National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week
March 22nd to March 28th, 2021 is National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week (NDAFW). NDAFW encourages communication between students, teachers, researchers, and healthcare professionals to increase understanding about drug abuse and addiction. The goals of the week’s activities include broadening awareness of substance abuse and improving prevention techniques among adolescents.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has a landing page for Drug and Alcohol Facts Week filled with helpful information and resources to set up events and start conversations about substance abuse. If you’re looking for a place to start, try their 10 Questions Teens Ask About Drugs and Health page, which provides clear and succinct answers to some of the most common questions teens have about drugs and their effects on physical and mental health.
Below, we’ll be sharing some essential facts about drugs, alcohol, addiction, and substance abuse that we think are especially important for youth specifically.
- Over 70,000 people in the US died from drug-involved overdose in 2019, a staggeringly high number. Even so, it is dwarfed by the number of deaths from long-term health effects related to smoking: 480,000, or 1,300 per day.
- In 2019, someone was killed in a drunk driving accident about once per hour, every day of the year.
- Vaping is unhealthy in any form. Whether it contains THC, nicotine, or just flavoring, vapes can contain potentially harmful chemicals that users will inhale with every puff.
- For young teens, vaping of any kind increases the likelihood of using smokable tobacco products like cigarettes in the future.
- While both chemicals are derived from the cannabis plant, THC and CBD have different effects on the brain. THC is psychoactive and causes a high in the user, while CBD can relieve anxiety and lessen physical pain. THC is addictive, but CBD is not.
