(FRONT COVER)
Issues for Girls
In The Zone: Living Drug Free
For Girls 11-14
(FRONT COVER PANEL)
Call you tonight!
Kate
See you at 3.
Suz
Fun
Science
History
Math
English
Lip Gloss
All about me
Be Yourself
(CREDITS PAGE)
In the Zone: Living Drug Free
Girl Scouts®
Where Girls Grow Strong
National President
Connie L. Matsui
Interim National Executive Director
Jackie Barnes
Senior Vice President, Program, Membership and Research
Sharon Woods Hussey
Director, Program Development
Harriet S. Mosatche, Ph.D.
Director, Membership and Program Initiatives
Verna Simpkins
Project Director
Melissa J. Algranati
Author
Karen Unger
Book Design
Media Plus Design
Inquiries related to “In the Zone: Living Drug Free” should be directed to:
Membership and Program Initiatives Girl Scouts of the USA
420 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
The Girl Scouts name and mark, and all associated insignia and slogans, are the sole and exclusive property of Girl Scouts of the USA.
In the Zone: Living Drug Free was created by the Academy for Educational Development under contract to Fleishman-Hillard, Inc. as part of the White House Office of National
Drug Control Policy’s National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.
Published 2002
(TITLE PAGE)
In the Zone: Living Drug Free
(TABLE OF CONTENTS)
Table of Contents
All About You2
Drugs: Why Try Them?5
Get the Facts10
What You See lsn’t What You Get12
Quiz Time: What Do l Do?14
Get a Life: Cool Things to Do lnstead of Drugs15
You Can Say "NO!"20
Ana’s Story22
What Would You Do?24
What Can You Do?25
Resources26
The Girl Scout® Connection29
Additional Resources30
YOU
QUESTIONS
QUIZZES
FRIENDS
THINK
COOL
ANSWERS
ROLE MODEL
IN THE ZONE
FACTS
ACTION
FAMILY
FUN
FUTURE
(PAGE 2)
All About You
Imagine this. You’re home, hanging out with your best friend, when the phone rings. You say “Hi” and hear “Hello, ______(your name here). This is Stevina Dealburg, the famous Hollywood producer. You’ve heard of me, right? Don’t faint! I need your help. I want to produce a show about a girl just like you for the new TV season. Got a minute? Can you answer some questions for me? Okay, here goes….”
The chances of a TV show being based on your life may be slim, but thinking about “the one and only me” can help you know yourself better. So take a minute to answer Stevina Dealburg’s questions.
Questions
- Give me five words to describe yourself.
- What are three things you do really well?
- What would your best friend say she likes most about you?
- What three things bug you the most?
?
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- What are the three most important things to you in the whole world?
- What stresses you out the most?
- What are your three favorite activities?
- What is your favorite daydream?
- What can’t you live without?
- What do you like most about yourself?
- What would you like to change about yourself?
- Who are your role models?
Sports
Shopping
Friends
Reading
Music
Dancing
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Me, Myself and I
What kind of person do your answers describe? If your best friend were asked these questions about you, do you think she’d give the same answers? How about your family? Try asking what they think — you may be surprised by what they see in you.
What if the TV show were about you in the future? What would your life be like five or even ten years from now? Can you picture it? What will you be doing? How would you describe your life? Will your dreams come true? How did you make them come true?
The way you act now can make your dreams come true or fade away. One thing you could do that would really mess up your life now and in the future is to take illicit drugs.
This booklet will tell you about drugs and other substances that are harmful or illegal for people to use. For someone your age, it is illegal to use cigarettes and alcohol. Some drugs are illegal for anyone, even adults, to use. Some of these drugs are marijuana, crack cocaine, heroin and MDMA (also known as Ecstasy).
Some substances that are legal to use, such as steroids, can be very harmful to your body if they are taken without medical supervision. Other legal substances that may be in or around your home — such as glue, paint, gasoline and aerosol sprays — are not intended to be inhaled or eaten. Using these products in ways other than how the manufacturer intended can damage your brain and your body. Using any drug or substance improperly is a dangerous choice that can destroy your future.
People can make better decisions when they have all the facts. You can make good decisions about your future if you have accurate information about harmful drugs that can affect your life.
What if the TV show were about you in the future?
Best Friend
Family
In the Know:
The drugs that a doctor has prescribed for you to take are not the drugs that we are talking about in this booklet. Certain people need to take medication regularly to keep a medical condition under control. For example, some girls who have asthma are prescribed medicine that helps them breathe more easily and feel better.You should never share prescription medications with anyone else.Taking prescription drugs in a way that a doctor has not prescribed can be very harmful.
(PAGE 5)
Drugs: WHY try them?
Think
Although most teens do not use drugs, tobacco or alcohol, some teens try them for lots of different reasons. Some teens do them to try to make themselves feel good. Some want to take a risk. Sometimes, teens try drugs because they are bored or because they are depressed. Sometimes they are pressured by others.
Here are some reasons these girls tried drugs. What do you think of their reasons?
Alison:
I don’t want to be fat. When I smoke, I’m not so hungry and I don’t think about food as much as I usually do.
What Do You Think About This Reason?
Facts for Alison: Smoking is not a healthy way to decrease appetite. Smoking will give Alison bad breath and yellowed teeth, and will make her hair and clothes stink. In addition, smoking can permanently harm her body and result in long-term medical problems, such as lung cancer and other smoking-related illnesses.
(PAGE 6)
Alana:
I want to fit in and be popular.
What Do You Think About This Reason?
Facts for Alana: Most teens don’t drink or use drugs, so Alana is wrong to think doing drugs or drinking will make her fit in.
Maybe she needs to build her self-esteem. Alana can think about the things she does well and make friends with teens who like to do those things instead of using drugs or alcohol. If her crowd of friends is into alcohol and drugs, she needs to consider finding different friends. Alana needs to think about whether drinking too much and throwing up in front of her friends, or even ending up in a more frightening or dangerous situation as a result of alcohol or drug use, is what she really wants…or whether it will really make her more popular.
It’s important to find other teens who share your values, interests and goals. Those are the friends who will make you feel comfortable, and you’ll really fit in with them — without trying to be someone you’re not.
Caitlyn:
I am so stressed out. I drink to help me stop worrying and forget my problems.
What Do You Think About This Reason?
Facts for Caitlyn: Drinking or doing drugs makes it harder to take charge of your life. Your problems will still be there after the alcohol or drugs wear off — in fact, they’ll only get more complicated.
There are better ways to reduce your stress. Support from family, friends, spiritual groups or a professional can help you cope with your problems when you feel overwhelmed. Exercise, sports and hobbies are also a great way to reduce stress. You can think of these things as “Anti-Drugs” — things that are so important to you that you wouldn’t want to risk losing them by using drugs. Making healthy choices is easier when you have Anti-Drugs in your life.
(PAGE 7)
Sarita:
I see teens in movies getting high. They look cool and grown up. If drugs are used in movies, they can’t be so bad, right?
What Do You Think About This Reason?
Facts for Sarita: Movies aren’t the real world, so why copy something that’s fake?
There is nothing cool about hangovers, going to juvenile court, letting your family down or doing something stupid or dangerous under the influence of illicit drugs or alcohol — those are the real-world consequences that movies don’t show.
Most adults and other people you admire have better things to do than to use drugs. They know the consequences of illegal drug use and have chosen a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. Why experiment with something that is deadly?
You wouldn’t stick your arm in a cage full of rattlesnakes or jump off the roof of a 20-story building, would you? Of course not! There are many healthy options you can try — take up a new sport, join a club at school, do a service project to help your community, make some new friends, learn to play a musical instrument…the list goes on and on.
“Making healthy choices is easier when you have Anti-Drugs in your life.”
(PAGE 8)
ROSA:
I don’t get along with kids in my school or with my parents.
What Do You Think About This Reason?
Facts for ROSA: Drugs won’t help you get along better with people; in fact, they will most likely cause problems in your relationships, hurt your grades and get you into trouble or frightening or dangerous situations. If you are having problems getting along with people, find an adult — a parent or other relative, a teacher, a guidance counselor, your troop leader or someone else you can trust — and talk to her or him about your problems.
In the Know:
According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, marijuana use by teens and adults is declining. Don’t think that smoking weed is a cool thing to do because everyone is doing it — everyone isn’t! More and more people are realizing it’s not cool to smoke pot.
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LAYLA:
My life is boring. I am so tired of doing the same stuff over and over with the same people. I want to get some excitement in my life.
What Do You Think About This Reason?
Facts for LAYLA: Drugs don’t end boredom. If you are bored with your life, you need to make some positive changes — and drugs are not the way to go. Once the alcohol or drugs have worn off, you’ll discover that you are still bored, and your situation may be worse because you did something stupid, harmful and illegal. Many people on drugs are very boring. Their brains usually aren’t working properly, and they don’t talk about or do anything interesting.
Find some excitement by trying something new and taking a positive risk. Try a new sport or learn a new dance. You may develop a passion for something new. This passion — this cool and fun thing that gets you pumped — is your Anti-Drug.
What are some other reasons that teens give for using drugs?
What Do You Think About Those Reasons?
My Anti-Drug is
“This passion — this cool and fun thing that gets you pumped — is your Anti-Drug.”
(PAGE 10)
Get the Facts
DO
Misinformation about drugs is passed around so many times that people start to think it’s the truth. What do you know about drugs? Take the test and find out.
- Sniffing inhalants just one time can kill you.TrueFalse
- Using drugs makes you more creative. TrueFalse
- Most teens in your age group do not take drugs.TrueFalse
- Ecstasy is a “safe” drug because you always know its effects on your body.TrueFalse
- People who have tried marijuana (weed) may have a much greater risk of using cocaine than people who have never tried weed. True False
- A drug like Ecstasy has no long-term effects on the body.TrueFalse
- Smoking marijuana is safer for you than smoking cigarettes.TrueFalse
- Smoking "light" or low-tar cigarettes is safer than smoking regular cigarettes.TrueFalse
- Most teens who smoke like to smoke and don’t want to quit.TrueFalse
- If your parents have addiction problems with alcohol or other drugs, you will, too.TrueFalse
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Answers
1)True. Sniffing inhalants just once can kill even the healthiest person.
2)False. Many people believe that drugs like weed or LSD help them get in touch with their creative side when, actually, the drugs distort their perception of reality. What they think is a brilliant idea when they are high on drugs may actually be ridiculous to them when they are thinking clearly.
3)True. Although you may think that most teens are drinking and smoking cigarettes and taking illicit drugs, the fact is that the majority of teens your age do not use any kind of drug. In fact, only 8 percent of all teens your age frequently smoke cigarettes. That means 92 percent aren’t frequent smokers! Seventy-seven percent of young people in grades 8 through 12 have never tried marijuana — even once.
4)False. Ecstasy is not safe to use. Ecstasy, which is manufactured in illegal labs, may be contaminated with chemicals such as household bleach, heroin, LSD or cocaine. Because the user never really knows what she or he is taking, effects of the drug are unpredictable. But even Ecstasy that is NOT contaminated with these things is dangerous.
5)True. Studies show that most teens who use other drugs tried marijuana first.
6)False. Ecstasy can impair a person’s memory and ability to learn.
7)False. One joint of marijuana affects the lungs as much as four cigarettes. Neither are safe to smoke. Other harmful substances or drugs, such as PCP, may be added to marijuana. Smoking weed can also affect a person’s memory and ability to learn new things.
8)False. “Light” and low-tar cigarettes may have higher concentrations of carbon monoxide — the deadly gas that comes out of automobile tailpipes — than regular cigarettes do. Also, smokers of “light” cigarettes inhale more deeply and more often, so they actually get as much nicotine as people who smoke regular cigarettes.
9)False. More than 70 percent of all teens who smoke regret that they ever started. Three out of four teens who smoke have tried to quit but couldn’t because they had become addicted to nicotine. It is also a proven fact that teens and women become addicted more easily and have a more difficult time quitting than men.
10)False. You have control over your life and over the decisions you make about drinking or using drugs. It’s true that if your family members use drugs or drink heavily, it may be harder for you to resist taking drugs or drinking. On the other hand, you can choose to make better decisions for yourself. Get as much information as you can from trusted adults, such as your Girl Scout leader, a teacher or school counselor, a religious leader, another family member or a coach — someone who doesn’t drink or do drugs. You can also join an organization, such as SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), Alateen, Youth to Youth or MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). Today, MADD members include anyone who is concerned about drunk driving.
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What You See Isn’t What You Get
You don’t see as many ads anymore for cigarettes and hard liquor — laws have been passed so that TV stations can’t run ads for cigarettes, and most voluntarily do not run ads for hard liquor. However, the manufacturers of these products can still “sell" cigarettes and alcohol to you — they just do it in sneakier ways.
For example, you watch one of your favorite stars in a movie take a drink from a certain kind of beer bottle or smoke a certain brand of cigarette. Manufacturers pay huge amounts of money to place their products in movies so that young people will see them and think, “If she smokes or drinks that brand, then I’ll try it and maybe I’ll be as popular as she is." The message is that you can look beautiful and have fun and be popular if you smoke or drink. What is this message not telling you?
Some of the movies that you watch may make a drug dealer’s life seem glamorous or make it appear that drug dealing is an easy way to make money. Using or selling illegal drugs is against the law. Anyone who is making money doing something illegal leads a very dangerous and stressful life.