Eddy County DWI Program uses basketball to keep kids away from alcohol and drugs
Mike SmithThe Eddy County DWI Program is using basketball and a national social health and education campaign as a vessel to reach teenagers to stay from drugs and alcohol this summer.
Edward Sanchez, DWI screener with the Eddy County DWI Program, said “Be Above the Rim” encourages participants to set attainable goals and make good life choices.
“We use basketball combined with a fun evidenced-based program called 'Keep a Clear Mind' that includes four activity student books and a best practices social health and education campaign,” he said.
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Sanchez said the curriculum was developed by the Arkansas-based Center for Evidenced-Based Programming (CEBP). He said the company developed a strategy to support and enhance various prevention programs. Michael and Carol Young are the co-owners and co-founders CEBP.
Young said he developed health education materials for schools and recruited schools to participate in tests of the curriculum while he was a professor at the University of Arkansas.
Young said he and graduate students trained teachers and helped schools implement programs to help children and parents be aware of the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse along with tobacco use.
He said participants in the Eddy County DWI Program would receive four activity books and discuss drug and alcohol related topics with parents each week.
“We appreciate anybody that takes a look at it. It involves kids talking about issues with their parents,” Michael Young said.
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Eddy County DWI Program Director Cynthia Sharif said the program launches June 9 at the Artesia Recreation Center at 612 North Eighth Street in Artesia.
“And encourage them to protect themselves against unhealthy choices,” Sanchez said.
Adolescent substance use stable nationally in 2022
The percentage of adolescents abusing drugs in the United States was steady last year after declines in 2021, read the Monitoring the Future survey conducted for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
“Reported use for almost all substances decreased dramatically from 2020 to 2021 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related changes like school closures and social distancing,” noted an NIDA website.
“In 2022 reported use of any illicit drug within the past year remained at or significantly below pre-pandemic levels for all grades with 11 percent of eight graders, 21.5 percent of 10th graders and 32.6 percent of 12th graders reporting any illicit drug use in the past year,” according to the website.
The study cited prescription drug use of Vicodin, OxyContin and Percocet increased slightly among high school seniors across the U.S. from 2021 to 2022.
“With 1.7 percent of 12th graders reporting use within the past year, consistent with pre-pandemic levels observed in 2019 and 2020 (at) 2.7 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively,” read the study.
Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on Twitter.