Drug Prevention Education Evolves From Scare-Tactics To Fact-Based Information
Simplistic mottoes such as "just say no" are being replaced with encouragement for students to think through the complexities of drug use and addiction.
KQED:
In The Land Of Legal Weed, Drug Education Moves From ‘Don’t’ To ‘Delay’
Public schools in California are required by law to provide anti-drug abuse education, although experts say the quality of the instruction varies widely from district to district, and there’s little enforcement. ... Today, drug abuse education is an advanced pedagogy, drawing on decades of rigorous effectiveness research and the newest teaching techniques. (Feibel, 5/16)
In other public health news —
Sacramento Bee:
'It's The Right Thing To Do.' Sacramento City Council Approves Homeless Hospice, Despite Objections
The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday evening gave unanimous support to a project that would offer residential care for homeless people suffering from terminal illnesses. Following an emotional public hearing, the council ultimately rejected a neighborhood association's appeal of the hospice. The care facility will be one of the first of its kind in the country. (Hubert, 5/16)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Navy Embedding Mental Health Teams With Submarine Squadrons
Commanders are calling it the “year of change” for Navy medicine but Rear Adm. Paul D. Pearigen is excited about what the reforms promise, especially for submariners. The commander of San Diego-based Navy Medicine West, a health network that’s concentrated in the Pacific Rim but extends globally from Peru to Egypt and Vietnam, Pearigen sees 2018 as a transition from the way the armed forces traditionally treated patients to one based more on hiking readiness in deploying units and ships. (Prine, 5/16)