Contrary to popular belief, the 'typical' overdose victim is not a young novice or inexperienced user. Rather, the average age of death reported is in the late twenties and early thirties. Eighty per cent of deaths were classified as dependent, regular users. Given that the mean age of death reported in most studies is approximately 30 years, and that heroin-using careers typically start in the late teens, most fatal cases have been using heroin for a considerable amount of time prior to death. They do not, on the whole, appear to be novice users but older dependent heroin users. Deaths do occur among recreational heroin users as well. It is estimated that 17% of heroin overdose deaths are by recreational/weekend users.

Marijuana harms in many ways, and kids are the most vulnerable to its damaging effects. Use of the drug can lead to significant health, safety, social, and learning or behavioral problems, especially for young users. Making matters worse is the fact that the marijuana available today is more potent than ever.

It takes only $1,000 worth of ingredients to make $20,000 worth of meth.

Cocaine is produced from coca leaves. These leaves are stripped from the plant and crushed, chopped, and/or pounded and mixed with a solution of alcohol, gasoline, kerosene, or some other solvent that will separate the cocaine from the leaves.