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Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E., as it is more popularly known, is an international education program for drug abuse awareness and targets students from kindergarten through 12th grade. It aims at discouraging youngsters from using illegal drugs, or getting involved in gangs and other criminal activities.

D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 to wage a war against the growing evils of drug abuse. It has expanded all over the world since that time. Students who decide to join the program sign a pledge to never use drugs or join gangs. The local law enforcement agency delivers a series of lectures over a period of seventeen weeks to make students aware of the dangers of drug abuse. According to the D.A.R.E. website, 36 million children around the world, (26 million children are in the US,) are part of the program. 80% of the nation’s school districts implement this program. It also actively runs in 55 countries around the world.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education is a combined effort by D.A.R.E. certified law enforcement officers, educators, students, parents and communities. The basic aim of D.A.R.E is to help students identify the various threats and harms of drug abuse. They also provide support to students so that they can resist any peer pressure, which may entice them to experiment with alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants or other drugs.

In this article I will discuss about the drug abuse facts that you need to know. First and foremost, the definitions: drug habituation refers to the psychological dependence on certain drugs. In other words, it is a state of an individual who is physically dependent on the drugs yet not addicted to it. Drug addiction is the habitual use of a particular drug, getting hold of it and making it on one’s top priority over other things. Drug abuse means the use of illegal drugs or the abuse of prescription or over-the-counter drugs in quantities or amounts other than indicated therein and for reasons or manner other than those for which they’re directed.

If we have drug abuse problems pervading in our midst, what could be the root cause of this? Actually, the root cause/s of the problem are too diverse, ranging from teens belonging in a single parent family, some persons with dysfunctional families, teens with a record of drug abuse running in their families, even youngsters of Latin origin, and especially those economically deprived kids. Furthermore, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), they run a survey which is researching and analyzing the trends since several years and it demonstrates that there’s actually a considerable diminished use of all kinds or types of drugs excluding those inhalants.

Drug abuse and crime in Florida are closely related. The crime rate in Florida or in the entire country could be significantly reduced if repeat offenders were required to submit to addiction treatment. It is widely accepted that the use of drugs in penal institutes is as prevalent as the use on the streets. If an offender enters a penitentiary with a drug abuse problem they can continue to nurse their problem while incarcerated. In the rare case that someone enters prison without a drug problem they can become addicted during their sentence.

The Office of Drug Control estimates that 150-200 metric tons of cocaine and three metric tons of heroin arrive in Florida every year. To date, there is no reliable estimate of the amounts of marijuana or designer drugs being transported through our State, but law enforcement testimony leads us to believe that the volume is very high. Based on the testimony we received, we believe billions of narco-dollars are laundered through Florida’s commercial and banking establishments every year.

When an offender re-enters the streets of Florida with a drug addiction and no immediate means to support themselves or their habit they become recidivists. Returning to crime is the option taken most often by these individuals. The criminal justice system is riddled with this recurring problem which negatively impacts Florida residents.

You can’t get away from them. Prescription drugs are all over the television, every channel is filled with ads for pills; pills that will make our lives better. There are pills for allergies, pills for heart problems, pills for sexual problems, pills for blood disorders and pills for depression.

You need these pills to be healthy and happy. Madison Avenue and the pharmaceutical industry have collaborated to create the great American need for pills.

Are doctors causing the problem?

I do not intend to thrash away on the legitimate medical use of pills. Not at all, but the truly marvelous advances in medicine have taken a back seat to the lure of enormous profits. The drug companies visit clinics and hospitals, selling their product to doctors. Use our drugs, not their drugs is the message. There may or may not be financial incentive for the doctor, depending on the ethics of the individual. But ethics is at the heart of the issue.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ran a front page article by Gina Barton on February 24, entitled “Lethal drugs, lethal access” that told the story of the unexpected consequences of prescription medicine. Barton told the story of Daryl Collie, who overdosed on a combination of painkillers oxycodone and diazepam.

Monitoring the drug abuse statistics in our youth is a great indicator of the future of the next generations. Organizations such as Monitoring The Future (MTF) have been conducting research since the mid 1970s on the use of drugs amongst 12th grade students and their perception of drugs and its use. The University of Michigan’s Institute of Social Research conducts the studies.

The study is longitudinal and follows the patterns and changes in attitudes of the students over time. In 1991, the studies included 8th and 10th graders too.

The latest drug abuse statistics conducted by MTF were taken in 2008. The key findings showed a decrease in the abuse pattern for a majority of the drugs compared to the previous year.

There were a few positive results that were highlighted. In 2008, the number of 10th graders that have used any illicit drugs in their lifetime had significantly declined in comparison to 2007.

The percentage of youngsters in this age group that smoke cigarettes have continued to decline over the years, and has fallen to the lowest rate in the history of the survey. This is a promising finding, as the use of tobacco is one of the major concerns in health problems.

Life can be quite crazy sometimes and many people seek to hide themselves away from the lunacy of society by taking drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately there is only one conclusion to the downward spiral of drug and alcohol abuse… more alcohol and drug abuse. Eventually the substance abuser must get real with themselves and try to figure out how to stop drug abuse in themselves. The longer the person has been taking drugs or abusing alcohol, a hard it will be to quit and get control of themselves once again.

First thing that you must do is make a commitment to quit. You can only stop drug abuse if you have first made the first move towards quitting, admitting that you have a problem and that you need to stop taking drugs or abusing alcohol. The next step is when you finally quit using. You will go through a period of drug or alcohol detoxification, during which time you will suffer from the withdrawal effects that are caused by the elimination of the poisons that you have allowed into your body during your time of substance abuse. Once the drug detox has finished, you will now have to start facing the reasons why you have abused drugs.

There are several different reasons why a drug abuse intervention will save someone’s life, and there should be no hesitation when it comes to whether or not to use an intervention to help someone.

Saves a Life With Drug Abuse Intervention

It is possible for an addict to be physically injured or even killed while trying to purchase their drugs, depending on where that is. The same danger exists for the people around the addict as well. The addict may think that the dealer is their friend, but the criminals that deal drugs are, in no way, a friend to anyone. In that situation, the addict is playing Russian Roulette with their life, even though they may not realize or acknowledge it. The user thinks the drug dealer is a friend. When trouble comes, that “friend” can turn ugly very fast.

Stop The Possibility of Legal Distress or a Police Record

If the addict is ever caught using or carrying anything that suggests use, severe legal trouble and a record will happen. The legal issues will cost money many addicts and their families do not have. On top of the fact the addict may serve prison time, the charges will follow them for the rest of their lives, making it difficult to get a job or even rent a place to live. If prison time has to be served, it can be a traumatic experience and difficult to readjust to society afterward.

Drug detox and rehab treatments have been criticized for poor results or failing to disabuse someone of their drug abuse. But what if 95% of the programs use methods prone to failure? The entire rehab industry might be getting a bad reputation because the methods most centers are using are failing, not because recovery isn’t occurring often enough.

Addiction may not be the biggest barrier to recovery.

The addiction is a disease belief makes no sense as it doesn’t even claim to end addiction.

Belief That Drug Abuse Is A Disease Creates Failure

“The disease concept has proven to be far more damaging to the substance abuser then anyone could have predicted. Therapists claim the disease concept helps the patient to understand the seriousness of [his/her] problems. But in reality, this idea has backfired. The disease concept strips the substance abuser of responsibility. A disease cannot be cured by force of will.” (Alcoholism: A Disease of Speculation, 2003)

Fact: The Addiction = Disease belief is failing as a rehab philosophy. More people end addiction on their own (80%) than are cured using the Disease Model (22%). The people who stopped on their own were abusing drugs, and got better results than those trying the Disease Model of Treatment.

Teenage drug abuse is at an all-time high. No pun intended. Youth between the ages of 12-17 are being reported using illegal drugs If you are a parent, you know that teenage drug abuse is not an imaginary problem in our society, but instead is a very real, dangerous and quite far spread activity amongst teens. Unfortunately, to their child’s detriment, parents sometimes like to delude themselves with the fantasies that a good private school, active participation in the church or synagogue’s youth group program, strict curfews, and parental generosity will somehow deter their growing child from the dangers that lurk amongst peer groups, pushers, and the darkness of the dance clubs. Teenage drug abuse is a commonplace occurrence, and parents as well as caregivers need to be alert to the signs thereof, even in the most innocent of settings.

Frequently, you can hear teens making statements to their parents, “it’s not like I am smoking crack” or “it’s just a little pot, it can’t hurt me”. If you’re suspicious about your teen’s drug abuse or illegal drug usage, the best way to find out is by administering a teenage drug test from home.