Promoting a Tobacco, Alcohol,
and Drug-Free Lifestyle
Haddi Kallman
Mike Schumann
Korissa Howes
Zach Dahl
Matt Steen
Lynsey Haglund
Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drug
Education
• Minnesota Survey Results for 6th graders:
– 1.5% “smoked cigarettes in the past month”
– 1.5% “used marijuana in the past month”
– 10% “used alcohol in the past year”
• Students tend to over-estimate the
amount of drug use amongst their peers
Important Background Information about
Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drugs
• Tobacco use typically begins in adolescents by age 16
• The first drug used by young people who use alcohol and illegal
drugs is usually tobacco
• Students who are struggling in school are most likely to begin using
tobacco
• Advertisements usually glamorize tobacco use, and many
adolescents believe them
• Watch Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Ylwj1q9m8&feature=related
Important Background Information
continued…
• Alcoholic drinks contain a depressant called ethyl alcohol
• The three main types of ethyl alcohol include: beer, wine, and
distilled spirits
• Alcohol is a gateway drug along with tobacco
• Use of alcohol and drugs can alter judgment, vision,
coordination, speech, and can often lead to dangerous
behaviors
• Watch Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNdCi1trDaU&feature=relate
d
Important Background Information
Continued…
• Marijuana is most likely the first drug
adolescents will use
• Smoking becomes more difficult to quit along
with use of marijuana
• Inhalants, such as aerosols, gases, and nitrites,
are legal, everyday products often used by
young people to achieve a mind-altering effect or
euphoric state
Why is it important to teach this
unit/area to students in grades K-6?
• Eighty-nine percent of people who ever try a cigarette try
by the age of 18. It’s very rare that someone will start the
habit of smoking during adulthood
• 70% of adolescent smokers say they would never have
started if they could choose again.
• Tobacco is responsible for nearly one in every five
deaths in the United States. It is the largest cause of
preventable death.
• More than 400,000 people die every year from smokingrelated diseases. That’s more than from alcohol, crack,
heroin, murder, suicide, car accidents, and AIDS
combined
Importance of teaching continued…
• It’s important to teach kids early on about the dangers and health
risks about drug use (drugs including tobacco and alcohol) because
the media is so intrusive about the “cool factor” of drugs.
• Students who are raised in a family that uses alcohol, tobacco or
other drugs unhealthily might not ever hear of the negative side
effects of using these substances. Students need to hear the truth
about these drugs.
• http://www.abovetheinfluence.com/facts/drugs-sources.aspx Various drugs and their effects
• On this slide show, we see that anti-smoking campaigns have indeed
been helpful. Numbers have been decreasing of those who smoke.
The U.S. has been taking steps to get rid of smoking, as we have
been recognizing how dangerous and deadly smoking and tobacco
use is.
• http://www.bam.gov/sub_yourbody/yourbody_smoking_game.html
Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drug
Education
•
It is important for students to know the facts about tobacco:
– 440,000 people die each year from cigarette smoking
– Smoking medical bills can cost up to $75 billion per year
– Use of tobacco products is the single most preventable cause of death
in the United States today
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Cigarettes:
Cigarettes contain more than 4000 chemical compounds
and at least 400 toxic substances
The most dangerous are:
*tar, a carcinogen (substance that causes cancer)
*nicotine is addictive and increases cholesterol levels in your body
*carbon monoxide reduces oxygen in the body
Watch Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T5S5Ze5bRQ
How are K-6 students impacted by health
problems related to this unit/area?
•
Tobacco
•
– The body:
– *cataracts in the eye,
– *gum disease (you lose your
teeth)
– *Ulcers (holes in your body)
– *Stroke (your heart stops)
– *Asthma (makes it harder to
breath)
– Diseases:
– *Chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD) – conditions that block airflow and
make breathing more difficult
– *Cardiovascular disease Hardening of the arteries
– *Cancer (lung, mouth, throat,
stomach, kidney’s, bladder and
pancreas)
Alcohol and Other Drugs
– Immediate effects: slurred speech,
disturbed sleep, nausea, and vomiting
– Long-term effects: permanent damage
to vital organs such as the brain and
liver, Difficulty walking, blurred vision,
slurred speech, slowed reaction times,
impaired memory, and blackouts
– Under-age drinking:
– Approximately 12.5 million underage
teens drink each year.
– *In 2005, underage teen drinking
consumed 15 percent of all alcohol
sold
– in the United States, totaling $19.8
billion in sales.
– *In 2005, according to self-reports by
United States students in grades 9-12:
– 26% had their first drink of alcohol,
other than a few sips, before age 13
What are some of the main topics that
should be taught in this unit/area?
• Tobacco
– Types of tobacco use
• Smoking, chewing, snuff
– Effects of use
– Effects of second-hand smoke
• Alcohol
– Effects of use
• Other Drugs
– Dangers of various types of drugs
– Effects of use
• Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.)
References
– http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesso
n034.shtml
– http://www.monheit.com/teenage-drinking/index.asp
– http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/drug_guide/Alcohol
– Telljohann, Susan, Cynthia Symons, and Beth
Pateman. Health education. Fifth Edition. Boston:
McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages,
2007. Print.