Today kicks off National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) created this health observance back in 2010 to help educate teens about about addiction. It aims to counteract the various rumors or myths about substance use that young people may have been exposed to in their lives. As you might expect, Stepworks fully supports this endeavor! We also believe that during this week of education, we should be sharing helpful info with adults, too. In an opioid epidemic that doesn’t discriminate between young and old, we want everyone to have access to the best information available to make the best choices possible. It’s certainly important to get this information to kids and teens; however, an alarming number of adult men and women still fall prey to misinformation about drug use as well. Stepworks is proud to be able to help fight back against addiction stigma and myths!
This week (January 23-29), students nationwide will be treated to various addiction education events in their communities, where they can meet and speak with scientists from NIDA and other professionals in the field. One of these events is National Drug & Alcohol Facts Chat Day. Those interested will be able to log into a live online chat with NIDA!
Parents, community leaders, and teachers might be looking to incorporate a teaching event or activity to coincide with National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week.
For those brainstorming addiction learning opportunities, here are a few ideas!
Create your own National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week activity!
- Invite experts from healthcare, addiction treatment, and law enforcement fields to share what they know
- Involve students in creating anti-drug art projects
- Develop games such as bingo or a scavenger hunt with facts about drugs and alcohol prevention/ awareness
- Have a town hall meeting to address addiction in the community
- Have students research the facts and report what they find out
- Partner with other local organizations to sponsor a race against drug and alcohol abuse
- Have a local fair where businesses and people associated with addiction treatment can provide information about drug and alcohol abuse
- Just have a conversation with your children/ family. (For help, read our article on how to talk your children about addiction)
There are endless avenues to help bring awareness about drug use and addiction to your family or community. Sometimes, just bringing up the subject of addiction can be the first step to motivating someone to find help or treatment.
For more information, resources, and materials about this initiative and how to create events around this week, visit their website.
Our blog is full of useful expert content intended to help any- and everyone! One good place to start is our post explaining how addiction is a brain disease. Please take the time to go through our articles and share any that you feel could help even just one person!
To join in on National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week, we’ll be posting a fact a day on our social media platforms. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram!
Like the slogan says, let’s “Shatter the Myths” about addiction!
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Images courtesy of drugfactsweek.gov
