At twenty-one years old I have done stupid things and have watched my friends do stupid things. When you are young, you are going to make mistakes that is one of the many things being young is about. A young person is supposed to find their way in the world. They are not supposed to be ready to take on the world when they enter high school. So why does society expect students to understand their body and themselves by this milestone?

Chances are you are going to get a failing grade, lose old friends, gain new ones, and you may even try substances you never thought you normally would. Sure, at high school parties there may be alcohol, some weed and there could also be stronger drugs as well though. From such a young age we are taught to “just say no to drugs” but is it actually that simple? If you took D.A.R.E, I’m sure your resource officer told you that you do not need to give in to peer pressure and that it's cool to be strong enough to say no to drugs. However, what happens when you decide you want to try them?

Are we as a society supposed to expect fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen-year-olds to know if their body is going to act in such a way that will lead to addiction? At twenty-one years old I am not even sure how my body would react if were to be faced with heavy drugs. While I am not condoning drug use no matter how old you are, I believe we need to understand that addiction stems from more than just the choice to try something taboo.

Deciding to try drugs does not make someone an addict.

The choice to do a certain drug is one of the only voluntary decisions that are involved in addiction. However, this also does not mean that every person who tries drugs will become an addict. Take alcohol for example; one person can be capable of drinking without becoming an alcoholic, but there are some individuals whose brains will cause them to become addicted to substances. If you would not blame an alcoholic for trying alcohol, then how can you blame a drug addict for trying drugs? Yes, they are illegal but so is drinking underage but it seems that many alcoholics have begun drinking before they can legally consume alcohol.

The point I am trying to make is that drug addiction is just as much of a disease as alcoholism. A person cannot be held responsible for knowing exactly how their body is going to react when they try drugs or alcohol, yet so many people are willing to send drug addicts to the chopping block. I understand that people make the decision to do drugs, and yes that single decision is their fault, but forming an addiction is an entirely different story. Being an addict is not a choice, it's a disease.