Drugs and Alcohol - Dirty Little Secrets

[MysterE]

Good evening CD,

I was having a conversation with a former member today and something came up that - while not shocking - did cause me to think long and hard about how I handle certain things on my team. Very often, because the students that are part of the team compete well and with gracious professionalism, I like to believe that their lives outside of the team are as innocent as they seem while at the build site.

Unfortunately, this is not always true.

While I will not say that I have a rampant problem of drug and alcohol use on my team, I also know that it would be ludicrous to believe that it does not exist at all. Further, I can list specific people and instances where I know that at least one has been in use by my high schoolers.

I think in large part many coaches attempt to turn a blind eye to these things. Because of the trust my students put in me as a coach, I am often privy to discussions about their lives that they would not bring to others. I hear of everything from relationship problems to family issues and for the most part, I believe my job is to create a safe space for students to learn and to grow in all areas of their lives.

How then, do you think that the issues of drug and alcohol abuse should be handled? Again, this is not something that is done on trips or while present with the team - it is something that happens when they go home, with their friends. My deepest concern is that some of these kids - who are often the best and brightest might simply cut their dreams short - because after all both drinking and drug use are illegal activities. One arrest could mean the loss of a scholarship and the destruction of a student's future.

Thoughts?

[Jon Stratis]

Yes, getting in trouble for drug/alcohol use while underage is bad... but using underage is also pretty bad, and can easily lead to even bigger problems. The last thing any of us want to see is one of our students spiral out of control and wind up hurting themselves or others because of drug or alcohol use.

It's important for all of us to look at the schools we work with and understand their policies and procedures for these types of situations. I'm no expert on the law, but I doubt much is going to happen from a legal/police standpoint if you say "I heard so-and-so talking, and I think they were drinking last friday night" - that may depend on exactly what the law is where you live. Rather, I think you could probably take that to officials at the school and use it to leverage the student into getting help. It's a serious enough issue, I think, to warrant a discussion with the school officials so you can fully understand what would happen if you were to report suspected activity.

Personally, I hope I'm never put in that position... I know we foster a relaxed, safe atmosphere at our meetings, and the students are generally very open about things, but I've never heard even a hint of alcohol or drug use with any of my students. But it's a private catholic school, so that may not be too surprising.

[T^2]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

I've never heard even a hint of alcohol or drug use with any of my students.

Your students are doing a pretty good job of keeping their mouths shut, then.


To the OP: What exactly is the point of your post? You're not providing very many details, and you seem to have come in with a horribly biased point of view.

[Michael Hill]

Originally Posted by T^2

Your students are doing a pretty good job of keeping their mouths shut, then.


To the OP: What exactly is the point of your post? You're not providing very many details, and you seem to have come in with a horribly biased point of view.

I don't think he meant to come off as biased or anything, just wanting to know what an FRC coach's responsibilities are when issues like this come up, and it can vary team to team depending on policies already in place either by the team or the school the team is associated with. This is one area I believe having teachers on the team are super beneficial. They deal with this kind of stuff all the time, and as we know, in general, "engineers aren't good at dealing with people." A lot of coaches tend to turn a blind eye because they don't want it to be their "fault" if a student gets in trouble.

[MattRain]

WHAT I POST BELOW IS MENT TO BE INFORMATIONAL, ON WHAT I HAVE EXPERICED OVER THE YEARS. It does not reflect my teams.

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

I've never heard even a hint of alcohol or drug use with any of my students. But it's a private catholic school, so that may not be too surprising.

I agree with T^2. Your students are really good at keeping their mouths shut. I look at it from this angle. Two of my teams are based out of the school that I went to. It too, is a private Christian school. The amount of "secret" drug and alcohol use at the school was horrible when I was a Jr. and Sr. Our school also had/has a strict, no smoking policy, but I can tell you that half of my graduating class started freshman/sophomore year, underage. At my school, we jokingly referred to it as "Rich kids, better drugs." Horrible, I know. It exists, don't turn a blind eye to it just because you are at a private school.

And I know it still exists at school, as graduating team members have told me.

In my FRC team, I am one of the younger mentors of the group. Most of the students know that they can come to me and discuss things that they are having problems with, including anything listed above. Personally, I would have loved to have a mentor close to my age for that reason. FIRST is not just all about robots, it's also about making a better person, as we all know.

I agree though with the people above, that you really need to look at how the school would handle it.

[Monochron]

I was trying to figure out what my thoughts on this are, but I honestly think I may still be too close to the college culture of drinking. In my high school and college years the fact that someone was into drinking or did (relatively mundane) drugs tended to have very little to do with their success in school or in life later. What mattered had more to do with the amount they drank/used, the frequency, and if they developed an addiction or had the kind of personality that might fall victim to an addictive lifestyle. Determining if drugs or alcohol are going to have a negative effect on someone's life can be very hard to judge unless you know the person very well.

That said, alcohol in particular is treated in a very unhealthy way in American culture. While high school students of other countries have much more access to alcohol, typically the cultural pressures around it are much less "you can't drink often so you better get drunk". Catching those unhealthy tendencies and showing students healthy ways to treat alcohol is, I think, a very useful thing for adults to do.

[bkahl]

Alcohol is a drug.

[techhelpbb]

In a nearby affluent community: I was approached by a local community member to help start an FRC team specifically to give students some way to do something constructive and well-being building specifically to help reduce the number of students dying from drug overdoses.

Problem with 'rich kids = better drugs' they get powerful drugs from the same pool of illegal drugs as poor kids. Drug dealers are not obligated to quality standards. So you know what you really have: 'rich kids = more potent drugs = more likely to die from overdose'.

I don't drink.
I don't smoke.
I don't use illegal drugs.

It's not my job to judge those that do - but I have seen the wreckage in my family from these habits and I'll leave you to wonder how bad it can get to avoid even a little - even once.

There are actually several things you can eat that will show up on a drug test:
For example a large quantity of poppy seeds.
So depending on how sensitive one is to the idea of drug exposure: depends on how far you want to go with abstinence.

[Ari423]

I don't think the question is "Are drugs bad?" Everyone agrees drugs are bad and rich communities are just as susceptible to drug problems as poor communities.

The question here is "What should FIRST mentors do it they know their students are making bad decisions?" This is an important question to answer, because, for the most part, mentors are volunteers who may or may not have experience dealing with kids, yet kids look up to them and listen to their advice. Should mentors kick drug users off the team? Give them a strong talking? Report them to the school or police? Ignore it completely? I don't have the answer, but CD as a community probably does.

As a student who does not use drugs, I don't know what I would do if I were in the mentor's shoes, but I am interested in what CD's consensus is.

[Taylor]

For those teams that are affiliated with a school, I would recommend alerting the team's faculty advisor of the situation. That person can deal with the legal ramifications in a professional manner.

[MattRain]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

Problem with 'rich kids = better drugs' they get powerful drugs from the same pool of illegal drugs as poor kids. Drug dealers are not obligated to quality standards. So you know what you really have: 'rich kids = more potent drugs = more likely to die from overdose'.

I completely agree with your statement here. Its completely true. Unfortunately, there are the kids that don't understand that, and still experiment with the drugs and alcohol.

I too, don't want to judge, and is a reason I look at my past to help:
I have not used illegal drugs.
I smoked through my high school years. AND Quit.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

So you know what you really have: 'rich kids = more potent drugs = more likely to die from overdose'.

Source?

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by Madison

Source?

You actually want to dispute that the more powerful a drug the more carefully you must control purity and dosing? If you like I'll get a friend of mine who is the head pharmacist for several hospitals to address it for you or any of my doctor friends.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...se-purity.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...g-addicts.html

With the deepest of respects for the recent losses:

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment...drug-overdose/

[Qbot2640]

Two things that seem too important not to point out are:
Even with a minor situation involving something prohibited, especially drugs, the publicity that can generate will likely spiral out of control. The complicated politics of society and organizations today pretty much guarantee that even the best team or organization is going to have someone willing to exploit bad news...and the sensationalism of today's media jumps right on the mud-slinging bandwagon. (1) The existence of the team could be threatened - a sponsoring organization might dissolve the team in response to appear like they are addressing the situation...or because their insurance carrier requires it, or it could so adversely affect contributions as to dry up all funding. And (2) the mentors of the team could face dire circumstances such as loss of employment and possibly be part of criminal investigations for not being more forthcoming with information.

It is very important to have an up-front, no exceptions policy about how you are going to handle these kinds of situations (and a policy that conforms to whatever requirements your organization has for the situation). Tell your students that you will help them in any way possible, but a mentor's responsibility to the team and the mentor's own liability may prevent them from being the kind of friend to share all secrets with.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

You actually want to dispute that the more powerful a drug the more carefully you must control purity and dosing? If you like I'll get a friend of mine who is the head pharmacist for several hospitals to address it for you or any of my doctor friends.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...g-addicts.html

With the deepest of respects for the recent losses:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...icle-1.2310510

I'd like to see a credible source that states the rich people are more likely to die of overdose than poor people.