Coleman Armes
Staff Writer
Recently drug and alcohol issues have attracted extra attention due to Crimestoppers and Coppell Crime Commission partnership. The recent problems with these issues have brought out many opinions about the problem and how it can be stopped.
CHS Principal Brad Hunt has not shied away from facing these problems. He realizes it is an issue that teens go through in high school and wants to fix it.
“Even if just one kid drinks or smokes, it’s a problem,” Hunt said.
Hunt points to peer pressure as one of the main reasons students use drugs and realizes the “cool factor” that the media portrays when showing drugs and alcohol. He also thinks other issues such as curiosity and the experiences are reasons why students may indulge. Many students agree.
“I think kids drink and do drugs because of the experience and out of curiosity,” sophomore Eugene Seo said. “We are teenagers and teenagers are curious, they want to try it and say they did it.”
Drugs and alcohol usage is not a new issue for teenagers and it appears they will continue to be. What can CHS do to lessen the problem and is CHS doing enough to stop it?
“Probably not, there is only so much you can do, but as long as we have kids doing these things we are never doing enough,” Hunt said.
Hunt also believes elements outside of school can help kids stay away from drugs and alcohol such as churches, community groups, sports and educational groups. Another way that CHS has tried to stop this problem has caused much controversy: Crimestoppers.
Crimestoppers has been around since 1976 when it started in Albuquerque, N.M. Crimestoppers in Coppell didn’t have much controversy until their partnership with the Coppell Crime Commission at the beginning of this school year. This enabled a possible cash reward for students for giving any information about a crime that leads to an arrest. Coppell Crime Commission is privately funded by community businesses; police just investigate the tips.
In January, when people started calling the hotline and more people were getting caught, tensions began to rise. Many students felt that it turned friends against each other, that it wasn’t that people cared about others but just wanted the money and it was getting students to do a cop’s job. Some students even made shirts speaking out against it.
Others see the Crimestoppers program as an aid to make the community and school a safer environment and make the police work even harder.
“The intent is not to ruin people’s lives it’s to make a safer environment,” officer Craig Parrish said. “A majority of people who commit thefts have a drug problem. A small fish usually leads to a big fish. We get the small stuff and try to work up to the big stuff. When it comes to people saying it makes us work less, that isn’t true. It makes us work more to find and stop these crimes. The best part of my job is having people coming back and telling me how they cleaned up.”
Hunt realizes when he was in high school there was underage drinking and marijuana was used a little but it was definitely not as much of a problem as it is today. The amount and the vast ways to access these things are much greater today, but as long as there are drugs and alcohol problems at CHS there will be people trying to stop it.
