This post was written by Ethan Lin, a local high school student, to share a student perspective on how substance use and prevention messages are experienced in everyday school life.
I wanted to write this because, as a student, I’ve heard adults talk about substance use a lot. Whether it is through school assemblies, politics, or in warnings, it often feels like what they describe isn’t what my peers or I actually notice in our day-to-day school lives. High school students hear phrases like “don’t vape” or “substance use will ruin your life,” but the tone and examples don’t always match what we see around us. This isn’t meant to be about blaming adults. Most adults want us to be safe and make good choices. What I hope to share here is a student’s perspective: a look at how teens actually notice substance use in school settings, what feels realistic, and what gets attention versus what gets ignored. Talking about this honestly can help make prevention conversations better and more realistic.
What Substance Use Looks Like Day to Day at School
According to national data from the CDC, about 15% of high school students report having tried illicit or injected drugs such as cocaine, inhalants, heroin, methamphetamines, hallucinogens, or ecstasy, and around 14% say they have misused prescription opioids at least once. But substance use in high school rarely looks like those statistics on paper. From a student’s point of view, it usually shows up in much quieter ways.
Teen vaping is very commonly seen in places such as bathrooms, stairwells, or even empty classrooms, which sometimes have the lingering smell of a vape. People sneak these into school through their sleeves or backpacks. Alcohol use among teens is also a problem. It mostly comes up after weekends, when stories about parties spread through group chats and social media. Conversations about edibles or weed often happen casually between friends, like it’s just another topic, not something serious.
What’s surprising is how normal all of this can feel. Most students aren’t seeing extreme cases every day. Instead, substance use blends into school life through jokes, posts, and rumors. Even though CDC data links drug use with risks like violence, mental health struggles, and unsafe behavior, those outcomes don’t always feel immediate to students. That disconnect makes substance use feel distant from the warnings we hear, even when it’s happening around us.
The Difference Between What Adults Warn Us About and What We See
When adults talk about substance use, it’s often through big, fear-based messages: “This will ruin your life,” “One sip leads to addiction,” or dramatic examples of worst-case outcomes. Those moments are meant to stop us from experimenting, but from a student’s perspective, they don’t always work. Most of us don’t know anyone whose life was immediately “ruined” because of one party or one vape. So it starts to feel less like a concern and more like a suggestion. Students get curious and will experiment, which then results in them getting addicted. All this was caused by just a few messages that came off as suggestions.
In contrast, students notice the small, social realities: somebody vaping in the bathroom, a group chat about weekend parties, or classmates joking about “almost getting caught.” These are the everyday interactions that shape how we think about risk. It’s not that students don’t care about health or don’t get that substance use can be risky – we do. But when every message sounds dramatic and distant from our day-to-day school life, then it becomes irrelevant. Students don’t always ignore warnings because we don’t care; however, we ignore them because they don’t match what we see in reality.
What Actually Gets Students to Pay Attention
From a student’s point of view, honest conversations are way more effective than huge presentations and speeches. When adults talk about real experiences, it feels irrelevant. If talks were with other students who went through similar experiences, then it would stick better. “Students notice when adults are being real,” when the message being said sounds like it’s coming from someone who understands, not just someone reading off a script.
It matters how the message is delivered. Lectures often make students lose interest, but when questions are welcomed and there’s no judgment, students are more likely to listen and pay attention. When teachers or older students share honest stories about their choices and experiences, it feels more like something we can relate to rather than something imposed on us. Programs that feel realistic, not scripted, also stick more. Programs such as workshops, where students can talk in small groups or peer-led discussions, where people can be vulnerable and share their experiences with others also struggling.
Adults who listen more than lecture create space for true understanding. When adults treat students as if they can think for themselves, students are more likely to pay attention and be vulnerable.
Why Student Voices Matter in Prevention
Students’ perspectives should be included in prevention because we live in the same situations that adults are trying to address. When prevention programs and conversations reflect what students actually see and notice, they feel more serious and real. For example, everyday social interactions, jokes in group chats, and relaxed attitudes towards vaping in bathrooms. Personal conversations are better than lectures because they welcome participation, questions, and honest reflection instead of forcing the same old ideas onto us. Personal conversations hit harder and feel more realistic than just lectures. Including student voices in prevention efforts also helps bridge the gap between adult warnings and real student life experiences. Sharing this perspective matters because it makes the prevention efforts more realistic, relatable, and more effective overall in helping students make healthy choices.