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Persuasive Essay On Substance Abuse In Schools

755 Words4 Pages

Taxpayers money goes into a 1 billion five year anti dru campaign (Minton). One would expect that with so much money going into the campaign, it should curb teen substance abuse and drinking, but it does not. Teens are actually experimenting with and abusing drugs and alcohol at alarming rates. What current substance prevention programs are doing is not enough. Although D.A.R.E. has been around for over twenty years and is in 80% of schools in the U.S., they have not lasting impact on future teen drug use (Hanson). The government needs to cut funding for current drug and alcohol prevention programs for teens because they are ineffective.
Current substance abuse prevention programs, such as D.A.R.E., only provide teens with negative information …show more content…

Underage consumption rates, intoxication, drinking attitudes or drinking problems have not changed (Hanson). There is an increase of underage drinking (Hanson)
There is an increase of teens relying on those who are of age to get them alcohol (Hanson) There is an increase of alcohol related problems (Hanson)
When “21-year-age drinking law [was] revealed, only 6% intended to stop drinking, 70% planned to change their drinking location, 21% expected to use a false or borrowed identification to obtain alcohol and 22% intended to use other drugs"(Hanson) In colleges, there has been a large increase of underage drinking (Hanson) Because teens are natural rebellious, it is to be expected that the more and more restricted they are from doing something, they will push to do it (Hanson) The rates of alcoholism and teenage problem drinking are far greater in America compared Europe (Minton) In Europe, children learn from a young age how to drink responsibly, while teens in America think of alcohol as something to be had in copious amounts (Minton) 72 percent of graduating high-school seniors have consumed

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