This series presents findings of recent research efforts in the area of substance abuse. The research debunks myths about alcohol and drugs, prescription medications, and organic substances. It also presents results of the latest research conducted by brain experts on addiction and the developing teenage brain.
101. Top Ten Myths About Alcohol and Drugs
This program exposes the following myths: Everybody’s doing it; I can stop when I feel like it; Beer isn’t as bad as hard liquor; I can get high and still be in control; I can drive a car high on marijuana; Marijuana isn’t harmful or addictive; Prescription drugs can’t hurt me because they’re legal; Drugs help relieve stress; Drugs and alcohol do not damage the brain, and Steroids do not damage the body. Each myth is rebutted with facts, charging students to take responsibility for their personal health and safety.
102. Rushing, Crashing, Dying: The Meth Epidemic
This program features interviews with law enforcement authorities, ER doctors, social workers, and recovered addicts and their families to show the horrors of meth abuse. Viewers learn how meth destroys the brains and bodies of users and how meth lab toxins poison children living nearby.
103. Tobacco and Death: Perfect Together
Interviews of people whose lives have been ravaged by tobacco use are intertwined with images of diseased lungs, damaged hearts, and various cancers to give viewers a true picture of the effects of tobacco. The program opens bleakly in a morgue and crosscuts with interviews of smokers dying from head and neck cancers, lung cancers and heart disease. Leading anti-tobacco experts weigh in with the latest statistics on morbidity and mortality rates.
104. Uppers and Downers: The Facts About Stimulants and Depressants
This docudrama presents the facts on how abuse of stimulants and depressants harms the brain and the body. An expert talks about the biological impact of using stimulants including caffeine, ADHD medicines Ritalin and Adderall, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine, crack, and Ecstasy (MDMA). The program also addresses depressants, including alcohol, barbiturates and sleeping pills, tranquilizers, Rohypnol and GHB and stresses the highly addictive nature of these drugs as the body’s tolerance increases.
105. Myths of Marijuana Debunked
Marijuana is not addictive. It doesn’t harm the body. It doesn’t harm the brain. Marijuana doesn’t impair driving or negatively impact teens’ futures. There‘s no connection between marijuana use and unhealthy risk-taking. This program debunks these misconceptions with the latest facts, science and statistics to prove the danger of marijuana use.
106. Addiction and the Human Brain
Drug addiction is a disease of the brain, and teens are at highest risk for acquiring this disease. This startling conclusion was recently arrived at by brain experts, based on the latest research findings. Studies indicate that drugs affect the developing brain more than the brain of someone more mature, thus putting teens at a higher risk of addiction. This program illustrates the complicated structure and function of the brain and explains changes caused by prolonged use of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, nicotine, alcohol and methamphetamine.
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