School, party, recover. School, party, recover. Senior John Jackson* knows this cycle all too well: going to school all week, partying Friday and Saturday night then recovering from the drugs and alcohol on Sunday. Engaging in dangerous behavior can lead to serious health problems, such as severe damage to the brain and psychological problems with addiction.

“I live for the parties,” Jackson said. “Without the parties I am a nothing in this school.”

Chemicals in alcohol can affect the brain and cause irreversible damage. When drinking alcohol, the cerebral cortex, which controls a person’s reason and thinking, slows down and causes delayed reactions and, according to some studies, leads to cancer. According to Cancer.org ethanol is linked to be the cause of these cancers.

“When kids decide to go do drugs and party, they don’t realize how it will impact their life,” Officer Daryle Ryan said. “If they get caught with marijuana, it gives them a criminal record and once they have drug charges some jobs will refuse to hire them.”

When teens attend parties and get caught using illegal substances by authorities, they face a Minor In Possession (MIP) charge. The penalty for an MIP is a $200 fine and an alcohol education class such as AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). Even if the teenager doesn’t drink at the party and the party gets busted, they could face a MIP charge.

Even if teens do not get caught using illegal drugs and drinking alcohol underage, the chemicals cause damage to the body.

“Abusing any substance can stress your body,” School Nurse Sonia Smith said. “It causes your organs to overwork themselves, and it exhausts them to where irreversible damage would occur.”

When teenagers smoke marijuana, they are at risk for lung cancer. According to www.lung.org, lung cancer kills more people than prostate cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer combined. More than 228,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer a year, and 168,000 of them die. One in every 14 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer.

Another problem from the party life is the lack of self control a teen can have. According to Forensic Psycho Toxicology : when smoking and drinking, a person could blackout which can cause a their long term memory to become impaired. When someone blacks out, they can be preyed upon and be taken advantage of sexually.

While social media websites like Twitter and Instagram glorify the partying lifestyle, parties can have effects on college and job applications. When colleges look at an application, they search all information available on the Internet and do investigations on the applicant. Through social media, they could discover the lifestyle of the applicant.

“I wouldn’t want my players doing drugs,” Tennis Coach Chad Dozier said. “When athletes participate in the lifestyle of partying it could easily send them down a bad path.”

When athletes participate in parties, it can have drastic effects on their athletic capabilities. According to my.clevelandclinic.org, inhaling marijuana causes a short-term burning of the lungs and may cause long-term lung problems, such as heavy coughing and loss of breath when doing simple activities like walking a dog.

“Smoking in general is a huge risk factor,” Smith said. “Smoking increases the chance of getting lung cancer significantly.”

Lung cancer is another consequence of smoking marijuana. When smoking marijuana a person will unknowingly inhale carcinogens. Heavy smoking over a period of time a person could cause lung cancer. Lung cancer kills more people than breast cancer, pancreas cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer combined. Lung cancer killed 180,000 people in 2012. While over 300,000 people were diagnosed.

Each friday English teacher Ms. Martin advises all her students “Don’t drink, don’t do drugs, and don’t make babies.”