Most adults may not expect seventh and eighth graders to know and understand how drugs will affect them, but for Harriette Sullivan’s middle school health classes, that has been their priority for the past couple weeks.

In Wareham Middle School, her students have spent weeks learning about how drugs influence the brain and body.

For one week, the students learned about drugs and addiction, exploring ways in which people become addicted. After that, the students had four days to create independent research projects to share their knowledge of a particular drug with their peers. With two days of presentations, the students brought forth plays and skits, games, and posters.

Jarrett Fernandes and Matthew Mota put on a skit for the class explaining Ecstasy and listing statistics about its use throughout the country. They said 2.3 percent of eighth grade students in the United States have admitted to trying the drug. In light of this, they said, it’s possible that anyone in the class would encounter the drug soon.

When asked if they knew anyone who had used meth, heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy, alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs, half the children in the class raised their hands.

“We have a lot of kids who are affected by drugs in their families,” said Sullivan. “It’s become such a big problem, that I’ve put more time into it than I ever have before.”

Sullivan regularly practices stress-relieving exercises with her students and hopes to instill healthy habits in their lives; ones that may prevent drug use in the future.