Alcohol and nicotine are legal, how can they be dangerous?
It is important to get the facts right. Some people, including adults, want to discount the danger of alcohol and nicotine rationalizing that they are legal, therefore they must not be dangerous. Other popular, irrational defenses are, “all kids experiment with alcohol and drugs”, or “alcohol and nicotine are not as bad as other drugs”. These are irrational, distorted thoughts put forth as a way to comfort themselves—dysfunctional thinking. The National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) research indicates alcohol and nicotine, among other drugs, are damaging to brain development. NIDA reports that a kid or teen’s brain is still developing until about age 25, so use of alcohol, nicotine or other drugs can have damaging effects on a kid or teen’s brain development. National drug use surveys indicate some children are already abusing drugs and alcohol by age 12 or 13 (NIDA). Aside from direct consumption of chemicals, kids and teens suffer from alcohol and drug related incidents by others w
