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In the
next 24 hours, 15,006 American teens will use drugs for the first
time.(source: stats. cited by Teen
Help) |
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Since
1992, drug use by 12- to 17-year-olds has doubled. (source:
Department of Health and Human Services.) |
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Today,
in a classroom of 25 students, odds are that three of them will be
drug users. (source: Department of Health and Human Services.) |
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A
majority of teens between the ages of 15 and 17 have been to a party
in the last six months where marijuana was available. (source:
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia
University) |
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Nine
percent of middle-school students and 28.4 percent of high-
schoolers smoke cigarettes. |
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Cigars
are the second-favorite tobacco product. |
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About
10.4 million Americans between ages 12-20 had at least one drink
last month; of these 6.8 million were "binge" drinkers
(consuming five or more drinks in a row on a single occasion)
including 2.1 million heavy drinkers (consuming five or more drinks
on the same occasion on at least five different days) (National
Institute on Drug Abuse {NIDA} |
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80% of
high school seniors have used alcohol; in comparison, 62% have
smoked cigarettes; 49% have used marijuana; and 9% have used cocaine
(NIDA, 2000
Monitoring the Future Study, Seconardy School Students). |
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The
total cost of alcohol use by youth--including traffic crashes,
violent crime, burns, drowning, suicide attempts, fetal alcohol
syndrome, alcohol poisonings and treatment--is more than $58 billion
per year (DT Levy, K Stewart, et al "Costs of Underage
Drinking" {report prepared for the US
Department of Justice Office
of Juvenile Delinquency Prevention), |
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First
use of alcohol typically begins around the age 13; marijuana around
14 (NIDA,) |
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Approximately
8% of the nation's eighth graders; 24% of tenth graders; and 32% of
twelfth graders have been drunk during the last month; 12%, 23% and
25%, respectively, have used an illicit drug (NIDA) |
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40% of
college students have "binged" on alcohol during the past
two weeks (NIDA,) |
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Teenagers
whose parents talk to them regularly about the dangers of drugs are
42% less likely to use drugs than those whose parents don't, yet
only 1 in 4 teens reports having these conversations (Partnership
for a Drug-Free America |
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Risks associated with smoking
cigarettes:
diminished or extinguished sense of
smell and taste
frequent colds
smoker's cough
gastric ulcers
chronic bronchitis
increase in heart rate and blood pressure
premature and more abundant face wrinkles
emphysema
heart disease
stroke
cancer of the mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, lungs, pancreas,
cervix, uterus, and bladder |
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