MOST TEENAGERS DON'T USE POT

In health class every year we learn about drugs and their effects on
the human body. We learn the drug groups and some of the effects. What
we don't learn is what this does to the brain and the rest of our
body. The thing that scares me about health class is that nobody
listens and I know that over half my class is going to try drugs
before they turn eighteen. I hope that this article will give them
enough information to not try drugs.

The most popular drug that we hear about in our area is marijuana. One
in six high school students have tried marijuana. Marijuana has many
different street names but in our area the most common names are weed
and pot. What people that use marijuana don't know is that traces of
this drug stay in your body for up to seven days after you actually
use it. Some effects of marijuana are feeling very thirsty, hungry,
paranoia and delirium. If I could tell all marijuana users one thing
it would be that you don't have to use marijuana just because you
think everybody else is doing it. Most teenagers do not use marijuana!

Another drug that teens take is ecstasy. They use it at raves so our
area probably doesn't have a lot of this drug. Ecstasy has good and
bad side effects. Some good side effects are self-confidence, empathy,
energy and peacefulness. Then there are the bad side effects which
include the need to touch other people, increased heart rate and blood
pressure, blurred vision, chills and or sweating. Are you willing to
take these risks every time that you take ecstasy?

There are four main stages of drug abuse. The first stage is
experimental use which usually involves peers for recreational use.
The next stage is regular use where the taker worries about losing the
drug. Daily preoccupation is the third step where the user loses any
motivation and there behaviour changes become obvious. The last stage
of drug abuse is dependence where the user can't face daily life
without the drug. This is the stage when the user will need serious
rehabilitation help.

I don't think that drugs are cool and I don't get why people try to
pressure others to try drugs. I hope that this article has taught you
something that you didn't know and has convinced you that there are
bad things that go along with drugs. Always remember that its okay to
say "no" to something that you don't want to do.