Drugs and alcohol are becoming a common language to the youth.  If they want access to illegal drugs and alcohol, teenagers can get their hands on it.  In Kentucky, teenagers are more likely to smoke than peers in the US of the same age.  They are also more likely to take narcotics compared to other teens in the US of the same age. 

Truth and Consequences:  The choice is yours is a program designed to show students the consequences of using drugs and alcohol by using role-playing scenarios related to substance abuse. Scenario examples may include possessions of prescription drugs, driving under the influence, vaping, etc.  This event was held for all ninth graders in Marion County.  The ones who chose to participate were divided in half.  Half of the group came in the morning while the other group came in afternoon.   Marion County Extension partnered with Marion County Extension Knight Academy along with agencies and officials from the community such as district judge, county attorney, city police, school officials, hospital, court designated workers, ministers, drug rehab facilities, detention center, early intervention and zero tolerance programs.  Many community members also came and volunteered to assist as "parents" to help lead the students around between the scenario stations.

156 students from Marion County participated in the Truth and Consequences event.  The medium age was 14-15 years old.  88 of the participants were girls and 78% of the participants were of the white race.  In the student’s evaluations students said their favorite part of the event was talking to the inmates and doing the scenarios.  The teenagers reported they liked hearing from the inmates because it was real life situation and specific to what they had been through.  The students liked going through the scenarios because it showed them the consequences of using drugs and alcohol.  In the evaluations, students also reported that .06% had drunk alcohol in the past thirty days, .04% of them had done some type of drugs in the past thirty days.  This could be smoking marijuana to taking prescription pain medicine not prescribed to them.  .03% of students reported have smoked E-cigarettes in the past thirty days.