Listed below are a few ideas for group activities. These are just suggestions — feel free to create your own activities and share them with others! (You may want to download the Leader's Guide under the "downloads" section to provide you with additional background information.)

• Discuss factors doctors consider before prescribing a medication (i.e., a person's medical condition, height, weight, age, allergies, other medications or food they are taking, other medical conditions they may have, and their ability to understand directions on how to take/use their medicine so no harm occurs). Have a healthcare professional come and talk to your group.

• Compare the "Painfully Obvious^®" consequences of prescription drug abuse to other things that are obviously stupid to do (i.e., using tuna fish for deodorant, etc.). Have kids create their own "Painfully Obvious^®" posters.

• Have students talk about the consequences of addiction.

• Discuss how the brain is affected by abusing prescription drugs. Assign, as extra credit, a report on how brain function is affected by chemicals.

• Discuss how prescription drug abuse will affect the development of their identity. Talk about self-respect — how it feels to have it, or to lose it.

• Have participants tell about times when someone close to them betrayed their trust and how it made them feel. How did their relationship with this person suffer?

PAINFULLY OBVIOUS® — "Be sure to check out all of the other sections." Background What Kids Believe about Prescription Drugs Behavioral Signs of Prescription Drug Abuse Physical Signs of Prescription Drug Abuse Learning Activities Discussion Guide Other Resources

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