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Teacher's role

• Resource provider
• Instructor
• Classroom supporter
• Learning facilitator
• Mentor
• School leader
• Learner

The use and abuse of illicit substances has a big impact on school performance in children and teens.

substance abuse

What is substance abuse?

• Medline's medical encyclopedia defines substance or drug abuse as "the use of illicit drugs or the abuse of prescription or over-the-counter drugs for purposes other than those for which they are indicated or in a manner or in quantities other than directed."

Most drugs of abuse are addictive.

Addiction

• Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite negative consequences and by long-lasting changes in the brain.

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The five substances teens most commonly abuse:

Marijuana

• Marijuana is made from the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa.
• Enhanced sensory perception and euphoria followed by drowsiness/relaxation; slowed reaction time; problems with balance and coordination; increased heart rate and appetite; problems with learning and memory.

Tobacco

• Plant grown for its leaves, which are dried and fermented before use.
• Increased blood pressure, breathing, and heart rate.
• Greatly increased risk of cancer, especially lung cancer when smoked and oral cancers when chewed.

Inhalants

• Solvents, aerosols, and gases found in household products such as spray paints, markers, glues, and cleaning fluids.
• Confusion; nausea; slurred speech; lack of coordination; euphoria; dizziness; drowsiness; disinhibition, lightheadedness, even death from asphyxiation, suffocation, convulsions or seizures, coma, or choking.

Cocaine

• A powerfully addictive stimulant drug made from the leaves of the coca plant native to South America.
• Narrowed blood vessels; enlarged pupils; increased body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure.
• Violent behavior, panic attacks, paranoia, psychosis.

Heroin

• A drug made from morphine, a natural substance extracted from the seed pod of the Asian opium poppy plant.
• Euphoria; warm flushing of skin; dry mouth; heavy feeling in the hands and feet; clouded thinking; alternate wakeful and drowsy states; itching; nausea; vomiting; slowed breathing and heart rate.

Children and teens don’t really see these drugs as being harmful or serious, because they are still learning and growing, sometimes, there are many things they simply don’t know.

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references

• About Health (2014). http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/drugs/a/aa030425a.htm, retrieved on May 11, 2015.
• Educational Leadership (2014). http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept07/vol65/num01/..., retrieved on May 11, 2015.

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• National Institute on Drug Abuse. http://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/commonly-abused-drugs-charts-0, retrieved on May 11, 2015.
• Pediatrics (2013). http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/120/6/1379.full, retrieved on May 11, 2015.

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• Treatment Solutions (2014). http://www.treatmentsolutions.com/five-of-the-most-common-drugs-used-by-tee..., retrieved on May 11, 2015.

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