Transcript Our Drug Culture

Our Drug Culture
Drugs have been a part of our culture
since the middle of the 1960s.
 An estimated 208 million people
internationally consume illegal drugs
 Results from the 2007 National Survey on
Drug Use and Health showed that 19.9
million Americans ages 12 or older used
illegal drugs in the month prior to the
survey

The most commonly used and abused
drug in the US is alcohol.
 The most commonly used illegal drug is
marijuana
 About 3.9% of the world’s population
between the ages of 15 and 64 abuse
marijuana

Today young people are exposed earlier
than ever to drugs
 45% of high school students nationwide
drank alcohol and 19.7% smoked pot
during a one-month period.


European 15 -16 year olds: marijuana use
varies from 10% to over 40%
◦
◦
◦
◦
Czech Republic 44%
Ireland 39%
UK 38%
France 38%
Drug Use in the world
In the UK cocaine use among 15 to 16 yr
olds is 4% to 6%
 Cocaine use has risen in Denmark, Italy,
Spain, UK, Norway, and France

Why do People Take
Drugs

People take drugs because they want to
change something about their lives
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
To
To
To
To
To
To
Fit in
escape or relax
relieve boredom
seem grown up
rebel
experiment
They think drugs are a solution but
eventually they become the actual
problem
 The consequences of drug use are always
worse than the problem one is trying to
solve with them
 The real answer is to get the facts and not
to take drugs in the first place






Drugs are essentially poisons in the body
The amount the individual takes
determines the effect
Small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds
you up)
Greater amount acts as a sedative (slows
you down)
Larger amount poisons and can kill
How do drugs work?
This is true for any drug – only the
amount needed to achieve the effect
differs
 Drugs have another liability and directly
affect the mind
 They distort the user’s perception of what
is happening around him or her
 Result: person’s actions may be odd,
irrational, inappropriate, and even
destructive


Drugs block off all sensations
◦ The desirable ones with the unwanted

While providing short-term help in relieve
of pain, they also wipe out ability and
alertness and muddy one’s thinking
Medicines are drugs that intended to
speed up, slow down, or change
something about the way your body is
working
 Sometimes drugs are necessary

◦ They are still drugs and act as stimulants or
sedatives and too much can kill you

So if medicines are not used as they are
suppose to they can become dangerous
as illegal drugs
Drugs affect on the
Mind

How does your mind work normally?
◦ Very fast
◦ Information comes quickly





Drugs blur the memory which causes
blank spots
When an individual tries to get information
from a cloudy mess, they can’t do it
Drugs make the individual feel slow or
stupid causing them to have failures in life
As they have more failures life gets harder
The individual wants more drugs to help
him deal/cope with the new problems.

One lie about drugs is that they help a person
become more creative.
◦ This is not the truth!




Someone who is sad might use drugs to get a
feeling of happiness but it does not work.
Drugs can lift them into a fake kind of
cheerfulness, but when the drug wears off they
crash even lower than before
Each time the emotional plunge is lower and
lower
Eventually all creativity will be completely
destroyed
Drugs destroy creativity
What Dealers Will Tell
You
55% said that pressure from their friends
was the reason they started to use drugs
 They wanted to be cool and popular –
Dealers know this
 They will approach you as a friend and
offer to “help you out” with “something to
bring you up”
 The drug will “help you fit in” or “make
you cool.”

Dealers are motivated by profits and will
say anything to get you to buy their drugs
 They don’t care if the drugs ruin your
life as long as they are getting paid. –
all they want is money
 Former dealers have admitted they saw
their buyers are “pawns in a chess game.”
 Get the facts about drugs. Make your
OWN decisions.
