Getting Smart About Teen Medicine Abuse

                 Watch this three minute video to learn more about a common medicine that                       more and more teens are turning to.

April is Alcohol Awareness Month: "Talk Early, Talk Often: Parents Can Make a Difference in Teen Alcohol Use"

Alcohol is the most abused substance by American youth and more likely to be the cause of young people's death over all other illegal drugs combined (National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc).

Access is usually what determines which substance young people use, according to Katharine Sadler, author of What Adults Need to Know about Kids and Substance Use. Alcohol and cigarettes--known as "gateway drugs"--are often the substances that adolescents use first because they are easy to obtain. Parents need to make sure that they don't become the suppliers of these substances because easy access to alcohol may send the message to young people that drinking is less serious than using drugs. 

Prescription Drug Abuse Affects our Teens

According to the 2015 Pulaski High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey 15% of PHS students have reported taking a prescription drug without a doctors prescription, 8% of the students reported doing this 30 days prior to taking the survey.  7% of PHS students reported taking an over-the-counter drug to get high.  To learn more about Prescription Drug Abuse, watch this short video.

Marijuana Use and Teens

Did You Know Marijuana Use in Teens Can Decrease Verbal IQ?

Read this article (click on link below) to gain information on how alcohol, and other drugs can affect the brain, and why teenagers are more susceptible.

Why Teens are Impulsive, Addiction Prone and Should Protect Their Brains

What's wrong with Marijuana?

In January, 2015 students at Pulaski High School took the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). 11.1 % of PHS students surveyed had used Marijuana in the 30 days prior to taking the survey, in the state of Wisconsin based on the YRBS 17 % of students had reported smoking marijuana 30 days prior to taking the survey. 19.8% of PHS students have reported having tried Marijuana, and 5% of those students tried it before the age of 13.  Many students will argue that there isn't anything wrong with smoking marijuana; and with some states legalizing it, the dangers of smoking marijuana are minimized in the eyes of a lot of people. Get informed about Marijuana by reading the following article: http://www.addiction.com/4177/marijuana-and-teenage-brains/

The Dangers of Marijuana and Teenage Brains

Facts about addiction