Objective: Drug abuse is a serious threat to health. Students will chase, flee, and dodge "danger" as they play the tag game. The statistics that follow the game illustrate the dangers of abusing drugs and alcohol.

Cognitive Link: One of the 8 multiple Intelligences is the Interpersonal Multiple Intelligence or the ability to get along well with others and in a group. Learning and practicing group cooperation and teamwork increases interpersonal skills.

Academic Concepts: Drug and alcohol awareness

Equipment: Tagging buffers (foam balls, paper balls, etc.)

Organization: The teacher chooses two students to be IT by asking, "If you would like to be IT, show me the size of your heart (size of your fist) and name a harmful drug." For this tag game students are in personal space scattered around the play area.

Anticipatory Set: Teacher's Quote: "About 85% of teenagers will try drugs, including hard drugs, cigarettes, and/or alcohol before they turn 18 years old. About 1/2 of those teens will become addicted to drugs. Let's play a tag game that will show you the dangers of taking drugs."

Activity: Two students are chosen to be IT. They represent drug pushers who are trying to convince their peers to take drugs by tagging them with a buffer (drugs). On the teacher's signal "go", the drug pushers chase the students to tag them. When the student is tagged, he/she pretends to "gag and die". (Give students a chance to practice this action) An untagged student who sees a fellow Voyager in trouble rescues the tagged person by touching him/her on the shoulder and saying "Drug Free". The rescued student can then join the game. The teacher gives the signal to stop by counting down from 10 to zero. At zero the students sit and feel their heart rate. The teacher says "raise your hand if you got tagged. That's about how many of you will be asked to take drugs before you're 18 (85%). Raise your hand if you rescued someone. Thank you for being there for a friend who made a bad choice and got hooked on drugs."

The teacher then chooses 5 people to represent the 1 in 5 teens who get hooked on drugs. The teacher then uses 5 people to illustrate these statistics: #1 Person will be arrested for drug possession and will have a record that keeps them from getting a job. #2 Person will be put in prison for using drugs and will be taken away from family and job. #3 Person (male or female) will have a baby that is deformed or brain damaged. #4 Person will kill someone else because of his or her own drug abuse from either overdose or killing someone while drunk driving. #5 Person will die because of his/her drug addiction.

Closure: "Which one of you would like to be the person who dies?"