Do you ever worry about society's constant effort to be just like the models and actors on television? School is almost like a little "mini-world" where people are trying to be just like everyone around them. Some students dress and act the way they think they need to in order to fit in. This is where problems such as drug use and fighting begins. Students will allow themselves to be pressured into doing things that they don't actually want to do and as they continue to "pretend" they will become the person that they started out just pretending to be. Drug use is one of the number one causes of fighting and death because people become so involved in their addiction that they no longer care about what used to matter most to them such as friends, family, and school; so it is crucially important to speak out.

It is important to speak out in order to prevent drug use and violence in high schools. In 2001 at Lakeview High School, in Lakeview Michigan a senior, Jeff Barnes, died doing Whip-Its while driving his car. Whip-Its is one of many popular forms of drug use in high school. He wasn't a bad person; he was popular, athletic, and on the Varsity football team. He never would have thaught that what he was doing could have killed him because to most high school students it's just a quick, harmless way to get a buzz. This impacted the town of Lakeview tremendously. Students began to form anti-drug groups and travel to the lower level schools to speak to kids about the consequences of using drugs. Consequently, it is important to speak out in order to prevent harm and even death among teens.

You should understand that it sometimes takes the tragedy of one person to get others to open their eyes to a serious problem. Drug use is one of the number one causes of death because people become so involved in their addiction that they no longer care about the things that used to matter most to them. It's time for people to speak out so that drugs don't cause even more tragedy in high schools throughout the country.