Welcome!
Check out Hard Choices, an exclusive comic presented by Marvel and the Elks!
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks welcomes you to the resource center for the Elks National Drug Awareness Program - the largest volunteer drug awareness program in the United States. We are very proud of our dedicated army of volunteers who freely give their time and talents to this most noble cause. The Elks are committed to eliminating the use and abuse of illegal drugs by all members of society and believe that in order to ensure a bright future for our country, it is essential that our children be raised in a drug-free environment.
Click a title to hear public service announcements by Milton Creagh. You can also download the files to your computer.
- Teens say stress is why they take drugs
-
NEW YORK, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- The top reason U.S. teens give for using drugs is to deal with the pressures and stress of school, officials at the Partnership for a Drug-Free America said.
The Partnership Attitude Tracking Study of 6,511 teens said 73 percent of teens reported that school stress is the primary reason for drug use. However, just 7 percent of parents believe teens might use drugs to deal with stress.
Read the full story...
- Where do teens get drugs now? From the home medicine cabinet
-
Are we winning the war on drugs?
John P. Walters, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, who was in the San Joaquin Valley last week, says the answer is yes and no.
Youth illicit drug use is down, and workplace drug testing results show adult drug use is down. So illegal drug use has decreased, and Walters is optimistic that trend may continue with a new era of cooperation between the United States and Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón.
Read the full story...
- Web delivers new worry for parents: Digital drugs
-
We all know that music can alter your mood. Sad songs can make you cry. Upbeat songs may give you an energy boost. But can music create the same effects as illegal drugs?
This seems like a ridiculous question. But websites are targeting your children with so-called digital drugs. These are audio files designed to induce drug-like effects.
All your child needs is a music player and headphones.
Read the full story...
- Highest Traces of Cocaine Found on U.S. Bills
-
Paper money contains high traces of cocaine, regardless of whether or not the paper money came into direct contact with the drug. And U.S. bills take the top spot, covered in the greatest amount of the illegal powder, while Spanish notes are the most highly contaminated in Europe, a new study finds.
Read the full story...
- New CASA* Report Finds: Most Web Sites Selling Prescription Opioids, Stimulants and Depressants Require No Prescription
-
NEW YORK, NY--(MARKET WIRE)--Jul 9, 2008 -- Despite a decline in the number of Web sites advertising or selling controlled prescription drugs, like OxyContin and Valium, Xanax and Vicodin, and Ritalin and Adderall, in the past year, 85 percent of Web sites selling such drugs do not require a prescription, according to "'You've Got Drugs!' V: Prescription Drug Pushers on the Internet," the fifth annual White Paper on this subject released by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.
Read the full story...
- Teenagers and marijuana
-
If you're a baby boomer, don't lull yourself into thinking that marijuana is a fading fad that represents a modest threat to today's youth.
You'd be wrong.
Nearly half of today's teenagers try marijuana before graduating from high school, and by their senior year more than 20 percent are regular users, Science Daily reported in May.
More teens use marijuana than all other illegal drugs combined, and they are at greater risk than teens who smoked pot a couple of decades ago.
Read the full story...
- Prescription Drug Addictions Rise
-
BOSTON (Reuters) - When Sarah Roisman was 11 years old, her doctors prescribed Klonopin, a muscle relaxant, for a psychiatric disorder that caused her to have seizures. She liked how the drug made her feel. Her seizures went away.
But that's where her trouble with addiction began.
By age 14, the teen from an upper middle-class Philadelphia suburb led a dangerous double life. Editor of her school paper, strong student and popular athlete, Roisman was also hooked on painkillers and other drugs in an addiction that illustrates the rapid expansion in prescription drug abuse in America.
Read the full story...
- Heavy drinking damages heart and arteries - Too much alcohol especially harmful for women, researchers find
-
CHICAGO - Heavy drinking causes high blood pressure, stiff arteries and rigid heart muscles in men and enlarged hearts in women, boosting their risk of having heart attacks and strokes, researchers said.
They defined heavy drinking as more than 21 drinks a week for men and more than 14 per week for women.
"We definitely see quite a deleterious effect," said Dr. Azra Mahmud of St. James Hospital in Dublin, who presented her findings Wednesday at a meeting of the American Society of Hypertension in New Orleans.
Read the full story...
- Non-Medical Marijuana III: Rite of Passage or Russian Roulette?
-
NEW CASA* REPORT FINDS:
MARIJUANA POTENCY UP 175 PERCENT,
MEDICAL DIAGNOSES, TREATMENT ADMISSIONS, ER FINDINGS FOR TEEN MARIJUANA USE UP SHARPLY
NEW YORK, NY, June 18, 2008 – Despite reported declines in teen marijuana use, in 2007 almost 11 million teens report having used marijuana. For those using the drug, four alarming trends are of grave concern for parents and teens, according to Non-Medical Marijuana III: Rite of Passage or Russian Roulette?, a new report by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.
Read the full story...
- Working out may help prevent substance abuse - Clues show that physical activity might change brain chemistry
-
WASHINGTON - Sure, exercise is good for your waistline, your heart, your bones — but might it also help prevent addiction to drugs or alcohol?
There are some tantalizing clues that physical activity might spur changes in the brain to do just that. Now the U.S. government is beginning a push for hard research to prove it.
This is not about getting average people to achieve the so-called runner's high, a feat of pretty intense athletics
Read the full story...
→ Read more news
