Substance Use & Abuse

1. Substance Use & Abuse

2. Drugs are like…. Because…

3. Draw a Drug User • Draw a picture of what a drug user looks like • Students are to divide into groups of 3 or 4 • Each group will receive a marker and flip chart paper • Each person is expected to participate

4. Drug User Debrief • What stereotypes are present in the pictures • “drug” • Any substance other than food, which is taken to change the way the body or mind works. • What is not shown in the pictures • Alcohol? Coffee? Tylonol? Elderly? Women? • There is no stereotypical image of a drug user

5. Fact or Myth • Drinking beer or wine will not make you as drunk as drinking hard liquor. • MYTH • 142 ml of wine has the same alcohol as 341 ml of beer or 43 ml of hard liquor/spirits.

6. Marijuana is less harmful than tobacco or alcohol. • MYTH • A single marijuana cigarette has the equivalent cancer-causing agents as ten cigarettes. Short-term use of marijuana will impair judgment, co ordination and concentration. Over the long term, it can do damage to the respiratory system • Tobacco kills more people each year than motor vehicles collisions, suicides, homicides and AIDS combined. • FACT • Each year, tobacco causes FOUR TIMES as many deaths as motor vehicle collisions, suicides, homicides and AIDS combined.

7. Teenagers who use drugs lose friends • Fact • Typically students who begin to use drugs may change their circle of friends. They often seek out others who also use drugs. Regular users may feel guilty or like they are being about their own use when around non-users.

8. Smoking is only harmful if you smoke for a long time. • Myth • The physical damage from smoking sets in almost immediately –even within a year after your start. Teen smokers cough and wheeze more. They produce more phlegm. They have lungs that are damaged and actually smaller. They have weaker hearts. • Teenagers driving under the influence of alcohol are 400 times more likely to be involved in a fatal automobile collision than those with no alcohol in their blood. • Fact • Motor vehicle accidents are the number one killer of those under 25. Those between the ages of 16 and 19 are in the most danger.

9. One out of every five drivers at night has been drinking; one in twenty-five is legally impaired. • Fact • 4.5 Canadians are killed every day by impaired drivers. Impaired drivers injure more than 300 Canadians every day. • If someone passes out from drinking, it’s best to let them sleep it off • Myth • Someone who passes out from heavy drinking could suffer from alcohol poisoning and need immediate medical attention. Alcohol poisoning can cause a stoppage of breathing and even death. Death can also occur when a person becomes unconscious and chokes on his/her own vomit

10. Within two days of quitting smoking, your sense of taste and smell are greatly improved. • Fact • The levels of CO and nicotine in your blood go down quickly. Your heart and lungs will begin to repair damage from smoking. You’ll begin to breathe easier. • The more you use drugs, the better your ability to handle/tolerate them. - Myth - After repeated use of a drug, the user’s body may become more used to the drug’s effects, causing the user to use greater amount or to use more frequently. (This is referred to as tolerance.) But over time, chronic/long-term drug use and abuse causes damage to body organs and their functioning, making a person less able to tolerate drugs.

11. Alcohol affects a pregnant mother’s unborn baby - Fact - When a female drinks alcohol during pregnancy, it passes directly into the baby’s bloodstream through the placenta. It is poisonous to the growing cells in the the baby’s body. Adverse effects of alcohol on the developing fetus include congenital defects of the heart, other organs and the central nervous system. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (‘FAS’) is the name given to the condition caused in the fetus

12. As long as you don’t drink on an empty stomach, you won’t get drunk. - Myth - Food can slow down the effects of alcohol, but alcohol will still get into your bloodstream, causing intoxication. Many factors (e.g. gender, body size, age, type of food eaten, mood, other drugs consumed) affect the rate of alcohol absorption.

13. One alcoholic drink doesn’t affect your driving. - Myth - Even after one drink, a driver may feel false confidence and take more risks at a time when skill level, judgement and reaction time are greatly reduced. This will result in a decreased ability to handle the vehicle.

14. It is an equal opportunity thing – males and females react to alcohol in the same way. • Myth • Individual factors such as body mass, gender, experience, state of mind, etc., can play a part in how alcohol affects every individual. Women’s bodies are more susceptible to the affects of alcohol for a number of reasons. , including the fact that “women’s bodies contain less water and more fat than men’s bodies; therefore, they are less able to ‘dilute’ the alcohol than men.”

15. Drug Definitions Drug: Any substance that changes the way the body or mindworks (i.e., illicit drugs (illegal), laxatives, vitamins, steroids, sleeping pills, caffiene) Drug use: the act of taking drugs – may or may not interfere with one's daily activities. Drug abuse: involves use of a drug to the extent that it interferes with one's life at school, work, with friends, family etc.,

16. Drug Categories • Stimulants (uppers) - drugs that speed up the central nervous system and make you feel more energetic, alert and help you stay awake for long periods of time, decrease your appetite, make you feel euphoric. Examples include: • Cocaine Amphetamines (speed)  Tobacco  Caffeine  Ritalin

17. Categories of Drugs • Depressants (downers) – drugs that slow down the functions of the central nervous system and make you less aware of events around you Examples include: • Alcohol opiates (narcotics) sedatives • Tranquillizers

18. Categories of Drugs Hallucinogens (psychedelics) – drugs that distort the senses and one's awareness of perception of events. One might see or hear things that don’t actually exists Examples: • LSD (acid)  Angel Dust Ketamine • PCP Magic Mushrooms

19. Categories of Drugs Club Drugs – used as a category based on where they're frequently encountered. Activities include taking different types of drugs such as: • EcstasyKetamine GHB Rohypnol

20. What Drug am I? • “20 question” type format • Each team will be responsible for guessing the drug in question • You may use the following questions as a guide: • Am I swallowed, injected, snorted, smoked? • Am I legal/illegal? • Am I an upper, downer, painkiller, or hallucinogen? • Am I taken at parties, at raves, on my own, with others?