Addiction drug education and its effectiveness on middle school children

Graham Wines

Since the early 1920s the US government has insisted on regulating the usage of drugs in the country, and with this comes the handling of drug education and more importantly education on addiction. The main method of education on drugs since the 1960s has been administered to 5th graders across the nation. D.A.R.E is a part of the Just Say No campaign and has been criticized and considered a failure by both citizens and politicians alike for decades. Where did it go wrong? As a country, how could we better educate our children on the dangers of addiction and the usage of drugs? Does the public school system have the right to address the issues to children at all? Other countries have varying means of drug education to consider, and the United States has started a new program called Keepin’ it Real that has seen some success in the areas in which it has been implemented.

• Graham wines is a senior at Lander completing a degree in criminology. He volunteered to help troubled youth at Connie Maxwell Children’s Home and has experience with the criminal justice system. Graham plans to have a career in social work.