Checklist

_____ marijuana

_____ tobacco

_____ caffeine

_____ LSD

_____ cocaine

_____ crack

_____ alcohol

_____ heroin

_____ barbiturates

_____ amphetamines

_____ diet pills

Quote 1 [optional poster]

Most drugs are useful medications for the treatment of diseases. But drug abuse is "the excessive nonmedical use of drugs for the changes they produce in emotion, thought, or behavior" (Ira W. Hillyard, "Drug Abuse: It Starts in the Medicine Cabinet," Ensign, Apr. 1977, p. 42).

Quote 2

Elder Marvin J. Ashton asked, "What causes a strong, lovely, vibrant young person to allow a chemical to control his or her behavior?" (in Conference Report, Apr. 1971, p. 13; or Ensign, June 1971, p.

Lesson Ideas

1. Peer pressure. Being accepted by others can seem important. Those who are pressured by friends to experiment with drugs may do so to gain or maintain acceptance or popularity.

2. Escape. Some people may feel that their problems and stresses are intolerable. They may seek to escape from them through drugs that either depress awareness or produce a marked stimulation that creates a temporary feeling of well-being.

3. Immaturity. Feelings of curiosity, boredom, or rebellion account for the use of drugs by some people. They may be seeking involvement, action, and excitement. Young people may also sometimes think that they appear older than they are when they do things that they consider "adult."

4. Availability. Because of illegal drug traffic and because of the rapid development of new drugs, harmful substances are increasingly available. These and other conditions make drugs easier to obtain. This easier access to drugs may also make their use seem more acceptable to some people.

5. Advertising appeal. Advertisements of handsome, confident, prosperous, healthy-looking people can make undesirable products appealing. Enticing advertising techniques are sometimes convincing and can make these products seem acceptable.

Statements with Quotes:

1. Peer pressure. We need to develop personal convictions about matters of right and wrong early in our lives. While there are peers who would urge us to do wrong, there are also peers who are doing right and whose examples we may follow. Ideally, we should be among those who set their own righteous course and encourage others to follow, rather than be among those who weakly give into pressures to do wrong. We can help drug abusers most by "setting an example of strong, healthy, Christian living." We can demonstrate in our daily lives "the rewards of straight living, such as good health, happiness, peace, and accomplishment" (Victor L. Brown, Jr., "Q and A," New Era, May 1971, p. 33).

2. Escape. The stresses and demands of life's experiences are real. Everyone needs release or change at times, but in acceptable ways. This release can come through talking out problems with family, friends, Church leaders and teachers, or professional counselors. Change can come in the form of healthy diversion-sports and cultural activities, creative hobbies, vacations, rest, and serving others. These kinds of diversions become not only a release from pressures, but also contribute to our sense of worth. We should avoid using and abusing alcohol and drugs as ways of escaping from our responsibility to act for ourselves.

3. Immaturity. The process of growing up and learning is something we all experience. This natural process is likely to result in error along the way. However, growing up and learning can be attended by good judgment and self-control in all of its stages. It is unfortunate that some "impulsive young [people] ... are seeking thrills to spice those impatient years of growing to maturity. Having heard of drug 'kicks' but having little or no understanding of the dangers involved, some of these young people become involved-either deliberately or sometimes even accidentally-with destructive drugs" (Hillyard, "Drug Abuse," p. 41).

4. Availability. The availability of something does not mean that it is good or that we need to partake of it. We must develop personal strengths to protect ourselves from much in society that is available, but not necessarily desirable. "Certainly the availability of new and more potent and exotic drugs in great quantity has been a factor [in their increased use]. ... These drugs have leaked much too quickly into the mainstream of everyday usage, and their use as a crutch to help people through even the minor trials of everyday life has become all too common (Hillyard, "Drug Abuse," p. 42).

5. Advertising appeal. While advertising provides information, it frequently distorts, manipulates, or only partially informs. Some advertising promises that drugs can cure any ill. We need to know enough that we can use good judgment in evaluating advertisements. If we are not alert, we can be "conditioned to think of drugs as a routine, instant cure for whatever might ail us or make us unhappy" (Hillyard, "Drug Abuse," p. 42)..

Quote 4

"Drugs and alcohol seem to be particularly enticing in our generation, although they have been used by mankind in different forms and for different reasons since the beginning of time. Always they have promised liberation. Always they have lied" (E. Brent Frazier, "Drugs: Why Do Kids Start? How Can You Help?" Ensign, Aug. 1975, p. 67).

Case study 1

Jim was an active Latter-day Saint priest. He was also on the high school football team. Some members of the team would gather on weekends to drink beer and smoke marijuana, and Jim decided to join them. He thought that he would not drink or smoke; he would just enjoy the companionship of his friends. He knew, however, that his parents would disapprove if they knew where he was going. Eventually he gave in to peer pressure and began drinking beer and smoking marijuana with them. Every time he did, he came home bearing the burden of having done something seriously wrong. Because his conscience bothered him, he began to find excuses not to participate in Church activities and began to feel alienated from his family.

Case study 2

"Barbara had become addicted to heroin at the age of twelve, after two years of excessive marijuana use. The heroin addiction had made her, at that tender age, a prostitute and thief. In addition to heroin, she also used excessive amounts of alcohol and barbiturates. Just two months after her eighteenth birthday, she had taken a large dose of LSD, and this drug, in concert with all the others, literally destroyed her mind" (Hillyard, "Drug Abuse," p. 41).

Case study 3

While they were walking home from school, Janet and her friends decided they would all like to lose some weight. They stopped at a store, and each purchased a package of diet pills that had been advertised as an easy way to lose weight. Within a short time, most of the girls had either lost the desired weight or stopped taking the pills. However, Janet had noticed that when she took the pills she seemed to have more energy, so she continued to take them, even though she had lost the weight she desired. It seemed that the pills enabled her to accomplish more each day. She could see no harm in this as the pills were nonprescription and legal. She never realized that she had become dependent on them until she decided to stop using them.

Case study 4

"About this time a year ago ... I was somewhere ... stoned out of my mind on something or other. I was living away from home in the fabricated world of a drug freak, filled with illusions. What was around me was not what I was looking for. ...

"As I kept telling myself, 'You're happy,' I wondered why I had to work so hard to convince myself. I had become dependent on something outside of myself. As I drew more into the scene, I grew away from my friends.

"Where am I? What am I? Who am I? I was haunted day and night by these questions, and day by day I was led further from the answers.

"One night as I walked the streets under the influence of only-my-pusher-knew-what, I made a discovery. In the midst of this freedom the only thing I was acquiring was death. And I stood alone, suffocating in my solitude" (Charleen Hurson, "Start the World; I Want to Get On," New Era, Apr. 1972, p. 12).

Quote 5

"Be smart. Do not be so shortsighted as to indulge in the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. It simply is not smart to do so. It is stupid, if you will pardon that harsh word, to use cocaine, marijuana, or any of the other drugs that rob you of control of your mind. After every drug-induced 'high,' there is a reactionary 'low.' Why spend money on that which can only harm you? Why become enslaved to a habit that can only hinder and short-circuit your future?" (Gordon B. Hinckley, in Conference Report, Oct. 1981, p. 57; or Ensign, Nov. 1981, pp. 40-41).

Optional poster and scripture

1 Cor. 3:17

17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Quote 6

"So many people say, 'One cigarette, one cup of tea or coffee, one puff of marijuana won't hurt you, and one drink of alcohol surely cannot hurt anybody.'