Life Ed Summery.

The main message of Life Ed was to "Delay the Decision" We applied this to drugs and alcohol. These are a few things we learnt.

How drugs affect the brain
MEMORY
REASONING
JUDGEMENT
MECHANICAL SKILLS
INTELLECT
CONCENTRATION
EMOTIONS

These are all jobs of the brain that get affected when drugs are used. We learnt that drugs can make a persons emotions can take over people intellect.

4 parts of the brain (the highlighted parts are the parts of the brain that get affected by drugs)
- Long term memory
- Short term memory
- Today's thinking
- Future thinking

Michael once told us that there was a man that was taking drugs who walked his daughter to school and when they got there she realised she had forgotten something. The father got very mad, shot her and buried her. He also tried to help the police find her, even though he already knew where she was buried.

Puberty
Michael taught us that puberty takes 7 years and can be described as 7 rungs of a ladder. He also said that puberty can start as early as 9 or as late as 16. This is simply because, everyone is different. The sad thing is though it is very common for people to take drugs while going through puberty. This is very concerning as puberty is the worst time to take drugs. In the majority of personal stories Michael told us the people started drugs at the age 13 which is quite scary because that is the age of people at my school! Most people start drugs because of parties which has taught me to be aware of situations where I may be offered drugs.

Ways to say no to drugs
During Life Ed we learnt an acronyms that can help us to say no to drugs,

R Give a reason
E Give an excuse
A ssertive
C hange the subject
H umour

W alk away
I gnore
T ell someone or toughen up
S ay no

Why teenagers are more affected by drugs
In Life Ed we learnt a few acronyms that explain why teenagers are more affected by drugs than adults.

F aster
A bsorption
R ate

L ess
E ffective
M etabolic
S ystem

G reater
I mpact on
B rain

G reater
A ddiction
P otential

Alcohol 
We learnt that alcohol is the drug that is most likely to be offered to us in our lifetime. Michael said that out of a large group only a small amount will get involved with illegal drugs but a larger amount will get involved with alcohol. We can apply REACH WITS to an alcohol situation as well which I've think will be really handy. Alcohol can also be used sensibly which I intend to do. I will remember not to over dose as that's when problems happen. When used incorrectly alcohol can be very dangerous and I hope not to use it in that way.

Overall I learnt many things that can help me to "Delay the Decision" I sincerely hope that I can use my new knowledge from Life Ed to help me if I ever find myself in a sticky situation including drugs or alcohol.