Reaching Youth With Effective Drug Education
- Globally, an estimated 188 million people use cannabis. This is five times more than people who use opioids and over ten times more than cocaine users.
- In the U.S., nearly 50% of college students use illicit drugs and four out of five drink alcohol.
- Last year, over 2,200 organizations, groups and officials joined the Drug-Free World initiative. 66% of these were educators, followed by health practitioners and law enforcement.
Each week over 1,300 individuals order drug education materials from the drugfreeworld.org website. These could be an order from a teacher for one Truth About Drugs Education package, or from a police officer for 10,000 Truth About Drugs booklets. All orders are provided free of charge, thanks to grants from the IAS.
Last year individuals, groups, and organizations held over 8,300 Drug-Free World events—personally reaching 4.6 million people with the drug education materials.
The hard-hitting and effective Truth About Drugs materials provide an invaluable resource for those who fight against drug abuse. Here are what a few individuals and groups that are using the materials had to say about the efficacy of the program:
“I started smoking marijuana for the first time when I was 15, because my friends made me try it. I had hallucinations—I saw a dog and I laughed at him for two hours. When I smoked, I would get sick and my head would spin. I became an addict for life. All the money I earned, I would spend on cigarettes, marijuana, and alcohol.
Then I found Drug-Free World and the drug booklets. I read the one on marijuana and I realized that it is very wrong to use drugs. I immediately stopped using marijuana and even stopped smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. Now I’m doing very well. The money I earn is no longer wasted on my addiction. Now I want to volunteer to help educate others on the harmful effects of drugs, so they don’t experience the same pain I went through. I am now 32 years old, alive and thanks to you, I am happy. I want to thank you because I had fallen and you helped me back up. Thank you so much for your fantastic work.”
—Anonymous, Padova, Italy
“I am loving this curriculum and so are my 12th grade students! It is provoking a lot of conversation, which I am thankful for. We just finished the first lesson and next week we will cover marijuana. Of course, the students are very curious about the knowledge I will present versus their ‘knowledge.’ When I’m finished with the unit, I’m going to have my students write letters about the program.”
—B.T., High School Teacher, California
“I work as a counselor in an outpatient program that serves predominately young people in treatment for substance abuse. I usually approach my lectures much like developing a lesson plan; I set goals and outcomes for my lecture, discussions and group participation. I want my lectures to be fresh and relative to the group I am working with.
In using your topics and materials, I know they are exactly what I have been looking for and they align with how I run my lectures. I am excited because our current curriculum needs a makeover and your materials are a perfect fit!”
—V.S., Drug Rehab Specialist, USA
