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| Image from Nation of Change |
Funding for alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention has been part of No Child Left Behind legislation (now called the Elementary and Secondary Education Act - ESEA). Without getting into the politics of whether this legislation is achieving its purpose, an improvement to the bill could help our Coalition efforts. In particular:
- continue collecting core data (in current act) including*:
- which substances are most abused
- how often are they used
- when do our young people start using the substance
- what is their perception of harm
- what is their perception of parental or societal disapproval
- defining the core components of prevention activities to include:
- awareness of the costs and consequences of drug use and abuse
- updated information about changing attitudes
- perceptions and social norms about the dangers and acceptability of drug use
- reduced access to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs
*Although specific data collection is already defined in the bill, the "trickle down" has not yet reached Sullivan County. The Coalition needs to include this component so we might eventually benefit from its inclusion. These are the data points that are needed to apply for other prevention grants.
