are and guide what they become in the future.
Moreover, the education students receive is one of the most crucial factors in overcoming and preventing an opioid addiction. According to The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, studies showed that adolescents enrolled in recovery high schools, which are schools that combine both academic instruction and substance-use recovery support, were significantly more likely to maintain complete abstinence from alcohol, marijuana, and other substances compared to their peers in traditional schools.
When students are guaranteed exposure to a curriculum that can guide them through a recovery process, their chances of recovery grow exponentially. But of course, high schools that emphasize recovery are not accessible for everyone, which is why adding a recovery and awareness curriculum in all high schools is a feasible solution that can maximize opioid addiction recovery for young people.
Preventing opioid addiction is just as important as maximizing recovery. Attitudes, knowledge, and belief around opioids can all influence how a person may respond or react when being introduced to opioids. Schools are essential spaces for opioid education and combining lessons on the risks of opioids along with fostering a supportive environment promotes awareness and destigmatizes addiction.
According to a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study that evaluated school opioid education programs, students’ correct understanding of opioid misuse increased from 76.2% to 84.4% after instruction, which shows that targeted awareness lessons can significantly improve the knowledge linked to the prevention of misuse.
Sometimes all a young growing mind needs is to be exposed to a fresh, new perspective that can help guide them down the right path or help them refrain from going down the wrong one. As society grows more aware of the urgency of the opioid crisis, it is important to remember why our voices matter so much in the face of adversity.
This article was written as part of a program to educate youth and others about Alameda County’s opioid crisis, prevention and treatment options. The program is funded by the Alameda County Behavioral Health Department and the grant is administered by Three Valleys Community Foundation.
Draeger’s Market closing store in Blackhawk, cites ‘declining condition’ at plazaJanuary 9, 2026 4:37 pm
