Everything You Need To Know About Substance Abuse in 22 Minutes

Gr 7 Up—Capable teen narrators Cecelia Kim and Cameron Mason lead viewers through five major categories of substance abuse. They begin with alcohol, noting that one-third of all fatal auto accidents involve alcohol. An emergency room nurse notes how many intoxicated teens arrive in the ER with severe head or spine trauma. The hosts move on to the effects of nicotine in cigarettes and e-cigarettes, highlighting the fact that some 384,000 people die annually from smoking-related causes, that withdrawal from nicotine is extremely uncomfortable, and that adverse effects from e-cigarettes are as yet unknown. Marijuana, they note, can lead to loss of up to eight IQ points in teens, increases the risk of a heart attack within an hour of smoking, and that the percentage of THC in marijuana has risen from an average of one percent in 1969 to 20 to 34 percent today. When it comes to opioids, Fentanyl is now responsible for more overdose deaths than heroin or prescription opioids. As for inhalants, there are 1,000 products that can be abused by huffing, and a new syndrome, sudden sniffing death, is a real concern.