1. Drug Addiction By: Paulina De Fulviis

2. The Church’s view on drugs 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.

3. What is a drug? 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

5. Drug: how much was consumed

6. Environment: if a person is using it with friends, on their own, or at work

7. Availability: where can you get the drugs

8. 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.

9. Teens and how they are influenced about drugs. . . 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.

10. Is it ever acceptable for Catholics to take drugs? 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.

11. Drugs vs. God Would you chose drugs over God? 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.

12. If drugs are harmful, why do people still use them? 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 mentalityenables 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.

13. Would you turn to drugs, knowing that you can be at risk of addiction? (survey of 16 boys and 16 girls)

15. Works Cited CALD, 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