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Kids 9-12 Teens

Alcohol:

Alcoholic beverages are harmful when consumed in excess, and some people should not drink at all. Excess alcohol alters judgment and can lead to dependency and a great many other serious health problems.

• According to preliminary estimates, in 2000 there were 5,702 youth between the ages of 16 and 20 killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes. Teenagers make less than 7% of the nation's licensed drivers, but they are involved in 15% of all fatal crashes. Forty-one percent of fatal crashes involving teenagers occur at night between 9pm and 6am.
  
• After 11 years of decline in the number of high school seniors reporting daily drinking, the numbers increased 16 percent proportionally from 2.5% in 1993 to 2.9% in 2000. However, from 1999 to 2000 there was a 15% decrease in the proportion of high school seniors reporting daily drinking.
  
• While all 50 states and the District of Columbia have a zero tolerance policy for youth under 21, 21% of 16-20 year old drivers involved in fatal crashes had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level of .10 or higher in 1999. Fourteen percent of these young drivers were involved in fatal crashes where the BAC level was .10 or higher.
  
• According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), children who begin drinking before the age of 15 have a four times greater chance of becoming an alcoholic as an adult than those who begin at 21, the legal drinking age.
  
• According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), first use of alcohol typically begins around the age of 13.
  
• Teenagers whose parents talk to them regularly about the dangers of drugs are 42% less likely to use drugs than those whose parents don't, yet only 1 in 4 teens reports having these conversations (Partnership for a Drug-Free America news release, 4/26/99)
  
• A research study conducted by Amica Insurance confirmed that teenagers whose parents talk with them versus talk at them may be less at risk to engage in harmful behavior involving alcohol. What's more, teens said they would be more apt not to drink and drive if they had heard directly from their parents how important they are to them.

Drugs:

Stimulant drugs such as cocaine, "crack," amphetamines, and caffeine are substances that speed up activity in the brain and spinal cord.

• This, in turn, can cause the heart to beat faster and blood pressure and metabolism to increase.
  
• Stimulants often influence a person to be more talkative and anxious and to experience feelings of exhilaration. Use of cocaine and other stimulants can cause the heart to beat abnormally fast and at an unsteady rate.
  
• Use of these drugs also narrows blood vessels, reducing the flow of blood and oxygen to the heart, which results in "starving" the heart muscle.
  
• Even professional athletes whose bodies are well conditioned have succumbed to cocaine's ability to cause heart failure. Researchers currently have no way to detect who may be more susceptible to these effects.

Hallucinogens are drugs which cause altered states of perception and feeling and which can produce flashbacks.

• They include natural substances, such as mescaline and psilocybin that come from plants (cactus and mushrooms), and chemically manufactured ones, such as LSD and MDMA (Ecstasy).
  
• LSD is manufactured from lysergic acid, which is found in ergot, a fungus that grows on rye and other grains.
  
• MDMA is a synthetic mind-altering drug with hallucinogenic properties. Although not a true, hallucinogenic in the pharmacological sense, PCP causes many of the same effects as hallucinogens and so is often included with this group of drugs.
  
• Hallucinogens have powerful mind-altering effects: They can change how the brain perceives time, everyday reality, and the surrounding environment.
  
• They affect regions and structures in the brain that are responsible for coordination, thought processes, hearing, and sight.
  
• They can cause people who use them to hear voices, see images, and feel sensations that do not exist.

Methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive stimulant that dramatically affects the central nervous system.

• Methamphetamine is commonly known as "speed," "meth," and "chalk." In its smoked form it is often referred to as "ice," "crystal," "crank," and "glass."
  
• It is a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water or alcohol.
  
• The drug was developed early in this century from its parent drug, amphetamine, and was used originally in nasal decongestants and bronchial inhalers.
  
• Methamphetamine's chemical structure is similar to that of amphetamine, but it has more pronounced effects on the central nervous system. Like amphetamine, it causes increased activity, decreased appetite, and a general sense of well-being.
  
• The effects of methamphetamine can last 6 to 8 hours. After the initial "rush," there is typically a state of high agitation that in some individuals can lead to violent behavior.