Foundation for a Drug-Free World
The Truth About Drugs
Teenagers hear many messages about drugs from advertisements, their peers, their teachers, and their parents. But who is lying? What is the truth? A thorough, thoughtful unit takes a purposeful look at drug education, drug culture, and...
Scholastic
Drugs + Your Body—It Isn’t Pretty
Drugs can affect all parts of the body including teeth, skin, heart, brain, and lungs. Use an interactive that explores topics like addiction and the brain, steroid use and skin breakouts, methamphetamine use and rotting teeth, smoking...
National Institute on Drug Abuse
The Brain's Response to Drugs
Marijuana affects the brain differently than inhalants, which have a different effect than opioids. Elementary and middle school classes read about these drugs as well as nicotine, methamphetamine, hallucinogens, and steroids before...
US National Library of Medicine
Drug Use and Abuse: Past and Present
Pick your poison: tobacco, alcohol, opiates, cocaine, or marijuana. An online exhibition launches a research project that asks groups to select one of the five drugs and gather information on how the use of the drug and the regulations...
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment
Drugs Awareness
Legal and illegal. Use and misuse. Risks and consequences. Myths and facts. Class members investigate the effects on the body of various drugs, including cannabis, nicotine, and alcohol.
Nemours KidsHealth
Alcohol: Grades 9-12
Two activities ask high schoolers to consider the role of alcohol culture in their lives. First, groups analyze the types of appeals used in newspaper ads for alcoholic drinks and compare those images with what they have observed....
Curated OER
Brain Buzz: Effects of Caffeine, Nicotine, Alcohol and Drugs on Learning
Students understand how the brain functions and how they can promote a healthy lifestyle. In this health instructional activity students complete several activities including investigating how stimulates affect the brain.
Curated OER
Drugs
Smoking, alcohol, drugs, and solvents are the topic of this informational presentation. The causes, effects, and health issues that arise from illicit drug use are all covered. While this appears to be a learner-driven presentation, it...
Curated OER
Drug and Alcohol Awareness
Fourth graders examine the statistics when it comes to teens and drug and alcohol abuse. In groups, they research the side effects of four different drugs. Using the information, they perform a skit, or puppet show to share their data...
Curated OER
Drugs Can Be Good and Bad
How can you tell which drugs are helpful, and which drugs are harmful? Use a health learning exercise in your kindergarten class to determine which drugs can make you healthy. They choose from a group of pictures that includes cough...
Health Smart Virginia
Mental Health Journals
Eight prompts, designed to accompany the Health Smart series of lessons, provide high schoolers an opportunity to reflect on and learn from the issues raised by the various activities.
Curated OER
Addiction
Students warn others about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. In this personal health lesson, students research the effects of addiction and share their findings with their classmates. Students then create posters or songs that...
Curated OER
What Do Drugs Do to the Body?
Students research the effects that drugs have on the human body. Using this information, they create a poster showing some of the effects of a specific drug. They work together to summarize the information they have gathered and present...
Curated OER
My Anti-Drug
Students discuss and then create a bookmark and/or poster with a drawing and/or words on it which is their personal "anti-drug"--an alternative for them to using drugs.
Curated OER
Children of Alcoholics Group
Ninth graders identify characteristics of alcoholism, resources available to them and their family within the community and school, and look at strategies to help them increase safety and anger management strategies too.
Curated OER
Making Good Decisions: Drug and Alcohol Reports
Young scholars identify the effects and consequences of using and abusing alcohol and drugs. In this drug education instructional activity, students watch a video about underage drinking. Young scholars research an assigned drug and...
Curated OER
Good Drugs, Bad Drugs
Add a science experiment on medicine and drugs to your health lesson. After reading a paragraph on the difference between helpful and harmful drugs, kids choose which pictures of bottles they could find at a pharmacy. The last activity...
Nemours KidsHealth
Alcohol: Grades K-2
Two lessons focus on alcohol's effects on the human body and encourage participants to make responsible choices. First, scholars identify five adults they can turn to for guidance and craft a construction paper hand that lists the...
National Institute of Drug Abuse
Nurturing My Mental and Emotional Health
One exercise does not necessarily work for all! A resource from the National Institutes of Health provides tweens and teens with exercises to help them cope with anxiety and stress. Participants note their stress levels before and after...
Curated OER
Three Elements of Health
High schoolers identify and discuss three important elements of health: physical, social, and mental health. They go into detail about each and spend a lot of time discussing the dangers of smoking, drinking alcohol, and eating a...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: The Cycle of Addiction
Drug addiction, including prescription drug addiction, begins with a reason that's different for every user. High schoolers learn more about the reasons people begin abusing drugs with a set of videos and worksheets that discuss four...
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Electronic Cigarettes: What's the Bottom Line?
A five-page infographic unveils the ins and outs of e-cigarettes. Numerous bullet points and pictures detail what e-cigarettes are, the ingredients found inside, and the health effects of using them.
Curated OER
What Are Friends For?
Students develop an awareness of the behaviors signaling that a friend may be in trouble with alcohol or drugs of abuse. They practice ways to encourage a friend to seek out adult help by viewing a video, role-playing situations, writing...
Nemours KidsHealth
Alcohol: Grades 3-5
Students investigate alcohol safety by researching the Internet. In this drugs and alcohol lesson, students discuss the legal drinking age and brainstorm the problems drinking can cause. Students complete a worksheet about making good...