Sponsored by the Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention Collaborative
On Saturday March 1, during his weekly national radio address, President George W. Bush released his 2008 National Drug Control Strategy. The Strategy outlines progress made in reducing both the supply and demand of illicit drugs, and highlights the serious challenges that remain for Aroostook County and the United States.
With the release of his first National Drug Control Strategy in 2002, the President set the ambitious goal of cutting drug use among young people by 25 percent over five years. Through a balanced approach that emphasized community-based prevention, education, and treatment, as well as enhanced law enforcement and international cooperation, youth drug use has declined 24 percent since 2001 – 860,000 fewer young people using drugs today than six years ago. In addition, teen marijuana use is down 25 percent, Ecstasy use has dropped by more than half, and youth use of methamphetamine has plummeted 64 percent.
John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and President Bush’s “Drug Czar” said, “Teen drug abuse is down sharply, and this will provide lasting benefits to our Nation, since we know that most adults who get caught in addiction begin with use as teens. But there are still too many of our friends, our family members, our coworkers, and our neighbors who are becoming lost in the maze of addiction. We need to find whatever ways we can – in one’s home, school, job, or community – to create a turning point in their lives – a turning point that leads to recovery.”
ASAP was awarded a five-year Drug Free Communities grant from the Office of National Drug Control Policy in October, 2007. This year, some of the activities ASAP is funding through the grant include: the Parents Who Host Lose the Most Campaign in April-June; work with communities and schools to implement the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets; implementation of a social marketing campaign around prescription drug abuse; advocating for changes in substance-related policies at State and Federal levels; distributing information about inhalant abuse in March; and providing substance abuse related training opportunities.
The Drug-Free Communities (DFC) support program is a collaborative Federal program sponsored by ONDCP, and administered in partnership with the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration. The program aims to establish and strengthen communities, private nonprofit agencies, and Federal, State, local and Tribal governments and entities to support community-based efforts to prevent, reduce, and eliminate substance abuse. The DFC program was created in 1997 under the Drug Free Communities Act, and was reauthorized in 2001, and again in 2006. The latest reauthorization extends the DFC program for an additional five years, until 2012. To hear the President’s radio address releasing the 2008 National Drug Control Strategy, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov.
This article was brought to you by Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP), a countywide substance abuse prevention collaborative. For additional resources about the risks of marijuana abuse contact Clare Desrosiers at 521-2408 or go to the Maine Office of Substance Abuse Information Resource Center Web site and type in keyword “marijuana” (Web address – http://osairc.informe.org/).
