NIDA Drug Facts Chat Day 2010 - Answers to FAQ Posted

Do teens in your juvenile justice system have a lot of misconceptions about drugs, alcohol, and addiction?  Would they be interested in learning the answers to questions about substance use, abuse, and addiction frequently asked by other teens?
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) held a Drug Facts Web Chat last week, on November 9, in which NIDA scientists answered from teens across the country, such as:

• Does doing one drug (e.g., cigarettes, marijuana) lead to abuse of other drugs?
• Can drugs make you mentally ill?
• How effective is drug treatment? Why do celebrities go back to rehab again and again?
• Why do some people get addicted to drugs and others don't?

Unsurprisingly, there were a ton of questions about marijuana, including:

• I thought marijuana was all-natural, how can it hurt your body if it's natural?
• Does marijuana affect your ability to drive?

Consider sharing NIDA's answers to the frequently-asked questions with teens in your jurisdiction, or using the information as a basis for a handout -- and stay tuned for next year's Drug Facts Chat Day. If you're a teacher at an alternative school or in a detention unit and you have access to a computer lab, consider having your class participate next year. (Here's the Teacher's Guide to NIDA's Drug Facts Chat Day.)
NIDA will be sharing a full transcript of the 2010 event soon, but in the mean time, you can review the transcripts (and even video) from Drug Facts Chat Days in 2008 and 2007. Just FYI, in 2009, NIDA scientists answered about 1,200 questions out of 13,000 sent in from over 70 schools across the country.