Drug Use Among Children

There has been a rise in the drug education budget due to the increasing incidence of drug use among children. Statistics have shown that marijuana use among children between 12 and 17 has increased 3% from 1992 to 1994. While there has been an increase in federal spending for drug prevention programs, studies have not shown them to be effective (Gorman, 1997).

Lennon (1999) stated that over half of the United Kingdom's children have tried drugs by the age of fifteen.

He stated that the social and economic costs in terms of drug-related crime, sickness, and work absenteeism were estimated at around $6 billion. Other cost factors such as family breakup and social exclusion, which are harder to calculate, may make this estimate even higher.

The purpose of this study is to assess the extent to which the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program is effective in reducing the number of children using drugs.

The following research questions will be focused on in this study:

What are the long-term effects of the DARE program on reducing drug abuse in children?

Which of the DARE program objectives have been shown to be effective?

What improvements, if any, can be made to improve the effectiveness of the DARE program on reducing childhood drug abuse?

How is the DARE program ineffective?

Why is the DARE program ineffective?

Related Essays

High School Drug Use I talk to you today not as a group of children who are uninformed about the problems of drug use and drug abuse among yourselves and your peers, but, rather .... (1647 7 )

Drug Use & Deviance .... deviant activity, precocious substance ...., and attraction .... behavior in children of drug addicted parents. .... and substance abuse among children, "positive family .... (726 3 )

DRUG USE AND ADOLESCENT SUICIDE .... be characterized by depression and drug use to a .... 261-275) found that drug abuse was correlated with both hopelessness and depression among adolescent children .... (1630 7 )

Drug Use and Abuse by Teenagers .... the dangers? Newsweek, 127, 68-9. Leshner, AI (1997, November). Preventing drug use among children and adolescents. Pamphlet by: National .... (2659 11 )

Adolescent Drug Use in Maryland .... to characterized by depression and drug use to a .... Downey (261-275) found that drug abuse was .... with both hopelessness and depression among adolescent children .... (2292 9 )

vide a narrative description of the overall effect of the independent variable (DARE program) on the reduction of childhood drug abuse. The other approach that will be used to conduct research on the DARE program will be a survey design. The subjects for the study will consist of students who have completed the DARE program and a control group of students who have not participated in the DARE program. The questionnaire will be distributed to both students who have completed the DARE program and those who have not. All students will complete the questionnaire twice, once prior to treatment (DARE program), and once three weeks after the treatment took place. The questions will focus on whether or not they have tried drugs, what their attitudes are about drugs in general, and effects of the DARE program (for treatment group only). Correlation coefficients will be computed between those students who went through the DARE program and whether or not they use drugs and their attitude towards drug use to determine if there are any significant associations between them. Investigative Approach For this study, information regarding the DARE program, retrieved from a review of the literature, will be analyzed to answer research

Category: Medical - D