Tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana are the drugs that young people most often use. Each of them is destructive in its own right. Plus, the use of any one of them seems to "open the door" to involvement with other drugs.

• Smoking, chewing, and dipping all involve the use of nicotine.
• The nicotine in tobacco is one of the most addicting of drugs.
• More than 400,000 lives are lost each year to cigarette-related diseases.
• Long-term use of tobacco results in high blood pressure, heart attack, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia, emphysema, and cancer of the lungs, throat, and mouth. The average age of the onset of disease may be 25-30 years after initial use of tobacco; it may affect other respiratory function long before that.

ALCOHOL

• Like cocaine or marijuana, alcohol is a drug. It can alter moods, cause changes in the body, and become habit forming.
• The most widely used drug among teenagers (and Americans in general) is alcohol.
• Drinking is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. (after heart disease and cancer).
• Alcohol is responsible for well over half of the fire deaths, drownings, injuries, traffic fatalities, and murders in the U.S.
• Long-terms use of alcohol can result in loss of memory, high blood pressure, enlarged heart, liver ailments (severe swelling, hepatitis, cirrhosis), impotency and ulcers.

• Today’s marijuana is 2 or 3 times more portent than that used in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
• The active ingredient in marijuana (THC) accumulates in the body.
• It takes 3-6 weeks for the body to get rid of the chemicals in just one marijuana joint. Those who smoke more, continue to build up these chemicals.
• Long-terms use of marijuana adversely affects the lungs, heart, brain, reproductive system, and the body’s immune response to infections and disease. The younger the use, the more damaging the effects.