Substance Abuse Prevention Paper

Our purpose: “To identify and eliminate disparities related to alcohol, tobacco and other drug use in the youths of Metro Atlanta.”

LifeSkills Training (LST) is an evidence based primary prevention program aimed at preventing substance use and abuse among adolescents (Botvin & Kantor, 2000). LST is established on Bandura’s Social Learning Theory and Jessor and Jessor’s Problem Behavior Theory; the theories essentially state that drug and alcohol use is a result of observational learning and an interaction of individual and environmental factors (Spoth, Randall, Trudeau, Shin, & Redmond, 2008). As opposed to only teaching the long-term effects, LST highlights the immediate effects of drug and alcohol use. LST focuses on cognitive-behavior changes and emphasizing skill development in three areas: personal self-management skills, general social skills, and social resistant

There are many different programs that are established to keep individuals from initially using drugs. Many of these prevention programs target juveniles. Most people first experiment drugs in their adolescence years. Many prevention programs cover ranges of approaches and issues. These ranges and approaches include the dissemination of factual information about drugs and their consequences, the building of self-esteem, taking responsibility for making choices, and learning how to handle peer pressure. Many people believe that drug use is a cause or contributor to criminal activity. Drug prevention and treatment programs may be effective at limiting or eliminating other crime.

He also repeatedly reported to me that he gained a lot from the seven-day program and found a renewed sense of energy from his fellow adolescent cohort and guest speakers whom he found inspirational and their stories compelling. And after about a month into our sessions, John expressed his desire to ween off substances, and stated that he had tried the week before to no avail; he was only able to stay off substances for two days, even after knowing the potential repercussions of use. Although two days can be considered a small victory, my reviewing of John’s 48 hours of abstaining did two things: first, it conveyed to him that change was indeed feasible albeit onerous, and second, acted as a pivot point of conversation and led to a discussion about some of the reasons how John was able to refrain from smoking for that period of time. In addition to my harkening on his success to evoke a sense of accomplishment, my open-ended questioning and utilizing extemporaneous 1-10 rating scales—which gauged his level of motivation and anxiety when abstaining—helped evoke change talk by ascertaining ways John could achieve a higher rating; it also helped them identify some of the obstacles that were hindering the progress of reducing cannabis use. I also combined rating scales with hypothetical thinking (i.e., “what do you think if would have to increase your level of motivation from your present 4 to a 6?”), helped John think of ways he could go about overcoming his obstacles and for me to bolster his self-efficacy (Miller and Rollnick, 2013). I was able to instill to John the key motivator of belief in the possibility of change, and that he was responsible for achieving his set goals. I also asserted that my role was to support him in his ability to achieve his

Doctor Hanson identifies programs that are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as effective for specific target groups. Each of these three programs take place before high school, which further proves the earlier statement of early education being the most important characteristic of a drug prevention program. The programs are as follows, “Life Skills Training Program (LST) -LST is a school-based substance abuse prevention program for students 10-14 years of age. It teaches general personal and social skills, specific resistance skills, and normative information. Project ALERT - Project ALERT is also a school-based program, in this case for students in middle school. It teaches drug abstention norms, reasons to abstain, and resistance

The study involved students in Grades 9 to 12 in several schools in Ontario and Alberta. Based on the results of the said study, “students who used e-cigarettes within 30 days before the start of the study were more likely to have started and still be smoking regular cigarettes a year later.”

According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than forty million Americans smoke or use some type of tobacco product. Many adult tobacco user admit they starting using tobacco while in their teens. Many adolescents who are currently smoking will continue into adulthood if the appropriate interventions are not applied, i.e smoking cessation education, age appropriate programs along with smoking cessation products. Currently there are very few programs developed out there that specifically address this problem dispute the best efforts of the CDC ("CDC," 2015).

Substance abuse is when a person uses too much of a substance or when a person uses a substance incorrectly. The substance can be a medicine, a drug, alcohol, tobacco, or a chemical. Substance abuse during pregnancy can harm a baby's health. Poisons from the substance can damage the baby’s organs. If the substance abuse causes the mother to have poor nutrition, it also causes the baby to have poor nutrition.

Make sure that your local schools have programs in place to educate children about the risks posed by drugs and alcohol. You need to arm young people in your community with knowledge about the consequences of abusing drink and drugs. Talk to school staff about how they tackle the issue with students or perhaps set up a support group for parents to teach them how best to educate their children about the effects of substance abuse.

leading to heavy drinking or drug use, early interventions may prevent children or young adults

Alcohol abuse is a serious problem, driving while drunk or under the influence of drugs is an even bigger problem that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Abusing either one of these substances can lead to the death of you or the death of someone else or even cause a major change in their life like Jacqueline’s story, her whole life has been changed because of another person’s ignorance and carelessness. Therefore, you should know the facts about drug and alcohol abuse before you do something you may regret for the rest of your life.

DARE is an anti-drug education program presented mainly to 5th and 6th graders by uniformed police officers at school. In these anti-drug presentations the children learn about the social problems of consuming drugs, strategies to overcome those problems, and the costs of drug use. In addition, children who attend theses presentations are educated on alternatives for drug use, responsible decision making, and self-esteem issues. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program has many components to their curriculum. Some key components to their curriculum are: responsibility, decision making, drug information, risks and consequences, peer pressure, and

There are programs that are available to initiate the mindset of the young that drugs are bad. One such program is D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and has been implemented in elementary schools across the nation. The D.A.R.E. officers serve as positive role models for these young students and incorporate help from the students, parents, teachers, and community. Every aspect of the child’s life is touched in one way or another for reinforcement. One recent survey of parents documented the impact of D.A.R.E.:

Drug and alcohol use of persons under the age of 18 is prevalent (National Institute on Drug Abuse [NIDA], 2014). “Illicit drug use among teenagers remains high, largely due to increasing popularity of marijuana” (NIDA, 2014, pg.2). In 2013, approximately 7% of 8th graders, 18% of 10th graders, and 22% of 12th graders used marijuana in the past month. These rates have increased since the mid to late 2000’s. “6.5% of 12th graders now use marijuana every day, compared to 5% in the mid-2000’s” (NIDA, 2014, pg.2). Alcohol use has declined since the late 1900’s but in 2013, 3.5 % of 8th graders, 12.8% and 26% of 12th graders reported getting drunk in the past month (NIDA, 2014). In addition, in 2013, 16.3% of 12th graders were current cigarette smokers (NIDA, 2014). It appears that middle-school students are using drugs and alcohol; therefore, it is necessary to explore prevention for this age group (Chen, Storr & Anthony, 2008).

Being addicted to drugs is a habit that most people are not lenient with. Even though a lot of people throughout the world have the habit of taking many different types of drugs some people look at drugs as if they are unharmful or a mere leisure activity. However, the remainder consider drugs a threat to society. For example, we can walk into a bar and we see some guy consuming alcohol and is drunk out of his mind and we think, well it is just alcohol, it isn't too bad, at least he isn't taking drugs. At the same time, we can see another guy taking some cocaine and we instantly think this person is messed up, he is a drug addict, and we should keep some distance, right? Isn't the person that is drunk just as same as the guy that is