Case
The Case for the Parent Corps

Drugs mimic the natural chemicals the brain uses to communicate. One system in the brain uses these chemicals to make us feel good when we eat, drink, and have sex. Through this reward, we unconsciously learn to repeat behaviors that help us and our species survive. Drugs act on the chemicals in this system and produce a much more powerful reward. Instead of teaching us to repeat survival-oriented behaviors, drugs teach us to take more drugs. If use continues, drugs gradually change the brain and these changes can eventually lead to addiction.
~False Messengers: How Addictive Drugs Change the Brain, by David Friedman and Sue Rusche

“My husband and I—and our family – have a teenager who may be dealing with an addiction for the rest of his life.”
~Marsha Moritz, Parent Leader

“My sister is 45, dealing with addiction that started in her teens. She has no job, no insurance, no retirement, she doesn’t even have a home. When we hear from her, she wants money. When we don’t hear from her, we wonder if she’s dead. Our entire family deals with this. It’s a constant struggle.”
~Paula Van Beek, Parent Leader

How drugs hurt the adolescent brain

New research shows that the brain undergoes an intense period of development during adolescence, and that the human brain is not fully developed until age 23 or 24, putting teens at special risk if they use drugs during this period.

Because the adolescent brain is vastly different from the adult brain, these differences make adolescents much more vulnerable than adults to the impact of addictive drugs.

Epidemiological evidence shows that drug and alcohol addiction is rooted in adolescence. For example, teens who start drinking alcohol before age 15 are five times more likely to become addicted than those who start drinking at age 21. If the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other addictive drugs can be avoided during adolescence, the likelihood of developing an addiction is virtually zero.

How drugs hurt adolescents in other ways

Drug use can impair adolescents’ academic, emotional, and social development. It can lead to addiction, unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, mental illness, injuries and deaths in accidents, suicides, and many other problems.

How bad is the problem?

According to data from the most recent Monitoring the Future survey, more than 22 percent of 8th grade students and 51 percent of 12th grade students have used an illegal drug at least once in their lifetimes.

Some 4.2 million young people ages 16 to 20 reported driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs during the past year.

Between 1992 and 2002 – the same period when adolescent drug use increased after a 13-year decline in all levels of use—the number of adolescent treatment admissions increased 65% (from 95,000 admissions in 1992 to 156,000 in 2002).

Each year, some 430,000 Americans die from tobacco-related diseases; more than 100,000 die from alcohol-related diseases, injuries, accidents, fires, drownings, and other alcohol-related causes; and an estimated 16,000 to 20,000 die from drug overdoses, drug-related accidents, and drug-related suicides and homicides. Much of this could be prevented by keeping students healthy and drug-free.

Parents are the best defense

A large body of research shows that parents have more influence than anyone else in preventing children and adolescents from initiating drug use. Kids who learn factual information about the effects of drugs, alcohol and tobacco from their parents are half as likely to try these substances as kids who do not. Yet only one child in three reports receiving science-based drug education from his or her parents.

Other studies show that parents who set clear limits and also reward children for positive behavior protect them from drug use, as do parents who monitor and supervise children’s activities and relationships.

Parent Corps is the answer. It gets parents involved.

The Parent Corps is a new effort dedicated to helping parents work together to keep their children healthy and drug free.

Unlike drug-prevention programs that provide short-term courses on the dangers of drugs and ways to avoid use, the Parent Corps is an ongoing process.

The Parent Corps offers parents a strong peer support network grounded by full-time, paid Parent Leaders who work in their children’s schools.

How?

The Parent Corps arms Parent Leaders with science-based information about the dangers of adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drug use, teaching them how to educate other parents in their children’s schools and motivating parents to work together to protect their children.

Parent Leaders:

teach other parents in their children’s schools about how drugs affect children
show them how children are at risk
share scientific research on the effects of drug use and on the power of parents to influence their children’s lives
mobilize parents into groups that stop the marketing of drugs to children
create a peer support network that fosters the growth of healthy children into productive adults

The Parent Corps pilot program

The Parent Corps currently has 20 Parent Leaders in nine states. The vision is to have one Parent Leader in every school in the country by 2014.

The Parent Corps was developed and executed as part of the national nonprofit organization National Families in Action.

Both National Families in Action and the Parent Corps are based in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Parent Corps is funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which provided a three-year, $4.2 million grant to establish and test a Parent Corps pilot program in nine states.