Drugs are chemicals that change the way a person's body works.
You've probably heard that drugs are bad for you, but what does
that mean and why are they bad? Medicines Are Legal Drugs If
you've ever been sick and had to take medicine, you already know
about one kind of drugs. Medicines are legal drugs, meaning
doctors are allowed to prescribe them for patients, stores can
sell them, and people are allowed to buy them. But it's not
legal, or safe, for people to use these medicines any way they
want or to buy them from people who are selling them illegally.
Cigarettes and Alcohol Cigarettes and alcohol are two other
kinds of legal drugs. (In the United States, adults 18 and older
can buy cigarettes and those 21 and older can buy alcohol.) But
smoking and excessive drinking are not healthy for adults and
are off limits for kids. When people talk about a "drug
problem," they usually mean abusing legal drugs or using illegal
drugs, such as marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, LSD, crystal meth,
and heroin. (Marijuana is