Educating Youths on the effects of Vicodin during Red Ribbon Week

Educating Youths on the effects of Vicodin during Red Ribbon Week

Red Ribbon Week assembly programs should be designed to highlight the effects of a wide range of drugs.  One of these drugs is Vicodin, which is a prescription drug usually issued to people who suffer from different forms of pain.  Vicodin is an effective pain relief medication that relieves pain caused by anything from a toothache, headaches and even mild back pain.

Because Vicodin relieves such a wide variety of pain, it is usually found in the medicine cabinet of most homes and sometimes even in bedside drawers.  This makes Vicodin an easily available and accessible drug for youths to use with the minimum risk of detection.  Certain effects of taking Vicodin, like making one feel calm, dreamlike, and invincible is what makes Vicodin so addictive.  These effects are what should be highlighted in the Red Ribbon Week assembly.

There are permanent side effects of taking Vicodin on a regular basis.  These physical side effects include deafness, liver damage or failure (acetaminophen, the main ingredient, causes damage to the liver), breathing problems, extreme nausea and/or vomiting, or even death.  Vicodin also has mental effects that are dangerous and can become chronic. These mental effects include depression, paranoia, hallucinations, extreme addiction, and suicidal thoughts or behaviors.  These mental and physical side effects should be clearly highlighted in the Red Ribbon Week assembly program.

During the Red Ribbon Week assembly program, emphasis needs to be placed on keeping any kind of prescription medication under lock and key to prevent youths gaining access to them.  Most prescription drugs, even some over the counter ones, have highly addictive substances in them and should be used with caution. This is especially true in in children who may have an inherent addictive nature.  By emphasizing this, real progress in the fight against drug use and abuse can be made.