~ GATEWAY
DRUGS
~
~ GATEWAY DRUGS...
AND WHY PREVENTING THEIR USE IS
IMPORTANT!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~ USE OF PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS IS
ASSOCIATED WITH 80% OF CRIME AND
VIOLENCE.
Drug use is also
associated with one-quarter to one-half of all hospital
stays in this country. Alcohol and other drugs are
involved in at least
one-half of all the suicides, drownings, car crashes,
crime, violence, falls, unplanned sex,
poor school performance,
trauma and injury to young people.
Adults rarely ever start
using psychoactive drugs for the very first
time.
~ DRUG USE IS PROGRESSIVE
& PREDICTABLE & ALMOST ALWAYS STARTS IN
CHILDHOOD.
Young people don't just
wake up one morning and decide to "do a line of coke";
they don't go from
"little league baseball" to "big
league drugs" overnight.
Once a young person gives
himself/herself permission to use ANY harmful,
psychoactive drug, it is so much easier
the next time to do the
same, and the next time after that, and the next time.
~ THE DRUGS CHILDREN
USE FIRST MOST OFTEN ARE:
* ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, MARIJUANA
& INHALANTS.
The psychoactive drugs
children use first are called "Gateway Drugs" because
children learn to accept and
embrace the "high". They
learn drug-acquisition skills and drug-taking habits
such as how to lie, cheat, sneak
and steal to get drugs. The use
of any "Gateway Drug" is a strong predictor for future
use of other drugs.
THUS, ALCOHOL, TOBACCO,
MARIJUANA and INHALANTS ARE THE GATEWAY
DRUGS.
~ The average age of first use
of any drug in our community today is 11.5
years.
Several studies have
found that, if society can prevent an individual from
using any of the gateway drugs until age 21,
the chances are 93-7 that
that person will not use illicit drugs or use alcohol in
a high-risk manner.
Put another way, in a
comprehensive article, "How to Beat Drugs," in U.S. News
& World Report, 9-11-89, it was stated:
"Every drug counselor and
drug-education expert interviewed agrees that a drug or
alcohol abuser who did not begin with
at least one
gateway drug is virtually unknown". The younger a person is when he/she starts using
drugs,
the more trouble he/she
gets into with drugs and the more trouble he/she has in
stopping drug use.
~ Thus, preventing ANY use of
ANY Gateway Drug by ANY young person is
ABSOLUTELY
CRITICAL.
*For more
information, log onto: http://www.pride.org/
ELKS DRUG
AWARENESS PROGRAM
