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Stimulants are a type of drug. They are an illicit drug. They speed up messages between the brain and body. They can make the person feel more awake, alert and energetic. The feelings it causes are very short-term. They are very easy to become addicted to. (https://adf.org.au/drug-facts/stimulants/)

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Some common types of stimulant drugs include meth, cocaine, amphetamines, Adderall, ecstasy, and caffeine and nicotine which do not have nearly as many negative effects as the rest but still will negatively effect it's users

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High School Students

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Stimulant drugs can affect our health and well being.

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You should never try them because they are too easy to become addicted to and they come with bad consequences. It is important for high school students to stay away from drugs.

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You should never try them because they are too easy to become addicted to and they come with bad consequences. It is important for high school students to stay away from drugs.

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Watch this

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High school students learn 'Life Skills' to prevent drug & alcohol abuse

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The five areas that they affect us the most are physically, emotionally, occupationally, spiritually, and socially.

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Here are some of the ways drugs can change your physical appearance and your body-for the worse.

Your skin

Steroids cause acne breakouts on your face and body. Meth causes acne, dull skin, and self-inflicted wounds from picking at your face and body because you think that bugs are crawling under your skin, leaving sores and scars. And don't forget those needle marks and collapsed veins if you shoot up any drugs!

Your hair

Steroids can cause baldness in men and facial hair and baldness in women.

Your chest

Steroids can cause development of breasts in males.

Your nose

Snorting cocaine can lead to nosebleeds and a decreased sense of smell. Eventually it can entirely destroy the cartilage in your nose.

Physique

Meth causes a decrease in appetite, causing you to look thin and skeletal. Steroids can cause you to stop growing - you may never reach your full adult height.

Lungs

Smoking marijuana can cause breathing diseases, including a chronic cough, bronchitis, and emphysema, and lung inflammation and lung infection.

Kidneys

Ecstasy and meth raise your body temperature, causing dehydration, which restricts blood flow to the kidneys and may result in kidney failure.

Mouth

Meth causes dry mouth, teeth clenching, and poor dental hygiene, resulting in meth mouth - rotten teeth, gum disease, and bad breath.

Heart

Stimulants, like cocaine and meth, cause irregular heartbeats, heart attack, stroke, blood clots, heart damage, or sudden death. Inhalants can cause a rapid or irregular heartbeat, leading to heart failure and death. Fatal cardiac slowdown can be caused by sedatives, prescription pain medication, or opioids. Mix alcohol with any of these drugs and you increase your risk of coma and death!

Drugs + Your Body: It Isn't Pretty

Check out this poster from NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) to see up close how drastically drugs can affect your looks and body.
Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse

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How Drugs Affect Your Looks and Your Body

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Steroids cause acne breakouts on your face and body. Meth causes acne, dull skin, and self-inflicted wounds from picking at your face and body because you think that bugs are crawling under your skin, leaving sores and scars. And don't forget those needle marks and collapsed veins if you shoot up any drugs!

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Stimulant drugs affect us physically because they can cause the user to lose weight, they can alter our facial appearance, causing users to look much older or unrecognizable and they can cause so many issues for our health

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Watch this

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What do drugs do to your emotions, feelings and creativity?

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they can make you very spacey and zoned out or they can cause you to be extremely emotional, angry or irritable. They can cause sudden strong shifts in emotion like one minute you are calm and the next you are lashing out at someone over something silly.

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Watch this Ted Talk

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Wasted: Exposing the Family Effect of Addiction | Sam Fowler | TEDxFurmanU

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Using stimulant drugs affect your relationships with everyone around you and even with yourself. Stimulant drugs change you and the way that you act therefore they can negatively affect your relationship with your significant other, with your parents, with your children, your siblings, your friends. Drugs make people do insane things like stealing from loved ones, using them, hurting them, or just completely cutting them off.

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Read This

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Do you know how drug use can affect job performance and cause you problems at work?

Poor performance

Inconsistent work quality. Lack of concentration and focus. Decreased productivity or erratic work patterns

Increased absenteeism or when on the job or you're not mentally there while at work. Unexplained disappearances while at work

Poor judgment

No regard for your safety or the safety of others

Erratic behavior

Borrowing money

Customers and co-workers start complaining about you

Inappropriate personal appearance

All these factors suggest that there is something negative going on in your life. All are factors that can lead to being fired.

Don't risk getting fired.

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Do you know how drug use can affect job performance and cause you problems at work? Poor performance Inconsistent work quality. Lack of concentration and focus. Decreased productivity or erratic work patterns Increased absenteeism or when on the job or you're not mentally there while at work.

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stimulant drugs can completely take over your life and become your main priority. You will start to care less and less about school or your job. You can also lose scholarships and financial aid awards due to this as well. Many people addicted to stimulants end up losing their jobs, quitting or failing out of school, and spending all of their money on getting their stimulant fix.

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Spiritual wellness might mean having a positive outlook on life, having meaningful goals, loving and appreciating yourself and life in general. When you become addicted to stimulant drugs, your spiritual wellness suffers… you no longer have a positive outlook on life, your only goals are getting your next fix, all other goals suddenly don’t matter to you anymore, and you no longer love and appreciate yourself or life because all you care about are those stimulant drugs.

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Watch this

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Drug addiction is a serious condition that affects millions of people every year. When a person has a drug addiction, she may think that everything in her life is fine, and that she has the addiction completely under control. She may also think that the addiction is helping her achieve some of her goals. The reality of addiction, though, is that it often consumes everything in a person's life, causing the person to focus only on continuing the addiction. As a result, many people with addictions become unable to do everything that they want to do. Addiction can be a huge roadblock that gets in the way of some people reaching their potential.

Definition of Addiction

The National Institute on Drug Abuse defines drug addiction as "a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences to the addicted individual and to those around him or her." It also explains that the chemicals in drugs affect brain chemistry and the way the brain functions. Specifically, drugs change the brain's communication system by either mimicking the brain's neurotransmitters or causing the brain to release too many neurotransmitters. Over time, both of these effects on the brain can make it difficult for the brain to properly produce neurotransmitters on its own.

Characteristics That Can Lead to Drug Abuse and Addiction

While it's possible for anyone who uses drugs to develop an addiction, some people are more prone to both drug abuse and addiction. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) explain that people who are more likely to abuse or become addicted to drugs exhibit one or more of the following characteristics:

Suffering from a mental health condition such as an anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, or schizophrenia

Being able to access drugs easily

Having low self-esteem

Struggling with relationships

Experiencing high amounts of stress

Living in a culture where drug use is widely accepted can also make some people more prone to using drugs and developing an addiction.

Stages of Drug Addiction

The NIH also explain that drug addiction usually develops over time through specific stages:

Experimental use: the person uses the drug occasionally and around other people.

Regular use: she begins using the drug on a regular basis and changes habits and behaviors to accommodate her drug use.

Daily preoccupation: the person focuses more on the drug than anything else in her life, and may begin using other drugs.

Dependence: she becomes unable to function without drug use, but denies that a problem exists; her physical condition also worsens, and her relationships with loved ones are severely damaged.

Once dependence sets in, the brain's reward system has literally been rewired to need the drug just to function normally. The addict is no longer driven by the desire to get high, but feels as is she needs the drug just to get through the day.

Effects of Drug Addiction

As these stages suggest, a person with an addiction has a hard time leading a productive life and achieving the goals she set for herself before the addiction began. Instead of being able to reach her potential, she might struggle with any number of problems. The Mayo Clinic lists several of these possible addiction-related problems:

Physical and mental health problems

Loss of consciousness or coma

Contracting a communicable disease from needles or unprotected sex

Accidents

Suicide

Conflict in relationships

Work- or school-related problems

Legal issues

Financial struggles

Addiction affects multiple aspects of a person's life. It changes the way her brain functions and the way she interacts with other people. When a person is struggling with an addiction, she is not functioning at her full ability, and as a result is unable to perform many important tasks in her life. In order to regain control of her life and reach her full potential, she must stop using the drug and get help with her addiction.

Get More Information about Drug Addiction and Reaching Your Potential

If you or someone you love is dealing with the negative effects of drug addiction, please give us a call at 615-490-9376. Our admissions coordinators are available to discuss treatment options and help you find a rehabilitation program that works best for you.

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How Addiction Can Keep You from Reaching Your Potential | Foundations Recovery Network

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Drug addiction is a serious condition that affects millions of people every year. When a person has a drug addiction, she may think that everything in her life is fine, and that she has the addiction completely under control. She may also think that the addiction is helping her achieve some of her goals.

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I chose High School students because when I was in highschool I started to realize what drugs were, I started to see people trying them and that is the age where I think it is appropriate to learn about drugs and their consequences.

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https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/10/stimulants

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/cocaine/how-cocaine-used

https://footprintstorecovery.com/blog/what-stimulants-do-to-the-body-and-mind/

https://foodinsight.org/natural-vs-added-caffeine-whats-the-difference/

https://www.acmt.net/_Library/Public_Affairs/ACMT_FAQ_Nicotine_.pdf

https://www.banyanstuart.com/2020/10/15/how-meth-is-made/

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/cocaine/what-cocaine

https://www.dea.gov/taxonomy/term/346

https://adf.org.au/drug-facts/stimulants/