The Dangers of Drugs and Alcohol

A dangerous depressant drug which greatly impairs judgment, reaction time and decision making ability and subsequently increases the risk of severe injury or death due to alcohol overdose, car accidents, drowning or performing other high risk activities while drinking.

Teenagers are at an especially high risk to die due to alcohol overdose, as they are more likely to binge drink (drinking 5 or more drinks in a row) and their young developing bodies are still very sensitive to alcohol’s effects and cannot tolerate the shock of binge amounts of alcohol.

Alcohol may be legal for adults but it is potentially lethal to teens and can also greatly interfere with proper adolescent physical, cognitive and emotional development. Tell your child that alcohol is off limits until they are of legal age and can make their own adult decision.

Smoking

The addictive drug in cigarettes and chewing tobacco is nicotine. An addiction to nicotine due to smoking cigarettes or chewing tobacco is one of the most hardest addictions to break. This addiction causes the smoker to take into their lungs thousands of cancer causing chemicals each day.

This accumulation over years results in cigarettes killing more the 400,000 Americans each year due to cancer related diseases – this figure represents more deaths than deaths from alcohol, other drugs, car accidents, murders, and fires – COMBINED.

Each day more than 3,000 kids become regular smokers. Almost 90% of adult smokers began at or before age 18. If an individual has not made the decision to smoke by age 20, the odds are very high that she or he never will! 86% of kids who smoke prefer Marlboro, Camel, and Newport – the 3 most heavily advertised brands.

Tobacco companies aim advertising campaigns toward kids in hopes of getting them addicted before age 20 – this way they will have an almost guaranteed addicted paying customer for about 30 to 40 years until that customer dies prematurely in his or her 50s or 60s.

The cost of cigarette smoking over time is : DO THE MATH: 1 pack/day = $4 1pack/day/week = $28 1pack/day/week/year = $1,456 1 pack/day/week/10years = $14, 560 1 pack/day/40 years = $58,240 (double all of these figures if a person smokes 2 packs per day).

Cigarette smoking causes early wrinkles, yellow stains on teeth, unpleasant smelling clothes and hair.

Cigarette smoking also doubles the chance a kid will try other drugs.

Marijuana

Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. All forms are mind-altering (psychoactive) drugs; they all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana. They also contain more than 400 other chemicals.

Marijuana is the most frequently used illegal drug in the United States. Nearly 69 million Americans over the age of 12 have tried marijuana at least once. Among teens 12 to 17, the average age of first trying marijuana was 14 years.

Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other drugs without first trying marijuana. The risk of using cocaine has been estimated to be more than 104 times greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it.

Marijuana can be harmful in a number of ways. Marijuana hinders the user's short-term memory (memory for recent events), and he or she may have trouble handling complex tasks. With the use of more potent varieties of marijuana, even simple tasks can be difficult. Because of the drug's effects on perceptions and reaction time, users could be involved in auto crashes.

Some frequent, long-term marijuana users show signs of a lack of motivation. Their problems include not caring about what happens in their lives, no desire to work regularly, fatigue, and a lack of concern about how they look. As a result of these symptoms, some users tend to perform poorly in school or at work.

Some heavy users of marijuana show signs of being physically addicted because when they do not use the drug, they develop withdrawal symptoms – including such as restlessness, loss of appetite, trouble with sleeping, weight loss, and shaky hands.

Club Drugs

This term refers to drugs being used by young people at all night dance parties such as “raves” or “trances” and dance clubs. Research has shown that use of club drugs can cause serious health problems and in some cases, death. Used in combination with alcohol, these drugs can be more dangerous.

These drugs include the following: MDMA (“Ecstasy”), GHB, Rohypnol (“roofies”) Ketamine (“special k”) Methamphetamine (“Ice”) LSD (“acid”). Since Rohypnol, GHB, and Ketamine are colorless, odorless and tasteless, they can be easily added to beverages and ingested unknowingly by victims of sexual assault – this has resulted in these drugs being referred to as “date-rape” drugs.

Aside from the date-rape implications of these drugs, recent research is showing serious damage to several parts of the brain from use of these drugs. In addition, users experience psychological difficulties that can include confusion, depression, sleep problems, severe anxiety, and paranoia. Physical problems can include muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, faintness, and chills or sweating

Howell Township Public Schools Student Assistance Program

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