Substance Use Prevention: Understanding Risk, Influence, and Decision-Making

Substance Use Prevention: Understanding Risk, Influence, and Decision-Making

Grades 9–12 · Health · NYS Health Standards 1.9.4 / 5.9.2 · 55 Minutes

Teacher Note: This lesson addresses substance use prevention. Use a non-judgmental, factual approach. Follow district and school protocols for disclosure. If a student discloses personal substance use or a crisis, connect them to appropriate support (school counselor, nurse).

NYS-Aligned Standards

Health Standard 1.9.4 — Describe the effects of alcohol, tobacco, and other substances on health, growth, and development. Health Standard 5.9.2 — Analyze the influence of peers, family, media, and culture on health behaviors related to substance use and abuse. NYS Learning Standards for Health, Physical Education, and Family and Consumer Sciences (2020)

Learning Objectives — “I Can” Statements

• I can explain the short-term and long-term effects of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana on the adolescent brain.
• I can analyze how peer pressure, media, and social norms influence decisions about substance use.
• I can demonstrate at least two refusal strategies for handling peer pressure in high-stakes situations.

Essential Question

Why do some people make choices they know are risky — and what makes it possible to choose differently?

Lesson Sequence

Hook / Warm-Up (8 min)

Myth/Fact sorting activity: Display 6 statements on cards (3 myths, 3 facts). Students sort into “Myth” or “Fact” first, then teacher reveals answers and discusses.

Examples:

• “Vaping is much safer than cigarettes.” (MYTH — both contain harmful chemicals)
• “The teenage brain is more vulnerable to addiction than the adult brain.” (FACT)
• “Most high school students regularly use alcohol.” (MYTH — majority do not per NYS data)
• “Marijuana is not addictive.” (MYTH — can create dependency, especially in adolescents)

Direct Instruction (12 min)

1. The adolescent brain and risk:
   • Prefrontal cortex (decision-making) is still developing until age 25
   • Substances affect developing brains more severely than adult brains
   • Alcohol: impairs memory formation, liver, reaction time
   • Tobacco/nicotine: highly addictive, heart and lung disease
   • Marijuana: affects memory, motivation, mental health (increased psychosis risk in adolescents with genetic vulnerability)
2. Legal consequences: NYS law on underage drinking and substance possession

Influence Analysis (15 min)

Students analyze an original advertisement-style image/scenario (teacher-created, no copyrighted content) that subtly normalizes drinking.

Analysis questions:

1. “Who created this and why?”
2. “What message is it sending about this substance?”
3. “What does it leave out or hide?”
4. “How might this affect someone’s decision-making?”

Debrief: “Media and peer norms often exaggerate how common use is. Knowing the real statistics helps.”

Refusal Skills Practice (12 min)

Students practice two refusal strategies via verbal role-play with a partner (teacher-narrated scenarios only — no student improvisation about substance scenarios):

• The Broken Record: Repeat “No, I’m good” calmly without explanation
• Delay + Redirect: “I’ve gotta get home early tonight — let’s hang somewhere else” Students choose and practice one strategy for one scenario.

Closure (8 min)

Personal Commitment card (private — not shared): “One thing I learned today that changes how I think about ___. One decision I want to make for my health is ___.”

Exit ticket (shared): “What is ONE way the adolescent brain is different from an adult brain when it comes to substance use?”

SDI & Differentiation Block

Supports for MLLs/ELLs

Entering/Emerging (NYSESLAT Levels 1–2):

• Provide myth/fact cards with visual clues (lung X-ray image for tobacco myths, brain image for adolescent brain facts)
• Allow T-chart response for influence analysis: “I see ___ / I think ___”
• Refusal practice: provide a written refusal phrase to copy and say aloud

Transitioning/Expanding (NYSESLAT Levels 3–4):

• Vocabulary: addiction, dependency, adolescent, prefrontal cortex, peer pressure, refusal
• Sentence frame: “This advertisement suggests that ___, but the reality is ___.”

Supports for Students with IEPs

SDI Adaptation Dimensions: methodology, delivery

• Methodology: Reduce myth/fact to 3 cards; provide sentence starters for influence analysis; reduce refusal practice to 1 strategy only
• Delivery: Allow private verbal response for Personal Commitment; avoid public role-play; small group setting for refusal practice

Suggested Placement: ICT

Alignment Record