Courage to Speak Lisa Schultz June 25, 2015 The Courage to Speak Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization founded by Ginger Katz. This program promotes open communication in regards to the prevention of alcohol and drug use among young people. Ginger decided to speak out about the “code of silence” surrounding drug abuse in teens by the untimely death of her son, Ian. Since 1996, she has given thousands of presentations across the nation, reaching hundreds of thousands of students, and their parents. Ginger tells her son's story to help young people, concerned parents, educators, state and local officials, community leaders and law enforcement professionals. Through it she weaves compelling prevention information while pointing out that …show more content…
Started in 2007, this prevention program, taught in schools, helps children avoid illegal drugs by giving them refusal skills and a toolbox of knowledge. Designed around Ginger’s book, Sunny’s Story, the program offers a compelling message of empowering youth to be drug-free and say no to drugs. Many parents and school systems have used Sunny’s Story as part of their education program and as a stand-alone book as well. This story, read in elementary, middle and high schools, is developed to speak to every age group about the harmful effects of drug …show more content…
Sunny’s Story is a compelling story about drug use and abuse. Through this story of universal love, compassion, and understanding, Ms. Katz brings new life to her message of empowering youth to be drug-free. The family dog and narrator, Sunny, is an intelligent observer of damage done by childhood alcohol and drug use to his owner, Ian. He tells a heart-warming, but tragic story, making readers think twice about drug and alcohol abuse choices being made every day Middle school students are the target of this innovative school-based drug prevention program, particularly ones vulnerable to using alcohol tobacco, marijuana and prescription drugs.The program is carefully designed to inspire students to make healthier decisions and resist drugs. Taught by school health teachers or others trained by The Courage to Speak Foundation, Inc, programs begin with The Courage to Speak Foundation Presentation or DVD and follows up with a series of 13-15 classroom
Norman Bowker was a soldier who embodied the damage of a long term war after it was over. During the war Bowker was a quiet and a humble soldier, and the death of his friend Kiowa brings a huge impact to his life after the war. In the chapter Speaking of Courage, time has past by and Bowker had returned to Iowa. Bowker drives his dad’s Chevrolet around the lake, and realizes he has nowhere to go. He thinks about multiple things as he drives around the lake like thinking about his highschool girlfriend, his friend drowning in the lake, and also thinks about his father where he would bring home medals from the war. As the sun goes down he imagines telling his dad that he did not have the courage to save Kiowa and was imagining that his father
The D.A.R.E program offers great information, but it also costs a significant amount of money to run the program each year. The children receiving this anti-drug information, are at a young age and do not understand how severe drugs are and how it can impair a person’s judgment. At age 10, children may obtain a basic understanding of drugs and alcohol at the end of this program, but by the time they reach high school, they will not be able apply what they have learned from the D.A.R.E program.
Drugs is one of the themes in this story that shows the impact of both the user and their loved ones. There is no doubt that heroin destroys lives and families, but it offers a momentary escape from the characters ' oppressive environment and serves as a coping mechanism to help deal with the human suffering that is all around him. Suffering is seen as a contributing factor of his drug addiction and the suffering is linked to the narrator’s daughter loss of Grace. The story opens with the narrator feeling ice in his veins when he read about Sonny’s arrest for possession of heroin. The two brothers are able to patch things up and knowing that his younger brother has an addiction. He still buys him an alcoholic drink at the end of the story because, he has accepted his brother for who he really is.
reference in the fight to lower juvenile crime rates and understand problems before they start.
She loses her virginity while on acid, and is worried that she might be pregnant. Alice continued to use drugs without her family’s knowledge, and was eventually prostituting herself for drugs. She later was found dead from a drug overdose and her diary was published. This book is a powerful way for teens to really experience the tragic consequences of drug addiction. “Teen characters are involved in drugs, prostitution, and etc., but the shocking reality of this book has been credited with keeping many teenagers away from drugs.” This book shows teenagers the consequences of what can happen if you use drugs.
Years ago, the common image of an adolescent drug abuser was a teen trying to escape from reality on illegal substances like cocaine, heroin, or marijuana. Today, there is a great discrepancy between that perception and the reality of who is likely to abuse drugs. A teenage drug abuser might not have to look any further than his or her parent’s medicine chest to ‘score.’ Prescription drug abuse by teens is on the rise. Also, teens are looking to prescription drugs to fulfill different needs other than to feel good or escape the pressures of adulthood. Teens may be just as likely to resort to drugs with ‘speedy’ side effects, like Ritalin to help them study longer, as they are to use prescription painkillers to check out of reality. Pressures on teens are growing, to succeed in sports or to get high grades to get into a good college (Pressures on today’s teens, 2008, theantidrug). Furthermore, because prescriptions drugs are prescribed by doctors they are less likely to be seen as deleterious to teens’ health. A lack of awareness of the problem on the part of teens, parents and society in general, the over-medication of America, and the greater stresses and pressures put upon teens in the modern world have all conspired to create the growing problem of prescription drug abuse by teens.
Thomas, Janet Y. Educating Drug Exposed Children: The Aftermath of the Crack Baby Crisis. Ed. Routledge. 2004. University of Phoenix. 3 April 2008 .
Prescription drugs are making parents more overwhelmed than ever before about their teenaged child! Why must they worry so much about their teenaged child? “When you can stop you don’t want to, and when you want to stop, you can’t…” (Davies). This quote signifies that adolescents and adults have the option to quit or not try the drug when being introduced, but when they get started on the drug and they are thinking abouting quitting, they cannot because of the addiction they have on the drug. Each day they try to stay away from the drug, but they are having really bad withdrawals. Rockingham County Schools should inform parents about the strategies for preventing, recognizing, and addressing prescription drug abuse.
Drugs cause an overall disturbance in a subjects’ physiological, psychological and emotional health. “At the individual level, drug abuse creates health hazards for the user, affecting the educational and general development of youths in particular” (“Fresh Challenge”). In youth specifically, drug abuse can be triggered by factors such as: a parent’s abusive behavior, poor social skills, family history of alcoholism or substance abuse, the divorce of parents or guardians, poverty, the death of a loved one, or even because they are being bullied at school (“Drugs, brains, and behavior”) .
The drug control policy of the United States has always been a subject of debate. From Prohibition in the early 1930’s to the current debate over the legalization of marijuana, drugs have always been near the top of the government’s agenda. Drug use affects every part of our society. It strains our economy, our healthcare, our criminal justice systems, and it endangers the futures of young people. In order to support a public health approach to drug control, the Obama administration has committed over $10 billion to drug education programs and support for expanding access to drug treatment for addicts (Office). The United States should commit more government resources to protect against illegal use of drugs by youths and provide help for recovering addicts.
In the United States today, drug use, substance abuse, and addiction are consistently growing dilemmas! At a young age we are asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Answers vary from doctor, police officer, astronaut, etc.; it is hard to image an individual saying, “I want to be addicted to drugs.” However, society witness’s individuals tumbling into drug addiction or other forms of addiction daily. This, in consequence, can cripple and prevent any person from accomplishing their childhood dreams.
Most people do not understand how a person become addicted to drugs. We tend to assume that is more an individual problem rather than a social problem. However, teen substance abuse is indeed a social problem considered a priority for the USA department of public health due to 9 out of 10 Americans with addictions started using drugs before the age 18 (CASA Columbia University). Similarly, 1 in 4 Americans with addictions started using the substance during their teenage years, which show a significant different with 1 in 25 Americans with addiction who started using at 21 or older (CASA, 2011).
High school students are leaders to younger kids and many others in their community. As a leader these student must show others what good character is like, but instead they are destroying their lives by doing drugs. In the past decade the drug use among high school students is on the rise once again. With the internet, their exposure to drugs is much greater. High school students are convinced that they are able to get away with using drugs. These drug addicts soon influence other students into doing the drugs because there isn’t a rule preventing drug use. In order to protect these student’s future, drug tests must be enforced among all students ensuring a safe environment for students to learn successfully. Allowing random drug testing in high schools will shy away students from trying these harmful drugs. The stop of drug use among high school students is crucial because drugs prevents student from learning leading them to dropping out of high school. Students that become overwhelmed by these harmful drugs will ruin their lives forever, but if steered in the right direction they can be saved.
The first step when beginning to implement drug education in a classroom or school is for the individual that is considering the topic to deem why the implementation is important. There are three main reasons teachers have found the implementation to be important. The first reason is that students are more likely to come in contact with drugs by hearing about them, or using them. By having a program implemented into a classroom or school, it can assist individuals to gain knowledge about the topic. The purpose of this is to help individuals make healthy, responsible decisions about drugs now and in the future that will reflect the individual’s identity and morals.
Certain drugs can be injected via a syringe or needle, smoked, ingested through the nasal cavity, and even laced into certain foods and eaten. Unfortunately, in certain areas, drugs can be very easily obtained in an unsafe environment. Usually, drugs affect teenagers the most who are in their high school and college years. It is reported that teenagers can get their hands on narcotics at a myriad of places in their daily lives. They can be found: In the medicine cabinet, at home, at a neighbor’s house, online, a friend, at schools, and at parties. Nowadays, with rapid advancement in drug development, kids as young as 16 can cook and grow their own drugs in their homes. Neglect of strict attention or drug awareness among parents can result in teenagers buying or selling drugs routinely in their