Lesson video

Welcome to this RSHE PSHE drugs and alcohol lesson.

My name is Mr. Duffy.

This lesson covers issues about alcohol and tobacco.

If this is a sensitive topic to you, we recommend checking with a trusted adult before starting or doing the lesson with a trusted adult.

Okay, as I said, we're going to look at alcohol and tobacco today.

So in this lesson, you're going to need an exercise book or paper 'cause you are going to need to write some things down, and you will need, of course, a pen or pencil.

Hopefully done the intro quiz already.

The next thing we're going to look at is what the definition of drugs are, we're then going to move on and look at alcohol and its effects, then tobacco and its effects, and you'll do an exit quiz at the end of the lesson.

So let's take a look of some key words then.

Alcohol contains a substance called ethanol.

This is a type of alcohol produced by fermentation of grains, fruit, or other sources of sugar.

Tobacco contains the highly addictive stimulant alkaloid nicotine as well as harmala alkaloids.

Dried tobacco leaves are mainly used for smoking in cigarettes and cigars, as well as pipes and shishas.

So let's look at Chelsea, then, let's meet Chelsea.

Chelsea struggles with anxiety over school work and home life.

She's quite shy and she's easily led by her peers.

Chelsea went to a sleepover at her friend's house.

Whilst at the park, Chelsea's best friend offered her a cigarette.

What advice would you give to Chelsea? Okay, so I'll give you a minute to do that.

Pause the video and I'll see you in a second.

Fantastic, so let's take a look at the law, first.

Okay, so the law clearly states that alcohol consumption in the UK is governed by strict laws, okay? And then if you want further information, please refer to the UK government website, but basically, you are not allowed to consume alcohol anywhere under the age of 18.

It is illegal for an adult to buy you alcohol on behalf of someone under the age of 18, and obviously, retailers can refuse the sale of alcohol to an adult if they think they are giving that alcohol to a child.

It's illegal for someone under the age of 18 to buy alcohol or attempt to buy alcohol, and it's also legal to be sold as well, okay.

It's really important that we understand the law regarding alcohol and tobacco.

Okay, so that's the law for alcohol.

Let's have a look at the law then for smoking.

Now, this has changed in recent years.

You now need to be over the age of 18 to buy cigarettes in the UK, and if you are under 16, the police have the right to confiscate your cigarettes.

It is illegal for shops to sell you cigarettes if you are under the age of 18, and it is also illegal for an adult to buy you cigarettes if you are also under the age of 18.

It is also illegal to smoke with a child in the car.

So it's quite interesting, the law on smoking and how it's changed and moved to 18, and it's showing the seriousness of smoking.

So let's look at Chelsea again.

Obviously, she's under age, obviously, she's with friends at school and in the park, and she's been offered a cigarette, and hopefully you've started to think about the law that actually she's under age and she shouldn't be smoking anyway, 'cause it is illegal.

And we'll start to look at now as the lesson progresses into the dangers of alcohol and tobacco smoking.

So what is the definition for drugs? If you were asked to define drugs, what would you write down? Pause the screen and I'll see you in a second.

So the definition of drugs is a substance that has an effect on the body.

Now, we always think about drugs as being things like heroin and cocaine, but it's any drug.

We've got drugs for medicines, such as paracetamol, and then obviously, we've got recreational drugs, like the drugs that I mentioned earlier.

So medicines are drugs that help people suffering from pain or disease, and recreational drugs are taken by people because they like the effects they have on their body.

Okay, so that's the definition of drugs.

It is a substance that affects the body.

So we can put these types of drugs into two areas.

We can put them into what we call depressants or stimulants.

So what do you think a stimulant is and a depressant? So write down some ideas, pause the video, and I'll see you in a second.

So let's say, let's look at a stimulant, then.

So stimulants speed up messages in the brain and along the nerve.

This makes you feel more alert.

So it is the opposite of a depressant.

We'll come onto depressants in a second.

So legal stimulants, not all drugs are illegal.

Yeah, not all depressants are illegal.

We have plenty of legal depressants and legal stimulants.

It's just categorises how they affect our body.

So stimulants include things like nicotine and caffeine.

Obviously, a lot of drinks have caffeine in.

Nice picture of a lovely black coffee there.

Tea has lots of caffeine as well, as well as these energy drinks all have caffeine because they stimulate us, they make us more alert, they give us more energy, and that's why they increase the heart rate, so our heart rate feels like it's racing, which obviously makes us more alert, and that's why people like to have a drink of coffee or tea or these energy drinks.

Illegal stimulants include things like cocaine.

They're doing the same sort of thing, they're increasing the heart rate, the mechanism of alert, but they are classed as an illegal stimulant.

All stimulants are dangerous.

Okay, if you take too much of something, it will eventually become dangerous, and that's why we have these legal and non-legal stimulants or illegal stimulants, because they are more dangerous and highly addictive, okay? So let's take a look at some depressants then.

A depressant does the opposite of a stimulant.

So a depressant slows down those messages in the brain and along the nerves and actually could make us feel quite lethargic, which means a little bit down, potentially, or a little bit tired.

We don't have as much energy, and actually, it can do the total opposite of what a stimulant does.

It can make us sometimes feel a little bit low.

So a legal depressant is alcohol, okay? Alcohol is actually classed as a depressant and it can make us feel quite quite low.

It can make us feel a little bit possibly depressed, but certainly less energised, and illegal depressants, which again, are highly addictive and highly dangerous, heroin or solvents, solvents, things like glue, anything that gives a high for you, if you want to call it that.

And unfortunately, some people are addicted to solvents and will take solvents, and again, they are highly addictive.

So like I said, we can put them into these two categories.

So if you want to pause your screen again, and this time, draw the table out and categorise some substances that you would class as a depressant, and some substances that you would class as a stimulant.

Now, I've done two for you there.

Done alcohol as a depressant, and I've done stimulant, which we've used as tobacco for this instance.

So what would you say, pause again, and see if you can fill out the rest of the table.

I'll see you in a second.

So alcohol and tobacco are classed as illegal stimulants, is that true, or is that false? It's false.

Alcohol and tobacco are legal stimulants and depressants.

Obviously, we've identified the alcohol as a depressant and that tobacco is a stimulant.

Alcohol is it's classed as a depressant, and nicotine is a stimulant, or tobacco is a stimulant.

Although they affect the body, they are legal, but it's really important to understand that although that legal, they still can be dangerous if taken in large quantities.

So on your table, I want you to highlight the depressants and stimulants that are legal.

Yeah, so if you think back to the table that you did, which ones are legal? Just highlight them in a nice colour, could be green, it could be in yellow, it doesn't matter.

Just highlight them so you can see which ones are the legal ones and which ones are the illegal ones.

And I'll see you in a second.

Fantastic, welcome back.

So we'll have a look at the illegal ones.

So illegal ones, as we've already said, things like alcohol is legal, tobacco is legal, tea and coffee, they're all legal, okay? The illegal one are things like the heroin, cannabis, cocaine, they're all illegal, okay? And those things are punishable, and you could end up if somebody was, for example, to be caught with those illegal drugs, end up with a prison sentence depending on the class.

If it's class A, such as heroin, then that could be seven years in prison.

If it is cannabis, then it would in the first instance be a caution, but if you were to keep being caught with it, you could end up with a prison sentence and fine.

It's really important to understand that it doesn't matter on the class, really, it is punishable and you can get into trouble for it off the police.

Legal, obviously not unless you're over 18.

If you're under 18, than they are also punishable, okay? So alcohol is a depressant, then.

The alcohol in an alcoholic drink, such as wines, beers, and spirits is called ethanol, and it is a depressant.

It slows down signals in the nerves and brain.

There are legal limits to the level of alcohol that a driver or pilot can have in their body.

It's really important to understand that.

For example, somebody driving a car, for example, cannot have two much alcohol in their system, okay? And in fact, it's probably safer not to drink and drive at all.

Because it's a depressant, it slows down your reaction times, it can make you sleepy and tired, and in which case, accidents would happen.

So it's really important that people who do drink alcohol do so safely.

So what are then the short term and longterm effects of alcohol? We've already discussed some short term things like making them tired, reducing their reaction time, but what else can you think of? I'll give you a second to pause the video and I'll see you soon.

Fantastic, so let's take a look then at the short and long-term effects of alcohol.

Now, you can do this as a lovely table.

If you want to pause the video so you can make this table, I'll see you in a second, and then we'll have a look at what we've come up with in a minute.

See you soon.

Fantastic, so see, these are some of the things that I could think of.

Well, you might have some different ones than me, which is absolutely fantastic, and at the end of the lesson, you could share that through our Twitter.

So short term effects then include things like sleepiness, talkative, okay, obviously, it is slowing us down, but it can make us lose our inhibitions if you want to call it that, yeah? So we don't really care about certain things and we end up becoming very talkative, and we can take risks as a result of losing those what we call inhibitions.

We don't really care about what's going on around us.

We're not thinking about other people's feelings.

We're not necessarily thinking about what's happening around us.

It's just a case of I'm having a good time and I'm going to do something maybe silly and take silly risks that actually could be very, very dangerous.

The long-term effects, then, are things like liver damage.

Alcohol affects the liver.

We can also end up with brain damage, and obviously, alcoholism as well and becoming an alcoholic because alcohol is highly addictive, and some people do struggle with alcohol.

So tobacco then, and as we've identified, is a stimulant.

So nicotine is the addictive substance in tobacco smokes.

It's actually the nicotine that is highly addictive.

It creates a dependency so that smoke has become addictive.

Now, the reason why tobacco is dangerous, it's because of the carcinogens are substances that cause cancer, and it's tobacco smoke that contains this carcinogen, which includes tar.

So it's actually the chemicals within this tobacco smoke that causes the health problems. The nicotine is the bit that's addictive.

That means that we can't stop smoking, but it's the actual carcinogens and the tar and the chemicals within the smoke that causes the health issues.

So again, let's look at the short and long-term effects of tobacco smoke like we did with alcohol, draw the table out, try and write as many as you can for short term effects or long-term effects.

I've done an example for you there.

We've got bad breath and we've got strokes.

So pause the video and I'll see you in a second.

Fantastic, so we're looking at the short term effects and we've got obvious, bad breath.

Yeah, we know that cigarettes and nicotine and tobacco smoke smells, and that was one of the first things that we start to notice is someone's bad breath.

You can tell if someone's had a cigarette by just smelling that breath, it's quite obvious.

And we also have shortness of breath.

Obviously, you're inhaling a chemical, you're inhaling something into your lungs, you're going to get a shortness of breath.

And the other thing is cost, it's expensive to smoke, and you'll soon know it's the cost, you know, and the lack of money can be very expensive.

So along with the short term effect, we have some serious long-term effects as well.

Things like strokes, heart disease, and obviously, we've mentioned earlier and the most obvious cancer.

Because smoke increases the amount of chemicals within the blood, and obviously, we're increasing the tar, the blood becomes thick, and that's why we can actually have a stroke as a result, and obviously heart disease and cancer as well.

So in summary, then, you must be over 18 to buy alcohol.

You must be over 18 to smoke.

Drugs can be split into two categories, depressants and stimulants, and they essentially are opposite.

One slows us down, makes us a little bit more lethargic, Like I said, tired, and the other increases the heart rate and actually makes us more alert.

Some depressants and stimulants are illegal, whilst others are illegal, so things like caffeine, tea, coffee, they're legal.

Cocaine, heroin are illegal, and there are health implications associated with both alcohol and smoking.

We've looked at the short term effects and the long-term effects, and we're going to go into that even into more detail in the next lessons.

So thank you for watching.

I really hope you've enjoyed the lesson.

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I really hope you've enjoyed the lesson, and I really hope you've learned something.

Thank you for watching and I'll see you soon, bye.