In partnership with the Drug Policy Alliance, we have started conversations to shift the mindset about substance use by young people. Often, this behavior is criminalized by educators, but we know that criminalization is not effective. Instead, we urge school district personnel to utilize a trauma-informed approach that addresses the root causes of substance use, and to connect young people with social workers and mental health counselors. Rather than pushing young people out, we ask that educators pull young people in.
Tune in at 29:15 to view Oscar, Sasha, and Claudia discuss how schools can best navigate and address educating during COVID-19 such as using a trauma-informed approach.
FIRST OF ALL, EPISODE 6We’ve got a broken drug education system and we’ve yet to fix it. Decades of under-education and over-criminalization hasn’t made drug use and sales decline, nor has it made drug use any safer. Denying the fact that we use drugs — pharmaceutically, illicitly, recreationally, therapeutically — has left many American with a warped view on drug users and their own drug use, often limiting our capacity to envision another way to keep kids and communities safe. This episode brings together youth and drug policy advocates that are leading the curve to change how we learn and teach about drugs by empowering communities to embrace more compassionate and effective strategies for addressing drug use in the U.S.- View other episodes in this series at https://www.madeofmillions.com/series/first-of-all- Learn more about the DPA at https://www.drugpolicy.org
Posted by Drug Policy Alliance on Monday, May 11, 2020