Bush Proposes School-Based Drug Testing Plan

In Tuesday night's State of The Union Address, President Bush directed at least some of his words in the correct area, drug prevention.  Stating that drug use in high school as declined eleven percent in the last two years, Bush proposes an additional 23 million dollars for schools to implement drug-testing programs.

"One of the worst decisions our children can make is to gamble their lives and futures on drugs," commented the President.  "Our government is helping parents confront this problem, with aggressive education, treatment, and law enforcement."

The President later added, "The aim here is not to punish children, but to send them this message: We love you, and we don\t want to lose you."

Though the President is right in his administration's efforts to reduce demand, statistics have shown that drug testing alone is not enough and a highly effective education and prevention program must accompany other deterrents.

Surveys conducted by the Narconon® Drug Prevention Program of several hundred thousand students across the country show that it is the type of information and the manner in which it's presented that determines the best results.

Many prevention programs in schools dryly talk about consequences of drug use, use scare tactics such as mock alcohol related fatality skits, or show samples of drugs that only peak students' interest in 'learning more' about them. While these approaches may work for some, the majority of students don't feel that they are very real to them.

The Narconon prevention program uses effective two-way communication with a lot of energy and interest between the presenter and the students. Combined with information that isn't normally taught and the fact that many of the presenters are former drug addicts that have been able to successfully get their lives back, students are able to get the toughest questions answered in a way that satisfies their curiosity without having to try drugs for themselves.

J.T. Daily is a Prevention Specialist for Narconon Arrowhead, one of the nation's largest and most successful private rehabilitation and education facilities. Daily recently spoke to 800 students at an inner-city high school. The students started off cheering when the words "alcohol" and "weed" were mentioned at the start of the presentation and J.T. then knew that it wasn't going to be an easy talk. But, by the time it was over, the students had not only paid attention but gave him a standing ovation as well.

"After the presentation the principal was shocked," recounted Daily of that afternoon, "because the last speaker about drugs was booed out of the auditorium. It was really cool because a lot of the kids were coming up to me and thanking me as well, but all I did was my normal presentation. I guess it was the first time someone really communicated with these kids on their own level."

J.T. and other Narconon Prevention Specialists around the world follow simple presentation styles and have fun. Again, it's the type of information talked about and the manner in which it is delivered that really counts. According to Daily, "I wish I had this information when I was in school so I wouldn't have done some of the things I did growing up, like start taking drugs."

Call Narconon Arrowhead today at 1-800-468-6933 or log on to www.stopaddiction.com to book a drug education presentation in your area or to get help for a loved one in need.

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