THE DRUGS THAT ARE BEING
USED
By: Bonnie Simonelli
Parma City Schools
WHO IS USING?
 In
the old
days, a user
looked like a
user…
You Just Never Know
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Now the jock,
the brain, the
average kid is
using, there is no
“one type” or
look we can
identify as a
user…
POT/WEED
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The number one drug of choice
among our youth is pot.
Most kids in treatment are there
for pot addiction, more than all
other drugs combined.
Smoking pot on a weekly basis,
can double the risk for depression
and mental health problems latter
in life, including schizophrenia.
Pot contributes to low sperm
count in men.
People claim that it is a “safe”
drug since it’s from the earth, is it
really safe, with over 4,000
chemicals??
They don’t call it wasted for
nothing.
THE WAY IT IS USED
Pot is usually smoked in joints, bowls,
bongs, and blunts…
 Soda cans can be used as a makeshift bowl.
 Tin foil is also used to make a pipe
called a tinnie
 A blunt is a cigar wrapper packed
with marijuana.
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ALCOHOL
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Another very popular
drug our kids are
abusing.
Kids are buying,
stealing, and given
alcohol by friends and
sadly adults.
THE WAY IT IS USED
 Alcohol
is
drank, and
that is not
news..
BINGE DRINKING
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Our youth are drinking to get drunk, really
drunk.
Games like beer pong and quarters are
very popular.
Kids will also use a “beer bong” to drink
large amounts really fast.
Emergency room admissions for alcohol
poisoning have increased over the past 10
years.
THE SAD REALITY
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Alcohol related crashes
are the number one killer
of our youth between the
ages of 14-24.
Deaths due to alcohol
poisoning have escalated
over the past ten years.
Many youth will take the
risk to get home over
being safe and calling a
sober person to get them.
MUSHROOMS
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AKA “shrooms”.
Can be found growing in cow
manure.
Long and psychedelic high called
tripping.
Also considered “safer” by users
since it is from the earth.
In reality it is very dangerous
since we do not know the entire
long-term effects and how long it
remains in the body.
Causes serious damage to the
brain in the way it reacts to the
chemicals.
Sold in ounces.
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ACID
Totally synthetic man made substance.
Causes the brain to hallucinate, thus called a
hallucinogenic.
Made from very dangerous ingredients such as
strychnine or rat poison.
Very dangerous and addictive.
Use shows an increase of heart rates and blood pressure
and can put the user into a coma.
It alters your perception of time, reality, and the
environment around you.
Some research indicates that acid never entirely leaves
the body.
This type of high is like a self-induced schizophrenia.
Long lasting high of up to 8 hours called tripping.
Many users report “flash-backs” long after they have
stopped taking acid.
Sold on small pieces of paper or in sugar cubes.
ECSTASY
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AKA XTC or X.
Sold in a pill form for about $25.
Totally synthetic man-made and
dangerous impossible to know
what chemical were used to
produce this drug.
Very-very addictive.
Increases the users heart rate,
blood pressure, and can lead to
kidney failure.
Can damage the neurons in the
brain causing actual holes.
It can kill you the first time it is
used, by effecting your breathing
and putting you into a coma.
The high will last up to 6 hours.
Called rolling.
CRACK/COCAINE
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Both are stimulants and
are very addictive.
Both can result in death
with the first use.
Crack is smoked in a
crack pipe and it costs
about $15 a rock.
Coke is usually snorted,
but can be smoked with
pot in a joint or bowl
called primo.
CRYSTAL METH
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Another very addictive
stimulant.
Addiction often happens
with first use.
Main ingredients include
ephedrine and ingredients
found in cold meds.
Makes the user feel like
“superman”.
Also smoked in a pipe.
Cost about $25 for one
high.
High will last about 2
hours.
WHAT METH CAN DO
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This is a picture of a
woman who abused
meth for five years,
she was only 35 at
the time the last
picture was taken.
METH MOUTH
WOO/WET
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A very strange drug made out of formaldehyde
and smoked in a cigarette or in a joint.
Formaldehyde is used to preserve dead people.
Very addictive.
A cigarette laced with woo will cost about $15.
A very psychedelic high which will last up to 8
hours.
Another “lovely” drug which induces mental
illness and schizophrenia.
HEROIN
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This “drug from the past” is
making an appearance again.
It is usually injected, but can
be smoked.
It especially effects the part of
the brain which triggers
physical dependence.
A very violent withdrawal
occurs when trying to quit.
Very, very addictive and
deadly.
How Heroin is Used
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When junkies no
longer have useable
arm veins, they shoot
up in their groins, or
their feet and toes.
Because of sharing
needles, HIV and
AIDS are linked to
heroin addicts.
So are violent crimes.
OVER THE COUNTER AND
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
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Our youth are using meds we have in our homes both
prescribed and not.
They are selling their Adderall and Ritalin (ADD meds) to
each other for $5-$20 a pill.
Vicodin, Demerol, Oxycontin, Percocets (pain meds) are
all being sold and abused.
Xanax (anti-anxiety) are being sold and abused.
Coricidin and Robitussin (cold and cough meds) are also
being abused for the high.
These drugs are being used every day for the high they
produce.
Many kids will mix these drugs, or use them with
alcohol, which HAS CAUSED THEIR DEATH.
INHALENTS
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Very popular among the
younger kids called
huffing.
Easy to find in the home
spray-paint, dust-off,
gasoline, markers.
Effects every major organ
of the body at one time.
Can cause death the very
first time by starving the
brain of oxygen.
WHAT CAN WE DO???
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We need to be aware and
know the drugs they are using.
We need to watch our
children.
We need to know their friends
and their friends parents.
We need to look for the
behaviors and changes that go
along with drug use.
We need to talk to them and
listen to what they are not
saying.
We need to be their parents….
NOT THE END
Just the beginning