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POLICE PRACTICES
DRUG EDUCATION
SAVING AMERICA'S YOUTHS
By
Damon Davis
Sheriff
Essex County, Virginia, Sheriff's Office
As America grapples with the increasing use of drugs among
its young people, police leaders throughout the country seek
effective solutions to the problem. However, when considering
specific programs, these leaders must also consider their
impact. They must find programs that youths, as well as adults,
accept and support.
When members of the Essex County, Virginia, Sheriff's
Office considered ways to reduce drug use in their county, they
decided to build on a program already in existence in most
States-the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program.
Moreover, the sheriff's office expanded the program to begin the
drug education process in kindergarten and continue it through
the 12th grade.
Two full-time, uniformed deputy sheriffs spend the first
semester of the school year teaching kindergarten through 7th
grade students and the second semester of the school year
teaching 8th through 12th grade students. Funds for the
program come from both the sheriff's office budget and a Federal
grant.
THE PROGRAM
The goals of Essex County's drug education program are to
teach students at an early age how to recognize and resist peer
pressure to use drugs and to help them understand that most
individuals do not use drugs. Drug education instructors also
attempt to impress upon the students that citizens and law
enforcement agencies must work together to eliminate the drug
problem. Instructors reinforce these two recurring themes
throughout the students' elementary and high school years.
The program concentrates on five general topics. Students
learn about drug demand reduction, drugs and the law, how to
communicate choices assertively, how to manage stress without
using drugs, and how drugs and violence mix. Instructors begin
at a very simple, general level with the younger students and
progress to more complex material with students in the higher
grades. For example, instructors may discuss drug-use symptoms
in very general terms with younger students, telling them that
drug use makes individuals sick. With the older students, they
can be more graphic in their explanations of how drug use ruins
the health and lives of those who choose to indulge.
Drug Demand Reduction
After years of attempting to reduce the supply of illegal
drugs, criminal justice leaders now believe that the drug
problem must be attacked by reducing the demand for the drugs as
well. Drug education instructors approach this problem by
familiarizing students with the risks associated with drug use.
They then ask the students to describe the effects drugs have on
their peers and how this drug use may affect their neighborhoods
and community.
Instructors also discuss drugs in connection with crime
rates, violence, medical emergencies, and suicide rates. They
attempt to bring the problem closer to home by discussing with
the students incidents involving either themselves or family
members that may have occurred as a result of an individual's
drug use. For example, the homes of students may have been
burglarized by someone who needed money to buy drugs.
In addition, instructors discuss the types of peer pressure
young people may encounter in connection with drugs. Drug
dealers attempt to coerce students to use drugs by exerting
different types of pressure-teasing or tempting. Preparing
students for this possibility and giving them ways to avoid
yielding to negative pressures help to prepare them to just say
"No."
Drugs and the Law
Through this segment of the program, students gain insight
into the criminal justice system so that they can better
understand how it works. The younger students can discuss areas
as simple as how buying or selling drugs can get them in
trouble, while the older students discuss the laws more
specifically. For example, they may discuss why society needs
such laws, the penalties for violating the law, and the
differences between misdemeanor violations and felonies.
Instructors also explain under what circumstances juveniles can
be tried as adults, the investigation and arrest procedures, and
how an arrest record on drug charges can affect students in the
future.
Communicating Choices
Another area of emphasis in the Essex County program is how
students can assertively communicate their choices and feelings
about drug use to their peers. Instructors suggest certain
courses of action for students being pressured to engage in drug
activity. They advise students to change the subject, walk
away, ignore the person who approaches them, or simply say "No."
Students also learn to react assertively to drug dealers
and to design their actions to let them know that the presence
of drug dealers is unwanted. By acting out different scenarios,
students learn how to deal with various situations.
Managing Stress
This vital segment of the program allows students to
discuss the stress they feel in their lives and offers positive
ways to deal with this stress. Instructors encourage the young
people to manage this stress through constructive activities or
by simply talking their problems over with another person. The
instructors' goal is to convince students that they can deal
with stress in positive, effective ways-they need never resort
to drugs.
Drugs and Violence
The final section of the drug program deals with how the
illegal use of drugs contributes to the increase in violence
among young people. During this segment, instructors help
students develop ways in which they can decrease drug-related
violence. They also educate the students on the possible
tactics of drug dealers.
For example, drug dealers sometimes attempt to intimidate
students into using drugs by force or the threat of force. This
intimidation may take the form of verbal, mental, or physical
abuse.
Instructors warn that drug use can also cause the users to
hurt either themselves or others. As instructors make clear,
drug use often contributes to motor vehicle accidents, suicides,
and murders.
CONCLUSION
The key to reducing drug abuse may lie in the education of
young people. Clearly, those students who receive drug
education are better prepared for the temptations they may
confront in later years.
An added benefit to drug education given by police officers
is the rapport built between law enforcement and the youth in
the community. Drug education instructors sometimes become
confidants to the students and often render the moral support
youths need when trying to avoid drugs.
Citizens and law enforcement agencies must come together to
form a united front against the use of drugs. Unless this
happens quickly, America may lose a generation to drugs.