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Epidemic: translating drug prevention principles to camp.

Article Excerpt
The American Camp Association is committed to promoting healthy lifestyles for youth. In this issue of Camping Magazine we are pleased to present the second in a three-part series of "Healthy Teens" articles written by Stephen Wallace, director of counseling and counselor training at the Cape Cod Sea Camps and chairperson and CEO of SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), a national youth peer-to-peer education, prevention, and activism organization. Each article addresses issues of critical concern to youth, families, and camps and provides research-based insights into the attitudes and behaviors of today's teens. Most important, each article offers practical advice for camp counselors and directors intent on keeping their campers safe.

By almost any definition of the word, America faces an epidemic of adolescent drug use. Teens Today research from SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and Liberty Mutual Group reveals that the average age of initiation to drugs is thirteen and that more than one third (35 percent) of teens say they have used some. Those numbers include almost one in six middle school students report having smoked marijuana and 30 percent of their high school counterparts saying the same (one in four reports having smoked it before or during school).

Of course, marijuana use is only part of the story. "Harder" drugs, illegal use of prescription drugs, and inhalants account for a large swath of the drug problem as well. According to Teens Today, 13 percent of high school teens report using drugs such as cocaine, crack, or ecstasy, and 17 percent say they illegally use prescription...

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