For Teachers: Drugs and Teens

An assortment of fact sheets created for teachers and distributed by Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia.

Young people are likely to spend more waking hours in the school environment around teachers than at home with their parents, making the school's social environment a key factor influencing the development of young people. Research has shown that a positive relationship with school, which creates a greater sense of community, attachment, and performance, is associated with reduced potential for drug abuse.

The use of cannabis is examined and studied on many levels mainly because it affects teenagers in many areas including cognitive, social, and psycho-emotional. Some studies around the world confirm that the earlier and more prolonged exposure to cannabis use, the greater the damage. The fact that it can lead to adverse conditions in adolescents makes it imperative to proceed to primary prevention in the school environment but also in the society of each country.

Back in 1992, a team of Melbourne researchers recruited around 2,000 high school students, all roughly 15 years-old, for a study about cannabis use. They wanted to know whether smoking weed regularly in your teens, and early 20s, would have any lasting consequences later in life. For the last 20 years, they've been tracking those kids - and their cannabis use - into adulthood. And now the results are in.

Teenagers who were daily users of cannabis before age 17 were more than 60 per cent less likely to complete high school or obtain a degree compared to those who had never used the drug.

Vapes were first developed to help people quit smoking because they had become addicted to nicotine. Smokers who try to quit aren’t addicted to the smoking, nicotine is the issue. Vaping may have removed many of the smoking-related harms for long-term smokers, but it has also provided young people access to an addictive drug that many of them may otherwise never have tried.

"I don't want to be like a massive snitch, but it's actually super easy," 17-year-old Ruby told Four Corners. "There's lots of small dealers doing local areas and stuff. You go on your phone, you're like, 'Can I pick up a vape?' and they're like, '20 minutes'. And you just meet them somewhere and they just hand it to you. I think it's the same as any other drugs. It's definitely word of mouth. Any social media as well."