USE YOUR POWER TO TAKE A STAND
DON'T STAND ALONE!
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YOU'RE NOT ALONE
You may know some teens who drink. You may even have tried it yourself. But the truth is the majority are staying alcohol free until 21! Here’s the truth about teens and alcohol:
GET THE FACTS
It is not maturity, its biology. The young body cannot handle alcohol the way an adult one can. Alcohol impairs judgement and reflexes. It increases the chances that you will make terrible choices that you never would have made sober.
Time is the ONLY thing that can sober a person up. In order for your body to get back to normal and your brain be able to get back to its normal self, the body needs to flush out the bad. Coffee only creates a wide awake drunk and a shower only creates a wet one.
Every year over 4,300 youth die as a result of underage drinking. Additionally, the younger youth start drinking, the higher the likelihood for developing alcohol dependence later in life.
THC affects a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is necessary for learning. These affects can last long after the “high” is gone. In fact, college students who use are much more likely to drop out than those who do not.
The main active ingredient in marijuana, THC, stimulates brain cells to release the chemical dopamine, which creates a feeling of pleasure. One in six people who start in their teens will become addicted.
Driving is a divided attention task. THC mutes the senses needed to drive safely and the ability to react to changing dangers while driving. Effects include slower reactions, lane weaving, decreased coordination, and difficulty reacting to signals and sounds.
Wrong! The reality is that more young people suffer injuries and die from alcohol-related incidences than from all other illegal drugs combined.
In fact, two-thirds of underage drinking teen deaths do NOT even involve car crashes. Some of the consequences include:
DON'T BE A STORY. TAKE ACTION TO STAY SAFE
One in three teens admit to being the passenger of a drinking driver. Have you ever been there? How can you keep you and your friends out of that situation? Have you ever thought about it? What can you do?
TALKING ABOUT ALCOHOL
“My parents and I have always had an understanding that drinking alcohol wasn’t for me. I watched family members, close friends, and elders I knew let alcohol tear their life, dreams, and aspirations apart, and I told my parents that was not going to be me!
I knew I wanted to live healthy: mentally, physically and spiritually, so I was determined to live each day responsibly without alcohol.
I remembered a question my parents asked me: What’s your motive for drinking alcohol? And as I thought about it, I had no motive because I will face problems to the day I die and just drinking for a good time isn’t going to make my problems or issues disappear.
So, I decided that alcohol wasn’t going to become a part of me, and my parents 100% enforced and supported my decision, inspiring me to find other ways to enjoy life and live it to the fullest.” -Kenya, 19, Louisiana
If you need help, here are some tips: