Drug Prevention Essay

Primary drug prevention programs are developed to be prior to a person has been introduced to drugs directly or indirectly. Examples of this drug prevention program include D.A.R.E program, BACCHUS program. Secondary programs focus on users or new drug users and providing education to try and develop knowledge of harmful substances. The tertiary program is an involved and deliberate attempt to intervene in a user drug habit. This approaches focuses on substance dependent persons.

Primary drug prevention programs have a history dating as far back as the late 1800’s. Primary drug prevention program utilized the school system to inform young non drug users of the dangers of drug use. The primary drug prevention attempted to change children’s

The students revealed that the program seemed to over exaggerate the dangers and often the information was simply not believed. (Hanson, Venturelli, & Fleckenstein, 2011)

Another primary approach to drug prevention is the community drug prevention program. These programs are defined as large and encompassing strategies which use various institutions to distribute prevention. Examples of this prevention include Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America and Center for Prevention Research and Development.

A study measuring success of primary prevention programs stated that 12.9 percent of a study of 6031 youths were less likely to use cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana. The study also stated that 10 percent of youths who had tried the above listed substances were lower at the end of the program. (Association,

However National Institutes on Drug Abuse provided that drug rehab treatment is an evolving and reactionary treatment. NIDA states that drub relapse can be managed with the correct treatment (“How effective is drug addiction treatment?,” 2012). NIDA also indicated that “Treatment is also much less expensive than its alternatives, such as incarcerating addicted persons. For example, the average cost for 1 full year of methadone maintenance treatment is approximately $4,700 per patient, whereas 1 full year of imprisonment costs approximately $24,000 per person.” (“How effective is drug addiction treatment?,” 2012). This information is useful in evaluating the options for solving the dilemma between treatments of substance