{"id":20963,"date":"2019-06-25T10:24:27","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T06:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=20963"},"modified":"2019-06-25T10:24:27","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T06:24:27","slug":"how-hard-is-it-to-say-no-to-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/how-hard-is-it-to-say-no-to-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"How hard is it to say \u2018no\u2019 to drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

While the majority of teenagers don’t take illicit drugs, there’s still a chance you might be offered them. Here’s how to say no, according to an expert<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

\u00a0As someone who has never touched drugs before, how hard is it really to say no to illicit substances?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Anonymous, 17, Newington<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Key points<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The easiest way to say \u201cno\u201d is by explaining why you don\u2019t want to take drugs (while at the same time not sounding judgemental)<\/span>
\nalcohol is the most commonly used drug<\/span>
\nmost young people don\u2019t use illicit drugs.<\/span>
\nHi and thanks for the question. Can young people really \u201cjust say no\u201d to illicit drugs? There are a few things to consider, so let\u2019s talk them through.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Are all teenagers trying drugs?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It might feel as though your friends are going to go through a phase of experimenting with illicit drugs. But in fact, most young people don\u2019t take illicit drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alcohol is by far the most commonly used drug, though rates of alcohol use are generally decreasing. A national survey of secondary students found 46% of 12-17 year olds had tried alcohol in the past year, but only 25% had in the past month. Similarly, another survey found young people were trying alcohol for the first time later (about age 16) and more were abstaining than ever before (82%).<\/span><\/p>\n

Cannabis is often the first illicit drug young people are exposed to (about 7% of 12-17 year-olds have tried it). Later on, generally in your early 20s, you\u2019ll start to encounter people trying harder drugs such as ecstasy and amphetamines (see in the graph above how this number dramatically increases between the two age groups). Even then, the majority of people don\u2019t regularly use these drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Will people actually offer me drugs?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a widespread assumption that drugs are frequently offered to people your age. This isn\u2019t always the case. Drug use is an illegal activity, so people who have them and who sell them tend to be a little cautious who they talk to about it. You might not ever be offered them directly.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if most of your peer group are experimenting with substances, you almost certainly will be offered them. So\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

3. How to say \u2018no\u2019 without it being a big deal<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Although most young people don\u2019t use drugs, some studies point out they\u2019re open to other people doing so. This is referred to as the \u201cnormalisation\u201d of illicit substance use: in simple terms, it\u2019s being OK with your friends drinking alcohol or doing drugs even if you choose not to.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t want to drink or take drugs, you\u2019ll find yourself in a position where you have to explain why. It might be useful to say something like:<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not my thing, but I don\u2019t care if you\u2019re into it.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Or if you feel like you need to give a reason, perhaps,<\/span><\/p>\n

I always react badly when I drink alcohol\/smoke joints, so I just don\u2019t like it.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I have a game tomorrow and don\u2019t want to feel bad.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I have bad come downs, so the high\u2019s just not worth it for me.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I have a family thing tomorrow and don\u2019t want to be hungover \/ coming down.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Hot tip: try not to make the other people feel like you you are judging them, but don\u2019t feel like you need to justify why you don\u2019t want to use drugs either.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Can you be the only one in the group who doesn\u2019t use them?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When you do something you don\u2019t want to do, you won\u2019t feel good about it or about yourself. So you might have your friends, but you might not be happy \u2013 that\u2019s not a great trade-off!<\/span><\/p>\n

Make a point of being around people and friends who make you feel good. You might not enjoy hanging out with people when they\u2019re affected by drugs, so don\u2019t! Spend time with people who don\u2019t pressure you to do things, and perhaps skip the parties, meet-ups and hangouts where you think there\u2019s a good chance you won\u2019t have fun.<\/span><\/p>\n

If your friends are using drugs a lot and it\u2019s impacting their lives in other ways, you might want to help them get some help \u2013 here are some tips on how to do that.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re the only person in your group not using drugs, you might want to find some other like-minded friends \u2013 perhaps through school, a part-time job or sport.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kathryn Daley<\/span><\/strong>
\nLecturer, School of Global, <\/span>
\nUrban and Social Studies, <\/span>
\nRMIT University, <\/span>
\nRMIT University<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 21 June 2019<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the majority of teenagers don’t take illicit drugs, there’s still a chance you might be offered them. Here’s how to say no, according to an expert<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":20964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8348],"tags":[5990,1337,17492,10679,17491],"class_list":["post-20963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-conversation","tag-alcohol","tag-drugs","tag-i-need-to-know","tag-illicit-drugs","tag-peer-pressure"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Drugs.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QzSF-5s7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}