Drug Use

Topic Area: Drug Use – understanding drug action and influences promoting use

Rationale: In today’s society, young people are faced with many harmful situations including drug use. Student’s research and plan information for a coherent and critical report as they develop interacting and communicating skills. Students explore and analyse the influences and consequences of drug use on themselves, relationships and the community and evaluate ways in which they can minimize harm.

Outcomes: 5.6 – A student analyses attitudes, behaviours and consequences related to health issues affecting young people.

SLA:
• drug use
– effects on relationships
– effects on community
– marketing strategies and the media
– influences on alcohol use and binge drinking
– influences on cannabis use
– polydrug use
– other illicit drugs, eg opiates, hallucinogens, psychostimulants
– consequences of illicit and unsanctioned drug use

SLT:
• examine the consequences of alcohol use on the individual and community
• investigate marketing strategies and media influences associated with tobacco and alcohol
• describe the short-term effects and long-term consequences of illicit drug use on the individual
and community

Skills: communicating, interacting, planning.

Learning experience: This learning experience may occur over more than one lesson.

Students are divided into 5 equal groups and assigned an area for reporting (resource 1). As a group, students are a news reporting team for the Local Win News, researching drug use. Students must research their assigned topic allocated by the editor, as a group. The group will allocate 1 student as an anchor, 1 reporter, a statistician, a person to be interviewed and a camera man (if there is not enough students in the group the teacher may do this).
Each group will perform their report after practice, to the class as they are taped. The report must contain a graph or table of relevant statistics which will be discussed by the expert statistician and an interviewee. The report is fictional however facts must be correct. The report must synthesize facts and contain an evaluation of the information gathered.
Duration of report: 5-10 minutes.

Stimulus:
· Reporting area stimulus(resource 1)
. News Report

Discussion points:
· the effects of drug use on the community and individuals
· types of drugs
· consequences and influences of drug use

Resources:

Resource (1): Reporting Area
Group 1
Group one will report the influences on alcohol use and binge drinking in their community, the consequences for the individual and discuss the increase in binge drinking.

Group 2
Group 2 will create a report on the influences on cannabis use and the short-term and long-term consequences of illicit drug use on the individual and community.

Group 3
Group 3 will create a report on the use of other illicit drugs, eg opiates, hallucinogens, psychostimulants in their local community and discuss the consequences.

Group 4
Group 4 will examine the consequences of alcohol use on the individual and community as they investigate marketing strategies and media influences associated with tobacco and alcohol.

Group 5
Group 5 will develop a report on polydrug use and the effects on relationships and the community.