Lets Keep Making Healthy Choices!

Drug and Alcohol Awareness Presentation NOW!

Trivia Contest at Lunch May 19 - 23
Pick up a quiz card from the counselors
Earn points for each correct answer
Participants win small daily prizes
Make something creative to express why you are choosing to stay away
from drugs/alcohol to earn more points
Examples: Poster, Story, Poem, Song or Skit
The most points earns:
A Pizza Party in the Hawks Nest for you and 5
friends on May 30th!
Drinking rates have been decreasing- fewer teens are drinking
today than 10 years ago
Almost 2/3
rds
of all American students finish 8
th
grade without
EVER drinking alcohol
Alcohol Use in 8
th
Graders
Have Not
Consumed
Have
Consumed
86% of all Washington 8
th
graders reported NOT drinking in
the past 30 days
At HIMS, we did better!
90% of our 8
th
graders stayed away from alcohol
99% of our 6
th
graders avoided alcohol
Young people drink less frequently than adults, but when they
do drink, they drink more than adults.
On average, young people have about 5 drinks on a single
occasion, which can be considered binge drinking.
Slurred speech
Impaired ability to think, walk, talk, see or hear
Mental confusion
Loss of judgment
Nausea
Loss of emotional control
Difficulty sleeping
Reduced inhibitions doing and saying things you normally
wouldnt
Memory problems
Abuse of other drugs
Changes in brain development
Brain damage
Each part of your brain is affected differently
Cerebellum the center of movement and balance
Cerebral cortex making information from your eyes, nose and ears
travel more slowly
Pituitary gland releases more hormones to increase sexual arousal
Hypothalamus hunger and thirst and blood pressure increase
Medulla slows breathing, temperature and heart rate
Alters the brains pleasure-reward center
Makes you feel good in the short-term
BUT it makes it harder to have fun over time
Why?
Alcohol triggers the release of a LOT of a chemical called dopamine
Dopamine tells your brain that you are having fun
Regular fun stuff (hanging out with friends, going on vacation) releases
some dopamine, but not as much as when you drink, so regular stuff
feels less fun
Teen girls who drink face special challenges
Drinking can delay puberty in girls
Abusing alcohol can cause endocrine disorders during puberty
Teenage girls who drink are more likely to have unprotected
sex than girls who dont drink.
Teenage girls who drink are at increased risk of pregnancy and
sexually transmitted diseases.

Teens report drinking to help them:
Look cool
Feel popular
To rebel
To feel more social
But what is really going on?
Low self-esteem
Depression
Stress
Guilt
Shame

Many adults drink in moderation (1-2 drinks) and do not
experience negative consequences
Teens rarely drink in moderation.
Teens drink to get drunk
Teens have 5 or more drinks in a night
Heavy drinking IS associated with negative consequences
Teens who start drinking before age 15 years are
5 times more likely to develop alcohol dependence or
abuse later in life than those who begin drinking at or
after the legal age of 21.
The 3 leading causes of death for 15 to 24-year-olds are:

Automobile crashes
Homicides
Suicides

Alcohol is a leading factor in all 3.

Drugs are chemicals that change the way your body works
Drugs are broken into two categories
Legal
Illegal
Some drugs are prescribed to you by a doctor. Using them as
directed by the doctor is great and legal!
What is illegal?
Cigarettes/Tobacco (if you are under 18 years old)
Alcohol (if you are under 21 years old)
Marijuana (if you are under 21 years old)
Prescription Drugs that werent prescribed to you
Other controlled substances
Your brain is still developing and growing.
The use of chemicals which alter your brain chemistry (alcohol,
tobacco, marijuana, etc.) affects that development in two big
ways:
1. Teens who start using drugs, alcohol and tobacco are MUCH more
likely to develop addictions than adults
2. Heavy use of drugs and alcohol in teen years leads to a drop in IQ.
And you cant get it back!
Long-term use of marijuana can:
Cause cognitive impairment affecting your ability to learn new things, to
remember things and to pay attention
Make it more difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up feeling
rested
Interfere with the maturation process. Heavy marijuana use can even
cause regression making you act and think like you are younger than
you are!
Reduce your IQ!
You recognize that there are consequences to using drugs,
alcohol and tobacco.
Compared to other middle schoolers in Washington State, you
are:
Less likely to ride with a drunk driver
Less likely to begin using alcohol, drugs or tobacco
More likely to turn to an adult for support
Keep making these healthy choices!

Trivia contest next week
Questions from this presentation
Win a Pizza Party for you and 5 friends!