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Drug Facts You Need to Know: Alcohol & Tobacco

Drug Facts You Need to Know

Alcohol

Product names: Beer, gin, vodka, bourbon, whiskey, tequila, wine, brandy, coolers

Street names:
Booze, Sauce, Brews, Brewskis, Hard Stuff, Juice

Symptoms of Use:
Slurred speech, impaired judgment and motor skills, incoordination, tremors, drowsiness, agitation, nausea and vomiting, respiratory ailments, depression

Potential Consequences:
Impaired judgment resulting in inappropriate sexual behavior, STDs including HIV/AIDS), injuries and auto crashes. Can lead to inability to control drinking, high tolerance levels, blackouts and memory loss, interference with personal relationships, cirrhosis or the liver, vitamin deficiencies, damage to heart and central nervous system, sexual impotence, weight gain

Route of administration:
Ingested

Legal status:
Illegal under age 21


Tobacco

Product names: Cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco

Street names: Cancer Sticks, Sticks, Bidis (flavored, hand-rolled cigarettes), Cloves (60% tobacco/40% cloves), Chew, Smoke, Bone, Butt, Coffin Nail

Symptoms of use: Smelly hair, clothes and breath; yellowing of teeth; coughs; increased asthma attacks; shortness of breath and poorer athletic performance. After only a few weeks’ users of spit tobacco can develop cracked lips, white spots, sores, and bleeding mouth.

Potential consequences: Addiction; respiratory problems such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis; heart and cardiovascular disease; cancer of the lung, larynx, esophagus, bladder, pancreas, kidney and mouth.

Routes of administration: Smoked or ingested orally (chew or spit tobacco).

Medical use: None

Legal Status: Illegal for youth under 19 in Alabama, Alaska, and Utah, Illegal for youth under 18 in all remaining states.

Drug Facts You Need to Know