Long-term effects : Unintentional injuries such as car crash, falls, burns, drowning

1. Alcohol: An alcohol is an organic compound in which a hydroxyl functional group is bound to a carbon atom. • Other name: Happy Juice • Short-term effects: Slurred speech, Drowsiness, Vomiting, Diarrhea, Upset stomach, Headaches, Breathing difficulties, Distorted vision and hearing, Impaired judgment, Decreased perception and coordination, Unconsciousness, Anemia (loss of red blood cells), Coma, Blackouts (memory lapses, where the drinker cannot remember events that occurred while under the influence)

2. Long-term effects: • Unintentional injuries such as car crash, falls, burns, drowning  • Intentional injuries such as firearm injuries, sexual assault, domestic violence • Increased on-the-job injuries and loss of productivity  • Increased family problems, broken relationships  • Alcohol poisoning  • High blood pressure, stroke, and other heart-related diseases  • Liver disease  • Nerve damage  • Sexual problems  • Permanent damage to the brain  • Vitamin B1 deficiency, which can lead to a disorder characterized by amnesia, apathy and disorientation  • Ulcers  • Gastritis (inflammation of stomach walls)  • Malnutrition  • Cancer of the mouth and throat

3. Cannabis: Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative varieties, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica and Cannabis ruderalis. • Other name: Marijuana • Short-term effect: • Loss of coordination and distortions in the sense of time, vision and hearing, sleepiness, reddening of the eyes, increased appetite and relaxed muscles. Heart rate can speed up. In fact, in the first hour of smoking marijuana, a user’s risk of a heart attack could increase fivefold. School performance is reduced through impaired memory and lessened ability to solve problems. • Long-term effect: • Long-term use can cause psychotic symptoms. It can also damage the lungs and the heart, worsen the symptoms of bronchitis and cause coughing and wheezing. It may reduce the body’s ability to fight lung infections and illness.

4. Opiates: In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic opioid alkaloids found as natural products in the opium poppy plant, Papaversomniferum. • Other name:Thebaine. • Short-term effect: • - Pain Relief • - Impairs Judgement& Coordination - Apathy -Euphoria • Long-term effect: • - Loss of Appetite & Weight • - Painful Withdrawl - Death

5. Caffeine: Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid and a stimulant drug. • Other name:Trimethylxanthine. • Short-term effect: • Increases Alertness & Pulse Rate • Long-term effect: • Stomach Problems & Sometimes Insanity. • http://www.quia.com/jg/625538list.html

6. Cocaine: Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plan • Other name: nose candy • Short-term effect: • Increases Heart Rate & Respiration, • Causes Dry Nasal Passages • Long-term effect: • Destroys Nasal Wall • Paranoia & Death

7. Ecstasy: a trance or trance-like state in which a person transcends normal consciousness • Other name: MDMA • Short-term effect: • Gives you energy, Distorts time and perception, Increases enjoyment from touching, Inability to regulate temperature, Sharp increase in body temperature, hyperthermia, heatstroke, Liver, kidney, and cardiovascular system failure, Perceptual changes, anxiety, jaw-clenching, dry mouth, and appetite changes, Blood pressure increases, Headaches, Chills, Eye-twitching, Blurred vision, Nausea, Dehydration, Muscle tension, Severe sweating, Faintness, Seizures, Day-after depression, Death

8. Long-term effect: • Dramatic increase in heart rate, leading to serious complications for people with cardiovascular disease. • Dehydration can lead to liver and kidney failure. • Disturbing emotional reactions, confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety, and heart palpitations. Symptoms last a long time after taking the drug. • Depletes the amount of serotonin in the brain and blocks uptake of serotonin. • Toxic to the brain. • Impairs memory. • Brain damage is directly related to amount and frequency of usage. • http://www2.courtinfo.ca.gov/stopteendui/teens/resources/substances/ecstasy/short-and-long-term-effects.cfm

9. Meth: Meth is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamineclass of psychoactive drugs. • Other name:crystal • Short-term effect: • Increased wakefulness.Increased physical activity.Decreased appetite.Increased respiration.Hyperthermia.Increased heart rate and blood pressure.Irregular heart beat.Cardiovascular collapse. Long-term effect: • Violent behavior.Psychotic behavior.Auditory hallucinations.Mood disturbances.Delusions and paranoia.Homicidal or suicidal thoughts. • http://alcoholism.about.com/od/meth/a/effects.-Lx6.htm

10. Tobacco: Tobacco refers to the more than 70 plant species within the genus Nicotiana of the Solanaceae (nightshade) family, as well as to products manufactured from dried tobacco leaves, including cigars and cigarettes, snuff, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco and flavored shisha. • Other name: chew

11. Short-term effect: • In the short-term, nicotine is found to cause high blood pressure, increased pulse rate and cough. The abuse of nicotine also has immediate effects on oral cavity which causes bad breath and staining of teeth. In severe cases, it may also lead to oral cancer. • •Bad breath: Smoking tobacco or chewing tobacco causes severe bad breath in the individual. Bad breath is because the nicotine, tar and other chemicals in tobacco get deposited in your oral cavity. The chemicals in tobacco drastically reduce the formation of saliva in your mouth, causing dry mouth, thus leading to the growth of odor causing bacteria. • •Stained teeth: When you smoke or chew tobacco, the chemicals like tar, nicotine and others burn and undergo chemical reaction producing sticky substances. When you take the smoke in by inhaling, the sticky substances in the smoke get deposited on your teeth and thus cause stains. • •Smoker's cough: Coughing is a protective physiological mechanism in order to remove irritants from the body, especially from the respiratory tract. Smoking damages cilia, the protective structure in the respiratory tract. When Cilia becomes defunct, harmful particles like dust, the chemicals from tobacco, etc. are deposited in the respiratory tract. Over a period of time, the body removes the accumulation of these foreign substances by coughing. Thus, the smoker suffers from heavy cough. • •Increased heart rate and blood pressure: Nicotine causes increased heart rate and blood pressure. This is because nicotine reduces oxygen supply to the heart and thus makes it less functional. Further, it makes blood vessels narrow because of the formation of blood clots. It thus, causes increased workload on the heart; hence, there is increased heart rate. All these factors cause increased blood pressure.

12. Long-term effects of nicotine include addiction, increased risk of heart diseases, and decline in insulin levels, cancer and premature aging. Long-term effects of nicotine are very harmful and may also lead to fatalities in many cases. • Addiction and dependence: As the effect of nicotine on the body is temporary, to enhance the feeling the smoker gets addicted and dependent on the drug in the long-term. Further, the body develops tolerance to the chemical, and thus needs increased amount subsequently and thus perpetuates the intake causing addiction and dependence in the long-term. • Increased risk of heart diseases: There is increased risk of heart diseases in the long-term due to nicotine addiction. Nicotine causes narrowing down of the blood canals. It is because nicotine gets attached to its receptor proteins in the blood vessel and stays there and thus causes constriction of blood canals. • Also, in the long-term, nicotine damages the lining of blood vessels that leads to deposition of cholesterol in the blood vessels. This may ultimately lead to a heart attack. • Inhibits the release of insulin: Nicotine leads to reduction in the secretion of insulin that is essential in absorption of carbohydrates in the body. Normally, when the glucose level rises because of food intake, insulin comes to the rescue by reducing the glucose levels. In smokers, this is not the case; insulin is released in less quantity. When glucose levels are present in higher levels than required in blood, it may cause harm to the heart and kidneys. • May lead to cancer: Nicotine as a causative substance of cancer is debatable. The other chemicals in tobacco like tar containing cyanide, benzene, formaldehyde, etc. are said to cause cancer. These chemicals are released in the body when tar enters because of smoking, over a long period. • http://potatohodown.blogspot.ca/2012/03/short-and-long-term-effects-of-nicotine.html

13. HIV/AIDS • Human Immunodeficiency Virus, commonly known as HIV, is a virus that affects the immune system by destroying white blood cells known as CD4 cells. These cells are responsible for fighting disease. The reduction of CD4 cells prevents a person’s body from fighting infections. • HIV is a lifelong disease for which there is currently no cure. However, the virus can be controlled with proper medical treatment.

14. HIV can be spread through any type of unprotected sex (oral, vaginal, or anal) if one of the partners has the virus. This can happen when body fluids such as semen (cum), vaginal fluids, or blood from an infected person get into the body of someone who is not infected. Someone can become infected even if only tiny amounts of these fluids are spread. Everyone who has unprotected sex with an infected person is at risk of contracting HIV, but people who already have another sexually transmitted disease (STD) are even more at risk. • HIV can be spread sexually from a guy to a girl, a girl to a guy, a guy to a guy, and a girl to a girl. • Sharing needles to inject drugs or steroids is another way that HIV can be passed to other people. Sharing of needles for tattoos, piercings, and body art can also lead to infection. Someone with HIV who shares a needle also shares the virus, which lives in the tiny amounts of blood attached to the needle. Sharing needles also can pass hepatitis and other serious infections to another person. • Also, newborn babies are at risk of getting the HIV virus from their mothers if they're infected. This can happen before the baby is born, during birth, or through breastfeeding. Pregnant teens and women should be tested for HIV because infected women who receive treatment for HIV are much less likely to spread the virus to their babies. Babies born to mothers infected with HIV are also given special medicines to try to prevent HIV infection. • http://kidshealth.org/teen/sexual_health/stds/AIDS.html#

15. HIV (virus that can lead to AIDS) is transmitted by unprotected sex with someone who is infected, sharing needles for drug use with someone who is infected, transmission from mother to child at birth or breastfeeding. It is not transmitted by saliva or by casual contact. The only way that kissing an infected person would be a risk is if you both had bleeding gums or open sores in your mouths. Otherwise, you can touch, hug, and even kiss someone who has HIV, and not get infected yourself.

16. The best way to protect yourself from HIV is to abstain from oral, vaginal, and anal sex and to not share needles. • If you do have sex, using latex condoms properly every time can help protect you. Condoms work by providing a barrier to the body fluids that can be shared during sexual activity (including oral sex). Always follow the directions exactly and never use the same condom twice. If you have had unprotected sex (sex without a condom) or have shared needles with someone else, you should be tested for HIV. If you've had sex with a condom, you also should be tested since condoms are effective when used correctly, but are not perfect. And ask your partner to be tested as well. • Asking people if they have HIV is not a reliable way of finding out whether they are infected. People may not answer truthfully. They may be embarrassed to tell you or may not want you to know. Or they may not even know they have the virus because it can take many years for symptoms to develop. An infected person will look healthy for many years and can still spread the virus. • Many places, such as doctors' offices, health departments, hospitals, and sites that specialize in HIV testing, can provide more information about HIV and AIDS, personal counseling, and, testing. Talk with your doctor about any questions or concerns you might have.