The Church has a negative outlook on drugs. They consider drugs to be evil. The Catechism of the Catholic Church mentions that human life is sacred. God created everyone the way that he wanted them to be. The beginning of human life begins with God and that relationship stays forever. The human life also should end with the Lord, and nothing should be put in between them. What this is trying to say is to not use drugs because they will come between you and God. One of the new commandants states, you must love God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul. Drugs act as a barrier for you to do so.

A drug is any substance (except food and water) which, when

taken into the body, alters the body’s function either physically and/or psychologically. Drugs may be legal or illegal. Drugs are classified into four categories and they are:

Stimulants: drugs that increase the body’s state or arousal by increasing the activity of the brain

Depressants: drugs that decrease alertness by slowing down the activity of the central nervous system

Hallucinogens: drugs that alter perception and can cause hallucinations, such as seeing or hearing something that is not really there

Other: drugs that have properties of more then one of the above categories

Teenagers use drugs for many reasons. The reason for each person is different than another person. Some of the reasons why teens turn to drugs include the following: to have fun, to fit in at school, to escape problems, to be popular, and/or to gain confidence.

The five things you have to think about are: Self: gender, age, size, personality, experience with drugs, if

anything is in your stomach, if other drugs were taken Drug: how much was consumed Environment: if a person is using it with friends, on their own, or

at work Availability: where can you get the drugs Money: have the money to buy them The points mentioned above are the things you have to take into

consideration when thinking about using a drug. Some of these points will determine the effects that drugs have on you.

Nowadays teenagers are the most pressured into drugs. Teens are pressured by their peers, older siblings, drug using parents and even the media. Teens are also easily influenced by celebrity actions. Teenagers want to be able to mirror their favourite actor or artist and to do so they will do what the other person is doing. These are the ways teenagers get exposed to drugs that later cause drug addiction.

No faithful Catholic will forget the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Knowing this, millions of people a day test their relationship with Jesus. Catholics believe that is it okay to use drugs for medical reasons, but no where in the Bible is there proof of that. God does not support the use of drugs. Because of the use of drugs, millions and millions of people have turned to the world for healing. They exclude God from helping them because they think that drugs will do the trick for them. People put drugs before God and that is not what God wants. Addicts may believe that drugs are their healer, but the truth is... God is our one and only true healer.

Personally, I would never chose drugs over Jesus. I have grown up knowing that drugs are bad and unhealthy for you. They do nothing

for you except mess up your relationship with everyone, including God.

There is only one answer to why people tend to pick drugs over God. People pick drugs over God because drugs are easily accessible and take less effort to obtain then fostering a relationship with Jesus. In order to get the drugs you want, you only have to meet up with a person and give them the money that you were told to pay. For an addict to go to God, he/she would have to have a great deal of courage and truly want to stop the addiction. For a person to chose God, they have to take time out of their day to pray to him and try to live as peacefully as possible. Turning to God takes much more time and self-control but, in the end, God is always the right choice.

When teens think about using drugs, they don’t think about the risk of getting addicted or damaging their body. To them, that’s the least of their worries. This teen mentality enables them to continue using the drug to a point where it controls and ruins their life. We never want this to happen to a person. As was mentioned in one of the earlier slides, teens use drugs to have fun, to fit in at

school, to escape problems, to be popular, and/or to gain confidence.Teens glorify drug use, and sadly, it will take more effort to convince them of the negative effects of drug use. People can say DON’T DO DRUGS many times, but the option is still and only up to that individual.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Yes No

Females

Males

Works CitedCALD, Initials. Drug information. Retrieved from

http://www.drugaware.com.au/Drug%20Information.aspx

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Initials. Respect for health. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm

Lynn, J. . (2007). Christians, witchcraft and drugs. Retrieved from http://godshealingword.org/Christians,-Witchcraft-and-Drugs.html

Facts about drug & alcohol addiction. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NejbwEZPRlI

Barragan, J. L. (2001, November 1). Church: drugs and drug addiction. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/hlthwork/documents/rc_pc_hlthwork_doc_20011101_chiesa-droga-presentation_en.html