Crystal Foretia
Sep 6, 2017

Keeping Kids from Drugs, How Iceland Does It

1 comment

Edited: Sep 6, 2017

As you may have experienced, one of the major components of the American War on Drugs is discouraging students from drugs, starting from middle school. According to CBS, a tenth of 12-17 year-olds used illegal drugs in 2009. Even as illicit drug usage (besides marijuana) declines, there is also the issue of prescription drug overdoses. Iceland does not have the same problems. NPR reports, "Iceland tops the European table for the cleanest-living teens." One of their tactics was understanding child brain chemistry and refocusing addictive behavior onto other "natural highs". The second link goes into great detail. What are your thoughts?

Sources:

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/teen-drug-abuse-14-mistakes-parents-make/

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/teens-drugs-iceland/513668/

Rachna Shah
Sep 7, 2017

It's interesting how Iceland focuses on more healthy "natural highs" for young people. Why do you believe that the US has not implemented a similar policy/program or experienced success with it?

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