FACT OR MYTH?

1. Most kids in high school smoke cigarettes regularly.

MYTH

In 1996/97 an est. 29% of Canadian youth aged 15 to 19, were smokers. 21% males, 31% females

2. Drinking beer or wine will not make you as drunk as drinking

hard liquor.

MYTH

142 ml (5 oz) of wine has the same alcohol as 341 ml (12 oz) of beer or 43 ml (1.5 oz) of hard liquor/spirits.

3. Marijuana is less harmful than tobacco or alcohol.

MYTH

Smoking a single marijuana cigarette is the equivalent of smoking 10 cigarettes.

4. Tobacco kills more people each year than motor vehicle

collisions, suicides, homicides and AIDS combined.

FACT

Each year tobacco causes FOUR times as many deaths as motor vehicle collisions, suicides, homicides and AIDS combined.

5. Most alcoholics are bums on the street.

MYTH

Anyone can become an alcoholic. You can be rich or poor, any race, religion or occupation. Alcohol does not discriminate.

6. Teenages who use drugs lose friends.

FACT

Teenagers who have become regular drug users may feel guilty about their own use when they are with non-users. They feel their non-using friends are judging or looking down on them. They may have reached a stage where they are preoccupied with drugs, and they no longer have other interests in common with their previous friends. Regular users can promote a “who cares” attitude, permitting the user to try risk taking activities.

7. Smoking is only harmful if you smoke for a long time (20 – 30

years or more.

MYTH

The physical damage from smoking sets in almost immediately – even within a year after you start.

8. Teenagers driving under the influence of alcohol are 400 times

more likely to be involved in a fatal automobile collision than those with no alcohol in their

blood.

FACT

Motor vehicle accidents are the #1 killer of those under 25.

9. One out of every five drivers at night has been drinking; one in

twenty-five is legally impaired.

FACT

4.5 Canadians are killed every day by impaired drivers. Impaired drivers injure more than 300 Canadians everyday.

10. If someone passes out from drinking, it is best to let them

sleep it off.

MYTH

Someone passes out from heavy drinking could suffer from alcohol poisoning and need immediate medical attention. Alcohol poisoning can cause a stoppage of breathing and even death. Death can also occur when a person becomes unconscious and chokes on his/her own vomit.

11. Within two days of quitting smoking, your sense of taste and

smell are greatly improved.

FACT

The levels of carbon monoxide and nicotine in your body go down quickly. Your heart and lungs will begin to repair the damage done by smoking.

12. The more you use drugs, the better your ability to handle/

tolerate them.

MYTH

After repeated use of a drug, the user’s body may become more used to the drug’s effects, causing the user to use a greater amount or to use more frequently. But over time, chronic,/long term drug use and abuse causes damage to body organs and their functioning, making a person less able to tolerate the drugs.

13. Alcohol affects a pregnant teenager’s unborn baby.

FACT

When a female drinks alcohol during pregnancy, it passes directly into the baby’s bloodstream through he placenta. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is the name given to the condition caused in the fetus.

14. Over 200 young people become smokers each day.

FACT

That is more than 80,000 new smokers each year.

15. Raves are large, secretive dance parties that are often associated with drug use.

FACT

The most frequently used drug at raves is cannabis, other drugs include ecstasy, methamphetamine, GHB, ketamine, LSD, psylocybin.

16. If you don’t drink on an empty stomach, you won’t get

drunk.

MYTH

Food will slow down the alcohol’s effect, but it will still get into your bloodstream, causing intoxication at high levels.

17. Chewing tobacco is less harmful and less addictive than

cigarettes.

MYTH

It can cause mouth cancer and other kinds of cancer. It also may play a role in heart disease and stroke. Like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco contains nicotine, and nicotine is addictive. One “dip” of smokeless tobacco can deliver as much nicotine as several cigarettes.

18. A little drinking doesn’t affect your driving.

MYTH

After a few drinks, a driver has more confidence and will take more risks. However, skill level is greatly reduced, and ability to handle the vehicle is reduced.

19. Males use steroids more than females.

FACT

According to the Addiction Research Foundation males use steroids more than females to increase their levels of performance and to alter their physical stature.

20. It is an equal opportunity thing- males and females react to

alcohol in the same way.

MYTH

Individual factors such as body mass, gender, experience, state of mind, etc can play a part in how alcohol affects every individual. Women’s bodies are more susceptible to the affects of alcohol for a number of reasons, including the fact that “women’s bodies contain less water and more fat than men’s bodies; therefore, they are less able to ‘dilute’ the alcohol than men.”