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Social Issues Identified
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The Opportunity For Change
The social issue identified is that of middle and
high-school youth substance abuse. According to a report
compiled by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration for the Executive Office of the President,
28.4 % of all youth ages 12-17 have used an illicit
substance. Per the same 2001 National Household Survey, the
overall cost of illegal substance use to society was $160.7
billion in 2000, and will increase over the years. This
does not take into account the number of lives and
loved-ones lost to the use and abuse of illegal drugs.
The questions are: where do kids learn their refusal
skills? and do they feel more prepared to resist the
pressures to use drugs?
Based on such government
initiatives as the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP), the Drug Abuse Resistance Education
(DARE), and the amount of funds spent on commercials by the
ONDCP, not to mention the many other public and private
substance abuse prevention programs, it is obvious that the
United States is committed to fighting the war on drugs.
However, the challenge faced by most if not all of these
initiatives and programs is that they are not interactive.
They provide education, information, statistics, criticisms,
guidance, and facts, but they do not provide an interactive
vehicle for change. They do not provide an easy way for
youth to prove that they are doing the right things. An NDF
chapter is the perfect vehicle that students can use to show
their parents, teachers, friends and the community that they
are drug free. A young man from a local chapter once told a
panel of officials in Washington DC, “We young people are
given a bad rap. Everyone thinks we do drugs because of how
we dress, how we talk, the kind of music we listen to, and
even because of the color of our skin. These programs give
us a chance to prove to everyone that we are drug free.”
These programs have already proven
that they can be successful as they have gained prominent
attention. In 1998, Florida’s Governor Jeb Bush supported a
local Miami-Dade program with $600,000 in State funds. The
programs have been highlighted by such individuals as the
Actor, Carroll O’Connor and Montel Williams on his talk
show. Additionally, President Clinton and General McCaffery
during the President’s National Drug Control Policy Kick-Off
campaign in the mid 1990s. At that time, President Clinton
called these programs, “An exemplary drug prevention program
for this Nation’s youth.”
The first program began in Texas in
the late 1980, and the concept migrated to many parts of the
United States and even abroad. These programs work because
most youth are drug free, are more than willing to prove
it, and will even pledge to remain drug-free if offered the
chance. The opportunity for change is great because these
programs are always requested by the youth, and are
administered by the youth it will represent. The programs
are interactive, nationally recognized and highly successful
community-based, middle and senior-high school drug
prevention programs that provide acknowledgment, recognition
and rewards to students who choose to live a healthy and
drug-free lifestyle.
Youth of all ages and of all
socio-economic backgrounds are at-risk. Yes, some are more
at-risk then others, yet all are at various degrees of risk
for almost everything that can harm them, their families,
and their community. All youth by the age of fifteen have
come in contact with illegal drugs, have been offered an
illegal drug, or knows a family member or friend that has
tried or is using a harmful substance. It’s a scary thought
to know that every child in the United States will have to
make a decision relating to drugs that can negatively change
their life forever.
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