What do Spice, Bath Salts, Fentanyl, and Ecstasy have in common? They’re all synthetic–and illegal–drugs.
This week is National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week and a great time to make sure any teens in your life understand the dangers of alcohol and drugs. The National Institute on Drug Abuse uses this week to share information and to promote healthy choices each year.
More than half of high school seniors report drinking alcohol in the past year. Nearly half have tried an illicit substance at least once. The statistics are scary–and information is the best weapon for prevention.
This week–and, really, every other week–we encourage parents, teachers, coaches, siblings, mentors, clergy, aunts, uncles to learn more about how drugs and alcohol can affect developing brains. This knowledge will help you as you guide the young adults in your life toward healthy choices.
Promoting Healthy Choices
Try this interactive quiz to see how much you know about drugs and alcohol.
And this helpful guide shows you how positive parenting can prevent drug and alcohol abuse. Showing children this graphic about how drugs affect the body may also help. Hint: It doesn’t do very good things.
You could also learn more about how our prevention services partner with families, organizations, and schools to help children and teens learn about healthy choices.
A Few Facts
- Research says that teens who see a lot of smoking in movies are more likely to start smoking themselves.
- Most people who smoke started before the age of 18.
- E-cigarettes contain nicotine, and users inhale the same nicotine they would get from a regular cigarette.
- About 4 in 10 people who begin drinking before age 15 eventually become alcoholics.
- More people die from prescription pain reliever overdoses than from heroin and cocaine combined.
- Mixing pills with other drugs or alcohol increases your risk of death from accidental overdose.
- Treatment is available.