FROM ONE TEEN TO OTHERS: THE REAL DEAL ON DRUGS

As a teen-ager, I would like to tell other teens the real deal on drugs and
alcohol.

Teens think they are invincible. Sure, they might believe it when people
tell them that drugs will eventually screw up their lives or cause cancer.
However, many teen-agers drink and do drugs, and they don't think there's
anything else to do.

Kids get drunk or high and then use that excuse not to take responsibility
for their actions. I would say alcohol plays a major role in at least half
of the sexual encounters that happen in high school.

Is their pressure to do drugs? A lot of kids think that doing drugs makes
them cool and rebellious and that it is the only way to party.

About half of all fatal motor-vehicle crashes have alcohol as a cause.
Alcohol is responsible for more deaths on the highway than any other cause.

Alcohol is a drug. It's not a stimulant, even though its exhilarating effect
makes teens thinks it is. Actually, it's a depressant that affects your
central nervous system. A high concentration of alcohol in the blood affects
judgment and physical coordination.

Drugs bring about a physiological change. If used illicitly, a drug poses a
serious health risk for not only users but also those around them.
Prescribed drugs, if used inappropriately, can have equally disastrous
effects.

The effects of drug abuse ranges from impaired memory and perception to
convulsions and coma, from sleeplessness and anxiety to psychological and
physical dependence, from loss of appetite and nausea to emotional breakdown
and possibly death.

Using drugs and alcohol is very dangerous. It can hurt the people you love
and the people you care about.

If your friends ask you if you want drugs or alcohol, learn to say no and
tell them that you are too cool to do drugs. Nobody should pressure you to
do things that you don't want to do or things that you don't like to do.

Allison Gutierrez, Mount Rainier