Explorers Newspaper: Drug Awareness Red
Ribbon Week Edition
Portola Hills Elementary
What Drug Addiction is
Not
by: Matthew Hurtado
Drug addiction is not as clear
cut and simple as it has been
made to seem within society.
People who suffer from drug
addiction are not criminals or
people with poor morals as
prejudice and stigma has made
them out to seem. However,
drug addicts are actually people
who suffer from mental illness.
Some people are born with a
higher chance than others to
become afflicted by drug
addiction and this is something
very important to understand. It
is very important to say no to
drugs even if you know others
who have taken drugs and have
not become addicted because
your biology is different than
your friends and it may only take
one time to become addicted. It
is vital to realize that drug
addiction should be seen as a
mental illness such as
schizophrenia and symptoms of
addiction can appear after any
number of times drugs are
abused.
Say no to drugs! It only takes one
time to be addicted.
The Who, The What,
and the Why: Drug
Addiction
The who: Drug addiction is an
issue that can affect all human
beings while some may be more
susceptible.
The what: Drug addiction must be
viewed as mental illness to begin
positively treating addiction.
The why: Increasing awareness
that drug addicts are ill and are not
bad people will allow for more
research and possible effective
treatment options.
8/29/2020
Mentally Vulnerable
by: David Lopez
Note: The p-value means the
probability for a result to
support a hypothesis.
A smaller p-value means
stronger evidence in favor of
the hypothesis. A p-value
under .05 shows significance
of data.
Family history of drug addiction
results in a familial trait of being
more vulnerable to drug
addiction (p=.03).
Siblings that have a familial
history of drug addiction are
both similarly vulnerable to drug
addiction (p=.004).
A larger amygdala (part of the
brain) found in people addicted
to drugs is not related to familial
history (p=.144).
To Receive Direct help for yourself
or anyone suffering from Drug
Addiction call:

Peer pressure is not cool. Drugs are
not cool . Say no to drugs and be
cool.
Quick Fact
Drugs addicts are more
vulnerable to addiction
due to brain structure!
(Ersche)
Page 1
Through the scientific 1-800-662-4357
article, Abnormal Brain
Structure Implicated in Haiku Tale’s: Student Entries
Stimulant Drug
Addiction, it has become A drug is taken
evident in the fight A dependence has begun
against drug addiction I cannot break free
that, “Drug dependence -Matthew Hurtado (grade 6)
is increasingly
recognized as a Once should be enough
‘relapsing brain I thought I would make more friends
disorder’”(Ersche). I am alone still
-Alex Lopez (grade 5)
Continued on Next Page