The National Methamphetamine
Drug Conference
Prevention: Public Information Initiatives at Home and Work
Co-Chairs: Leslie Bloom, Partnership For A Drug-Free America, And Martha Gagné,
American Council For Drug Education
Recommendations:
- Use prevention strategies and regularly quantify their effectiveness.
- Develop a comprehensive prevention program.
- Focus on the context of substance abuse and the nature of addiction in its entirety.
We recognized the power of the media to influence and strengthen anti-drug attitudes. The workgroup agreed that a national public information campaign specific to methamphetamine is needed. The group recommended we use existing strategies and regularly quantify effectiveness using existing methodologies such as Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) or media tracking systems.
Working group chairs deliver a summary of recommendations for improving the national response to methamphetamine abuse. |
The prevention effort should be comprehensive, culturally sensitive, and targeted to proper locations and specific populations, such as youth or parents. Studies show teens are getting less information from their parents about drug abuse. Parents who used drugs in the 1960s do not know how to approach their children without being hypocritical. It is so important to educate those parents because they can make a difference in their children's lives. Teens who hear from their parents are half as likely to use drugs as those whose parents do not speak to them on this topic. More education is also needed in the workplace. We need more businesses to adopt substance abuse policies and challenge workers to talk to youth about drugs.
Finally, it is important to focus the prevention effort not only on methamphetamine but also on the substance abuse issue as a whole. All drugs, including gateway drugs like alcohol and tobacco, must be addressed. The prevention campaign should be controlled at the state level with federal leadership and resources in a supporting role.
