Northeast Community Challenge Coalition

Counselors and educators agree that the best way to prevent children from using drugs is to educate them early – before they’re tempted to experiment. Before young children can say “No” to drugs, they need to learn basic skills for resisting peer pressure – skills of assertiveness communication, and decision-making.

Principles of Drug Abuse Prevention
The Drug Free lessons are based on the following nine principles.

1.	Children need to know that drugs affect behavior. Children need to be aware that drugs can change the way a person acts. They need to know that the effects of drugs differ for each person, and that people can become dependent on drugs to the point where nothing matters except getting high.
2.	Children need to know the differences between legal and illegal drugs and between appropriate and in appropriate drug use. Some drugs are beneficial and necessary for improving or maintaining health. Children should be informed about appropriate use of prescribed medicines and over-the counter drugs, and be able to distinguish these drugs from illegal drugs. Children should understand that although alcohol is a legal drug and is socially acceptable and safe when used responsibly by adults, it is illegal for children to buy or use.
3.	Children need to develop an appreciation of the importance of caring for their body and of how drugs can affect their physical health. Drugs can damage their body and their physical growth and health. They also need to know that a good diet, exercise, sleep, and relaxation are important for a healthy body. Children can benefit from learning to identify and deal with stress.
4.	Children need to know that their questions about drugs will be answered accurately and honestly. It is important for adults to listen to children’s questions and help them find answers. Keeping information about drugs from children will not help them become drug resistant.
5.	Children need to know that it’s important to talk with an adult they trust and to ask for advice when they have a problem. Children have limited knowledge and experience. Often they don’t know what to do when they have a problem and, because of their, they may feel confused. They need to be helped to identify adults who care about them and whom they can trust. An adult friend or parent who is willing to listen and encourage a child will reinforce and help build the child’s ability to solve problems.
6.	Children need to know that they always have a choice in what they do, and they need to develop basic problem-solving skills. Knowing how to make choices gives children confidence. Children need to learn a process for making decisions that will work for everyday decisions and for decisions that have long-term consequences. The following problem-solving steps/questions can be applied to both kinds of decisions: What is the problem? How do you feel about it? What are the choices? What will happen with each choice? Make a choice and act on it.
7.	Children need to learn how to choose friends and cope with negative peer influences. It is difficult for children to stand up to their peers. Ways to cope with peer pressure and rejection can be learned. Another safeguard is learning how to select friends with similar values, so they will have support in resisting negative influences.
8.	Children need to be encouraged and reinforced about their ability to make good decisions. Children need to feel confident about their decision-making ability. Often children are criticized for their mistakes and the things they do right aren’t given as much recognition. When children’s efforts and accomplishments are given as much notice as their mistakes, positive action is reinforced.
9.	Children need to know that it’s okay to say no. Frequently children are criticized for being assertive. Children need to know that adults support them when they say no to drugs.

Children and Adolescents’ Beliefs About Alcohol

		Very young children- even preschoolers – can tell that alcohol has an effect on people that other beverages do not. In fact, children begin forming opinions about alcohol at an early age, and they tend to view it negatively.
		Boys’ beliefs tend to be more favorable toward drinking than those of girls. Boys also tend to associate drinking with being more grown up – a perceived positive outcome of drinking.
		Adolescents ages 12 to 14 believe that the positive benefits of drinking (feeling good, fitting in with peers) are more likely to occur than the negative effects of drinking (feeling sick, causing serious health problems).
		Adolescents ages 12 to 14 who expect to gain greater social acceptance from drinking are more likely to begin to drink as well as to consume alcohol at faster rates.
		Adolescents ages 12 and 13 see other people, including their parents, as less disapproving of their engaging in drinking than do younger children.
		Fifty-six percent of students in grades 5 through 12 say that alcohol advertising encourages them to drink.
		In an annual survey of adolescents, 56 percent of 8th graders, 52 percent of 10th graders, and 43 percent of 12th graders believe that having five or more drinks once or twice each weekend is harmful.
		Seventy-five percent of 8th graders and 89 percent of 10th graders believe that alcohol is readily available to them for consumption.

Risk Factors for Child and Adolescent Alcohol Use

	The reasons why adolescents use alcohol are complex but include curiosity, a need to fit in with friends, and a desire to relax and escape problems. For some additional factors may be involved.
	Highlights from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Alcohol Alert on Youth Drinking include the following risk factors:
		Genetic Factors: Children of alcoholic are significantly more likely to initiate drinking during adolescence and to develop alcohol use disorders, but the relative influences of environment and genetics have not been determined and vary among young people.
		Children Behavior: Research has shown that children who are very restless and impulsive at age 3 are twice as likely to be diagnosed with alcohol dependency at age 21. Aggressiveness in children as young as ages 5 to 10 has been found to predict alcohol and other drug use in adolescence.
		Parental and Peer Influences: Parents’ drinking behavior and favorable attitudes about drinking have been associated with adolescents’ initiating and continuing drinking. Early initiating of drinking has been identified as an important risk factor for later alcohol-related problems. Lack of parental support, monitoring, and communication also has been significantly related to frequency of drinking, heavy drinking, and drunkenness among adolescents. Peer drinking and acceptance also influences adolescent drinking behaviors. Expectancies: Positive expectations from alcohol use have been found to increase with age and to predict the onset of drinking among adolescents.

Additional Risk Factors include:

		Being a sibling of an adolescent who uses alcohol and illicit drugs
		Experiencing learning disorders or other academic problems
		Delinquency
		Teen Pregnancy
		“Your Time – Their Future” is a campaign of the Center of Substance Abuse prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. It urges adults to become actively involved in working with children, ages 7 to 14, to develop healthy and useful skills and interests. The campaign encourages adults to volunteer to spend more quality time with youngsters in need of guidance and mentor them toward productive and rewarding lives. Research has shown that such adult involvement can and does help children and young adolescents to resist the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs which are dangerous and illegal.

Source: Substance Abuse and Mental health Services Administration, Rockville, MD U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999.

Drugs and Terror: Understanding the Link and the Impact on America

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“It’s so important for Americans to know that the traffic in drugs finances the work of terror, sustaining terrorists use drug profits to fund their cells to commit acts of murder. If you quit drugs, you join the fight against terror in America.”

President George W. Bush

		Drugs form an important part of the financial infrastructure of terror networks. Twelve of the 28 terror organizations identified by the U.S. Department of State in October 2001 traffic in drugs. Drug income is the primary source of revenue for many of the more powerful international terrorist groups. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) receives about $300 million from drug sales annually. The Unites Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) relies on the illegal drug trade for 40-70 percent of its income. Peru’s Shining Path is more dependent on drug money than ever before.
		The Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which provided safe haven to Osama Bin Laden and his Al Quaeda network, used revenues from opium and heroin to stay in power. In 2000, Afghanistan was responsible for more than 70 percent of the world’s opium trade, resulting in significant income to the Taliban.
		The growing link between terrorists and the drug trade contributes to an increased threat to America. Drug and terrorist organizations are taking advantage of the global economy to expand the scope, scale and reach of their activities and, as a result, their ability to harm American citizens and to damage U.S. interests is dramatically expanding. As state sponsors for their activities become scarce, terrorists are increasingly dependent on drug financing. The combined force of their alliance poses an enhanced threat to regional stability, American national security and the future of our country’s youth.
		Parents, educators, faith and community leaders recognize that youth drug use is a serious issue in this country, and they work tirelessly to educate children about the dangers of substance abuse. Today there is a new reason to continue this important effort: the illegal drug trade is linked to the support of terror groups across the globe. Buying and using illegal drugs is not a victimless crime-it has negative consequences that can touch the lives of people around the world.
		September 11th has brought the complex and horrific reality of terrorism into the lives of all Americans. Many are asking, “How did this happen?” and “What can I do?” The link between terror and drugs is an important part of the puzzle, as is the recognition that individual decisions about using drugs have real-world consequences.
		Americans spend billions of dollars on drugs every year. According to “What America’s Users Spend on Illegal Drugs.” Americans spent approximately $10.5 billion on marijuana alone in 2000. The bottom line is clear: Marijuana trafficking and use is a big, often violent business. Help the kids you know make the connection between this risky drug and acts of violence committed against innocent people where you live around the world.
		Do you understand the link between drug money and “terrible things”? Money from a drug transaction on a local street corner can end up in the hands of groups that commit violent crimes to support the drug trade. New advertisements, “Dan” and “Stacey,” show viewers how money from a simple drug transaction can lead to crime and violence around the world. View the ads or read true stories of cases showing how drugs and money fueled crime and violence.

Resource Websites for School Climate Issues

www.ncela.gwu.edu/pathways/safeschools - Links to online publications and organizations addressing violence and youth substance prevention.

www.ccapt.org/sdfs - Top links for Safe and Drug Free School Coordinators

www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org - Contact information for programs and resources and links to other sites

www.tolerance.org - The Southern Poverty Law Center promotes tolerance and the reduction of hate crimes.

www.cadca.org - Educates about community anti-drug coalitions around the United States

www.smartandsober.org - Ohio’s First Lady Hope Taft’s website to educate youth and adults about underage drinking

www.colorado.edu/cspv/blueprints - The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence lists violence prevention programs with a high standard of effectiveness.

www.madd.org - Mothers Against Drunk Driving provides information about assembly programs and resources.

www.necchealthycommunity.org - Northeast Community Challenge Coalition

The Whole Truth About Marijuana

Marijuana Pamplet - right click to download this word document

Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention

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Prescription drug abuse is emerging as one of the most serious prevention issues in this country today. No longer just the “silent” misuse or abuse of medications by women, people with chronic pain, and the elderly, prescription drug abuse is fast becoming a trend among young people, cutting across economic and cultural boundaries, metropolitan and rural areas.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), reports that prescription drug abuse accounts for about a third of all drug abuse in the United States. Clearly, this is an issue we can no longer ignore.

According to the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse:

In 1999, an estimated nine million people aged 12 and over (about 2 percent of the population) were using prescription drugs non-medically: including pain relievers (2.6 million), sedatives or tranquilizers (1.3 million), and stimulants (0.9 million).

In 1999, 1.5 million persons used pain relievers non-medically for the first time—and alarming rise compared to the mid-1980’s when the figure was less than 400,000.

12 to 14 year-olds reported prescription medications as one of two primary drugs used.

Prescription drugs tend to be inexpensive and relatively accessible. Their abuse is arguably more dangerous than illicit drugs as their concentration is “pure and strong.” Disturbingly, survey data also show that abuse of prescription drugs prevails in all age groups:

Persons aged 18 to 25 are more likely than persons in other age groups to begin abusing prescription drugs.

Between the ages of 12 and 17, girls are more likely than boys to begin prescription drug abuse and are more likely to abuse stimulants and sedatives than other prescription drugs.

Women using a sedative, anti-anxiety drug, or hypnotic are almost twice as likely as men to become addicted.

People aged over 65 represent about 13 percent of the US population, but consume one-third of all prescription drugs. These patients often suffer from multiple diseases for which they take multiple drugs and are therefore more vulnerable to unintentionally misusing and becoming habituated to prescription medications.

Date from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse indicate that the most dramatic increase in new users of prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes occurs in 12- to 17-year-olds and 18- to 25-year-olds.

It also appears that college students’ nonmedical use of pain relievers such as oxycodone with aspirin (Percodan) and hydrocodone (Vicodin) is on the rise.

Overall, men and women have roughly similar rates of nonmedical use of prescription drugs. An exception is found among 12- to 17-year-olds: In this age group, young women are more likely than young men to use psychotherapeutic drugs nonmedically.

Awareness Campaign on Alcohol and the Developing Brain

Electronic Toolkit for Grades K-6 - right click to download this word document

Electronic Toolkit for Grades 7-12 - right click to download this word document