Discussion Post: Prevention Program
As an addiction professional, you may contribute to social change in a variety of ways. For example, you may educate clients and families, engage in local community and political agendas to help those in need, and connect with other professionals in the field across the city, state, or nation. In addition, you might work to limit social agendas that may potentially hurt clients, families, and communities at large.
Individuals, groups, governments, school systems and communities aim to advocate for people in need through the use of social programs. For example, the Drug Abuse Awareness and Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program designed by Nancy Reagan in the 1980s was a social program with the goal of keeping kids away from alcohol and drugs. This program was used in nearly 80% of school districts in the United States where police officers were tasked with educating school-aged children about the dangers of using alcohol and drugs. Unfortunately, despite the best of intentions, some social change programs are ineffective and fail to accomplish what they set out to do. D.A.R.E. has reportedly been ineffective and was sometimes shown to be counterproductive (Hanson, n. d.).
For this Discussion, review this week's resources and select one of the social change programs identified below. Consider the challenges facing social change programs and think about factors that may contribute to the success of these programs in today's society.
You'll utilize and reference the War on Drugs social change program and complete research on the topic for Discussion:
Provide 400 words Discussion Post providing:
1) A description of the War on Drugs prevention program
2) Explain why it was not successful in preventing addiction.
3) Then based on this information, what two recommendations would you make for this program to be successful in reducing addiction today
4) Finally, describe two challenges to those recommendations.
The response should include a reference list. Double-space, using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.