The costs of alcohol and substance abuse are not entirely for taxpayers to bear. Oftentimes the effects of alcohol and illicit drug use manifest themselves in strictly emotional terms: families are torn apart, lives are left in ruins, jobs lost. Most people can quickly name at least one person who suffers from alcoholism or drug addiction, and the immeasurable toll that this addiction has taken on the lives of those in and around the vortex. Whether you fall in with the economic impact camp or the emotional well-being camp, most people agree that alcohol and substance abuse needs the public’s attention and resources. Upon agreement of this fact, substance abuse education enters as the primary solution.
A study conducted in the state of Texas, where taxpayers annually fork out $26 billion to cover the costs of alcohol and substance abuse related expenses, concluded that for every dollar invested (it is essential to regard alcohol and drugabuse education as an investment) in substance abuse education, taxpayers consequently saved $5.60. Not only does education of illicit drug use’s negative effects assuage the emotional toll, but edifying the general public makes good economic sense as well.
This statewide study also uncovered that 40% of car accidents were related to alcohol or illegal drug use, 75% of reported domestic violence cases involved the abuse of alcohol or controlled substances, as well as 7 of 10 child abuse cases. High school dropout rates, nationwide, are considerably higher for those students getting high. Juvenile justice systems report statistics that suggest over half of incoming inmates regularly abuse substances. All this amounts to the fundamental and immediate need of national alcohol and substance abuse education.
Programs aimed at curbing binge drinking and drug use currently offer simulations, whereby students can witness the debilitating effects of addiction, as well as the utter helplessness one feels when suffering under addiction. In short, substance abusesimulators clearly demonstrate the severity of addiction, in addition to enumerating the health problems that arise from illicit drug abuse.
Many substance abuse education programs adopt a normative education approach, whereby students are instructed that mistreatment of alcohol and banned substances is not the norm. Such methods routinely include literature and advice on how to avoid peer pressure without feeling unpopular, or how to decline drugs without losing friends. This seems to be a wise tactic, since a preponderance of students report peer pressure as a determining factor when experimenting with alcohol or drug use.
The bottom line of alcohol and drug abuse education is not to ban drugs or behaviors or to punish people for being susceptible to powerful addictions. Education’s main goal is to unequivocally illustrate the immense number of irreparable risks associated with addiction and substance abuse. Cancer and liver damage seem far-off problems to young adults (in fact, studies conclude that informing teenagers of the probability of teeth-staining or bad breath from smoking works more effectively than the risk of cancer or lung disease) but a car accident, or contracting HIV through intravenous drug use, or jail-time are perennial hazards to which students should be perennially educated.
Allotting funds towards alcohol and substance abuse education is not only a wise investment for taxpayers, it is common sense as well.
By Jean-Pierre Lacrampe