Drugs: Use, Abuse and Addiction - Lesson Plan (Grades 9 & 10)
Drugs: Use, Abuse and Addiction - Lesson Plan (Grades 9 & 10)
Drugs: Use, Abuse and Addiction - Lesson Plan (Grades 9 & 10)
Objectives:
To learn about various illegal drugs.
To identify risk factors and protective factors associated with
substance abuse (drugs and alcohol).
To discuss what addiction is and the consequences of it.
To determine behaviours that increase well-being and allow
students to achieve life goals.
Handout
Material:
Handouts:
Activity #1: Name that Drug (9-10.1 Handout)
Activity #5: Now, it's Your Choice (9-10.5 Handout)
Other Materials:
SMART board/chalk board to summarize responses on
Chart paper and markers for groups to use
Computer/projector to display slides (optional)
Masking tape
Time:
Icebreaker
Introduction: 5 minutes
Activity #1: Name that Drug 10 minutes
Activity #2: Recognizing the Risks 15 minutes
Activity #3: Scale of Addiction Use 10 minutes
Activity #4: Consequences of Addiction 15 minutes
Activity #5: Now, it's Your Choice 5 minutes
Conclusion 5 minutes
Total: 60 minutes
Presenter Preparation:
Review the Drugs and Alcohol section of the Centre for Youth
Crime Prevention.
Review the Objectives of this lesson plan.
Identify ways in which you are personally linked to the subject
matter. This presentation is general in nature, and will be
more effective if you tailor it to your personal experiences, the
audience and your community.
Guest speakers can really have an impact. If there is someone
in your community who has been impacted by substance
abuse, invite them to speak with the youth. You may also
want to consider inviting an RCMP member from the drug
section. Please note: Activities will need to be removed or
modified to ensure that the time allotment is respected.
Print the lesson plan and reference documents.
Print required handouts. Make a few extra copies just to be
sure.
Ensure your location has any technology you require
(computer, projector, SMART board, etc.)
Lesson:
A) Icebreaker
Place cartoon strips on the board for the students to see as
they walk in to catch their attention.
Discuss how substance abuse is portrayed in the cartoon.
B) Introduction
Introduce yourself.
Tell the students about your job and why you are there to talk
to them. Tell students that in today's class, they will talk
about substance abuse, its impacts and ways they can deal
with peer pressure related to substance use and abuse.
Additionally, different supports to help them deal with the
issue will be addressed.
If you are a police officer, briefly discuss the role of police
officers when it comes to substance abuse (i.e. your
experience dealing with youth and substance abuse issues).
Pass out one index card to each student. Explain that this card
is to be used for students to write down any question they
may have. The presenters will collect them towards the end of
the presentation and answer the questions anonymously in
front of the group.
Step #1:
Step #2:
Step #1:
Step #2:
Step #3:
If time allows, give each group playing cards and tell them to
work together to make a card house for 5 minutes.
Explain that in this activity, each card represents a protective
and resilience factor, and when those factors fail or diminish
the structure will fall.
Step #1:
Step #2:
With the students, define each stage of addiction. Discuss the
answers with students and use Activity #3: Path to Addiction
(9-10.3 Reference) as a guide.
Step #1:
Step #1:
H) Conclusion
To conclude the lesson, summarize the important points and
highlights of your discussion throughout the session.
Collect all index cards from students. Take some time to
answer any questions from the cards that the students may
have had.
Leave students with information about how to contact you if
they have any follow up questions they didn't want to ask in
class.
Reference documents
Cannabis A hallucinogen that slows down your mental reactions and emits a
strong odor with use
Heroin This depressant causes your skin to itch and a decreased reaction to
pain
Magic This "natural" hallucinogen can cause you to mix up senses, for
Mushrooms instance "hearing" colours or "seeing" sounds
(source: http://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/health-
sante/addiction/mushrooms-champignons-eng.php)
Ketamine This hallucinogen can cause you feel "out-of-body" or "near death"
experiences
Meth This hallucinogen can cause your mouth and teeth to decay
(source: http://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/health-
sante/addiction/methamphetamine-eng.php)
Use Includes experimentation to see what it's like and recreational use also
can occur.
Misuse Problems associated with using the substance begin to appear; or, the
substance (such as medication) is not being used as it was originally
intended.
Dependency Choice of use is no longer an option and has become a way of life.
Top of Page
When Rodrigo Duterte campaigned for president, he claimed that drug dealing and drug addiction were
major obstacles to the Philippines’ economic and social progress. He promised a large-scale crackdown
on dealers and addicts, similar to the crackdown that he engaged in when he was mayor of Davao, one
of the Philippines’ largest cities on the southern island of Mindanao. When Duterte became president in
June, he encouraged the public to “go ahead and kill” drug addicts. His rhetoric has been widely
understood as an endorsement of extrajudicial killings, as it has created conditions for people to feel
that it’s appropriate to kill drug users and dealers.
What have followed seem to be vigilante attacks against alleged or suspected drug dealers and drug
addicts. The police are engaged in large-scale sweeps. The Philippine National Police also revealed a list
of high-level political officials and other influential people who were allegedly involved in the drug trade.
“When Rodrigo Duterte campaigned for president, he claimed that drug dealing and drug addiction
were major obstacles to the Philippines’ economic and social progress.”
The dominant drug in the Philippines is a variant of methamphetamine called shabu. According to
a 2012 United Nations report, among all the countries in East Asia, the Philippines had the highest rate
of methamphetamine abuse. Estimates showed that about 2.2 percent of Filipinos between the ages of
sixteen and sixty-four were using methamphetamines, and that methamphetamines and marijuana
were the primary drugs of choice.
In 2015, the national drug enforcement agency reported that one fifth of the barangays, the smallest
administrative division in the Philippines, had evidence of drug use, drug trafficking, or drug
manufacturing; in Manila, the capital, 92 percent the barangays had yielded such evidence.
After the collapse of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship, there were high levels of crime in Davao and
Duterte cracked down on crime associated with drugs and criminality more generally. There was early
criticism of his time as mayor by Philippine and international human rights groups because of his de
facto endorsement of extrajudicial killings, under the auspices of the “Davao Death Squad.”
Duterte was also successful at negotiating with the Philippine Communist Party. He was seen broadly as
sympathetic to their concerns about poverty, inequality, and housing, and pursued a reasonably robust
anti-poverty agenda while he was mayor. He was also interested in public health issues, launching the
first legislation against public smoking in the Philippines, which he has claimed he will launch nationally.
By early December, nearly 6,000 people had been killed: about 2,100 have died in police operations and
the remainder in what are called “deaths under investigation,” which is shorthand for vigilante killings.
There are also claimsthat half a million to seven hundred thousand people have surrendered themselves
to the police. More than 40,000 people have been arrested.
Although human rights organizations and political leaders have spoken out against the crackdown,
Duterte has been relatively successful at not having the legislature engaged in any serious oversight of
or investigation into this war. Philippine Senator Leila de Lima, former chairperson of the Philippine
Commission on Human Rights and a former secretary of justice under the previous administration, had
condemned the war on drugs and held hearings on human rights violations associated with these
extrajudicial killings. However, in August, Duterte alleged that he had evidence of de Lima having an
affair with her driver, who had been using drugs and collecting drug protection money when de Lima
was the justice secretary. De Lima was later removed from her position chairing the investigative
committee in a 16-4 vote by elected members of the Senate committee
Duterte is also supporting a range of anti-poverty programs and policies. The most recent report speaks
positively about Duterte’s economic plans. The fact that he wants to work on issues of social inequality
and economic inequality makes people not perceive the drug war as a war on the poor.
The Philippine judicial system is very slow and perceived as corrupt, enabling Duterte to act proactively
and address the issue of drugs in a non-constructive way with widespread violations of human rights.
Moreover, in the face of a corrupt, elite-dominated political system and a slow, ineffective, and equally
corrupt judicial system, people are willing to tolerate this politician who promised something and is now
delivering.
PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said 301 government workers, composed of
129 elected officials, 27 uniformed personnel and 145 government employees,
were apprehended in 2017.
“More and more unscrupulous government workers are involved in the country’s
illegal drug trade as shown in the rising number of arrested state workers each
succeeding year,” Aquino said in a statement on Tuesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
The PDEA said about 1,155 government workers were collared for illegal drugs
during these years: 301 in 2017, 231 in 2016, 201 in 2015, 190 in 2014, 138 in 2013, 65
in 2012 and 29 in 2011.
“The significant increase in the arrest of government workers means that authorities are
hot on their trails,” Aquino said.
If courts would find them guilty, Aquino said the maximum penalty of Republic Act
9165, or the “Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002,” would be imposed
against them, in addition to absolute perpetual disqualification from any public office.
“We must restore trust and confidence of the people in the capacities of
their government. In this way, we can achieve real success in the national anti-
drug campaign,” the PDEA chief said. /je