Background/Rationale/Preparation:
Recent statistics such as those listed below indicate that youth continue to participate in risky behavior, which may lead to a lifetime addiction or at the very least poor health.
• More than 4.5 million teenagers smoke in the US today.
• According to FDA at least 1/3 of children who begin smoking today will die from a tobacco-related disease.
• Tobacco use often leads to experimentation with other substance abuse.
• More than half of all 8th graders have consumed alcohol and more than one fourth have been drunk.
• More than half of America’s youth have tried an illicit drug by the end of high school.
In the state of West Virginia it is estimated that there will be around 8,399 DUI's, and 100 deaths due to intoxicated driving this year. Statistics also show that there will be 509 deaths related to alcohol abuse, 2,609 tobacco related deaths, and 101 deaths due to illicit drug use. It is believed that there are around 87,755 marijuana users, 14,380 cocaine addicts, and 814 heroin addicts living in West Virginia. It is also estimated that there are 38,429 people abusing prescription drugs, 3,666 people who use inhalants, and 6,526 people who use hallucinogens. In West Virginia, there will be around 11,078 people arrested this year for drug related charges.
There is an urgent need to focus on preventing risky behavior in youth. WVU Extension Service 4-H Youth Development is in its fourth year of a Health Rocks!® Grant. The West Virginia Health Rocks!® is an anti-tobacco, anti-drug and anti-alcohol program that is designed for youth ten and older. The program focuses on prevention and is delivered summer residential camping programs, in-school programs or in afterschool programs. Health Rocks!® pr...
... middle of paper ...
...nd collection of evaluation tool, submission of results, review and comparison of Kanawha County’s evaluative results and of other programs. My time for this research investigation is estimated at 50 hours.
Allison Nichols served as the Evaluation Specialist. She worked with a national evaluation team to improve the survey and outline the evaluation protocol and achieved the WVU IRB. She answered questions related to evaluation throughout the year. She provided overall guidance for the evaluation throughout the year.
Donna Patton serves at the grant administrator and team leader working with county agents, afterschool providers, and schools to integrate Health Rocks!®
Collaborators and Funding Sources:
National 4-H Council provided a $72,000 grant for the current program implementation
West Virginia 4-H Program
West Virginia Statewide Afterschool Network
Every day the United States has seen a massive amount of substance use amongst the nation’s adolescent population. The National Institute for Drug Abuse (2012) defined substance abuse as “any illicit use of a substance as drug abuse; this includes the nonmedical use of prescription drugs” and substance addiction as “a chronic, relapsing disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite harmful consequences as well as neurochemical and molecular changes in the brain” (n.p.). Doweiko (2012) stated that when discussing substance use amongst teens, those terms are actually often used interchangeably. He went on to include the figures from the 2009 survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) which detailed the rates of adolescent abuse and addiction. The agency reported 9.3% of teens surveyed are currently abusing some type of substance (SAMHSA, 2009 as cited in Doweiko, 2012). Breaking down the statistics further, Johnson, O’Mally, Bachman, and Schulenberg (2009) stated that a...
As per the American Heart Association in 2013, an expected 23 percent of grown-up men and 18 percent of grown-up ladies in the United States are smokers. What’s even more troubling is the prevalence of juvenile smoking in our society. juvenile smoking is a very real danger among U.S. youngsters and high schoolers. About 25 percent of U.S. secondary school understudies are smokers, and an extra 8 percent use smokeless tobacco items, for example, snuff and plunge. But what is most disheartening, is that 30 percent of all juvenile smokers will become addicted and suffer health related complications due to prolonged smoking. Numerous components play into a kid's choice to attempt tobacco. A craving to seem "cooler", more advanced, or to
The US department of Education set one of the guidelines of its Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act program the implementation of only evidence-based prevention activities. They also labeled 7 drug prevention programs as exemplary, 5 of the programs included a school-based curriculum for middle school students. Project ALERT is one of the most successful evidence-based programs that seek to motivate students against drug use, and provides them with the necessary skills to resist such behavior. The authors suggested that the program’s effectiveness could be improved if it focused on curbing alcohol misuse, involved parents in the prevention program, and implemented a way to help the already enacted smokers.
“Youth and Tobacco Use.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. N.p., 14 Feb. 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .
According to the Monitoring the Future study (previously called the High School Senior Survey), in 1996, 50.8 percent of high school seniors reported having used illicit drugs (1996). The study also found that male juveniles arrested for drug offenses had the highest rate of positive drug tests when compared to youth arrested for other types of crimes. Substance abuse and delinquency often share the common factors of school and family problems, negative peer groups, lack of neighborhood social controls, and a history of physical or sexual abuse (Hawkins et al., 1987). Substance abuse is also associated with crimes of violence and income-generating crimes such as robberies in youth. Other social and criminal justice problems often linked to substance abuse in juveniles is drug trafficking, youth homicides, gangs, and
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.
Since the early 1990s, the degree of students abusing controlled substances has dramatically increased; abuse of painkillers increasing by more than 300 percent, abuse of stimulants increasing to more than 90 percent, and 110 percent increase in proportion of students using marijuana daily (Califano, 2007). In the most recent years, this issue of abuse has become far too common with the rate of illicit drug use of 22 percent among full time college students between the ages of 18 and 22 (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2013). This percentage of substance abusers continues to dramatically increase annually.
According to the Michigan Institute for Social research, reported the results of their 1992 and 1993 national survey of nearly fifty thousand American high school students across the country ages thirteen through eighteen. Studies show that a gradual decrease in the use of most illicit drugs by younger people. The peak year for illicit drug use by high school seniors was in 1980. The 1992 and 1993 surveys reported an alarming shift, a modest but statistically significant increase in the use of several drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and inhalants. This survey attributes the increase in drug use to students’ perceived risk or danger in using a particular drug. In 1992, thirteen year-olds were less likely to see cocaine, crack and marijuana as dangerous. But in 1993, there was a significant increase in marijuana use by seventeen and eighteen year olds and a significant increase in marijuana use by thirteen year-old students. Cocaine use by seventeen and eighteen year olds declined in 1992. However there was a significant increase in cocaine use by thirteen year-old students between 1991 and 1992.
Many teens think it is cool to drink so they can fit in, some even are pressured to drink and some even drive after drinking which causes more deaths and problems between a family. Teens often do not understand the effects of alcohol on the body and many people do not know how drinking occasionally has a good effect on the body. I truly believe that these problems will still continue as long as our society continues to look at drinking as a solution to their problems with little side effects or as an independent activity and it not being categorized as a drug. We must make an impact to change the attitudes and behavior patterns not only of teens, but the entire society.
West Virginia has a lot of issues due to drugs. Every Time people turn the news on there is either a death, or crime caused by drug abuse. West virginia has the highest drug overdose rate in the nation. That is three times the average.
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).
It has been discovered that most people who struggle with drug addiction began experimenting with drugs in their teens. Teenage drug abuse is one of the largest problems in society today and the problem grows and larger every year. Drugs are a pervasive force in our culture today. To expect kids not to be influenced by the culture of their time is as unrealistic as believing in the tooth fairy (Bauman 140). Teens may feel pressured by their friends to try drugs, they may have easy access to drugs, they may use drugs to rebel against their family or society, or they may take an illegal drug because they are curious about it or the pleasure that it gives them.
The survey we conducted showed that most people believed it was more common for youths in the 14 to 22 age group to use recreational drugs. This was closely followed by the 23 to 30 age group, while the 13 and under age group was considerably further behind. The survey question that followed indicated that people also believed that drug users were irresponsible and inconsiderate. This slightly supports the misconception that teens are more likely to be involved with recreational drugs.
Few people deny the dangers of drug use, while many teens are curious about drugs. They should stay away from drugs because drugs affect our health, lead to academic failure, and jeopardizes safety. Drugs are used from a long period of time in many countries. The concentration of drugs has increased from late 1960’s and 1970’s. Drugs can quickly takeover our lives. Friends and acquaintance have the greatest influence of using drugs during adolescence.
Another problem is use of illegal drugs by teenagers and young adults. As usage of drugs such as ecstasy and marijuana become more popular on "underground" scenes, people seem to find it acceptable to engage in casual drug use. Many young people do not realize the harmful effects of these substances until it is too late. The lives of America's y...