Tackling Youth Drug Addiction In Indonesia

Tackling Youth Drug Addiction In Indonesia: "Veronica Colondam founded the nonprofit Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa (YCAB) to promote a healthy lifestyle, including drug prevention and HIV/Aids awareness, among adolescents in Indonesia. When she launched her first campaign in 1999, she targeted children in school.

'It's hard to say no to your friends. So we started by teaching kids to be assertive and develop communication and decision making skills,' she said.

Since its inception, YCAB's anti-drug and HIV/Aids prevention program has reached one and a half million school children through their Healthy Lifestyle Promotion (HeLP) program.

Despite this success, Veronica realized her message wasn't reaching a large and vulnerable population of children: dropouts. Education in Indonesia is free -- although students often have to pay for books and other small fees -- and compulsory for nine years, but after that, the government starts charging. According to YCAB, an estimated one to three million children drop out of school in Indonesia every year. A major reason is it's too expensive."

""We're talking about $20 dollars a month or less for government-run high schools. But even that, a lot of people cannot afford," Veronica said.

This amount is a small fortune for many families in Indonesia where more than half of the estimated230 million people live on less than two dollars a day.

Many families are forced to sacrifice their children's education to meet more immediate needs. "Parents would rather have them work in the streets and bring home food," Veronica said."

"If she was going to successfully promote a healthy lifestyle among these children, Veronica decided that she would have to create a more holistic approach to youth development that included access to education and financial stability programs.

"We wanted them to get proactive about their life because when they do, they engage in a healthy lifestyle," she said.

In the past decade, YCAB has expanded from an early focus on drug-prevention and HIV/Aids awareness in schools. In addition to project HeLP, YCAB has launched HoLD, House of Learning and Development, and HOpE, Hands-on Operation for Entrepreneurship.

Project HoLD has currently given more than 8,000 dropouts a second chance at education. The program is a vocational school, teaching children basics like computer skills and English, as well as offering them electives that lead to employment in the hospitality industry, as a mechanic, a seamstress or beautician.

Veronica stays motivated by the changes she sees in the children enrolled in these programs.

"If you work with at risk children you see that they don't look at you in the eye, they feel left out and maybe feel lower than people in general so they don't have that confidence. Their body language shows that they're inferior," she said

She remembers Kemal, one of the students who graduated from HoLD, who not only has a job now, but also the confidence to succeed. "He has become very ambitious and the company is so inspired," she said.

Another student learned to cut hair at HoLD a few years ago and is now benefiting from YCAB's third initiative, HOpE, which has provided seed capital to 1,650 entrepreneurs.

"She graduated and worked in a salon and built her portfolio," Veronica said. "Now a microloan from HoPE is helping her finance her education to become an instructor for one of the beautician courses at HoLD."

In the coming year, Veronica plans to take YCAB international and hopes to operate multiple youth development programs in countries throughout Asia.

"There's a benefit to society, but at the same time it gives me a fulfillment and satisfaction. I feel like I am living the purpose of my being here on earth," she said."

Treating Teen Marijuana Use | Drug Addiction Treatment

Treating Teen Marijuana Use | Drug Addiction Treatment: "Marijuana is the most frequently used illegal drug in America, and has been for decades. It is also the number one drug of choice for millions of U.S. teens. While parents may find the statistics of teen marijuana use startling, the prevalence remains fairly consistent across numerous studies. In one recent study of 11,426 teens, one-quarter (25 percent) said they had already smoked marijuana, 13 percent had smoked it during the previous month, and 6 percent had smoked cannabis more than 4 times in the previous month."

Treating Teen Marijuana Use | Drug Addiction Treatment: "Factors that Increase Risk of Teen Marijuana Use

Experts have identified the following factors that increase the risk that teens will begin using marijuana:
• Poor family relationships
• Household access to marijuana
• Poor school experience
• Low self-esteem
• Lack of (or little) religious identity
• Fear of dying
• Working more than 20 hours per week
• Poor grades"

Treating Teen Marijuana Use | Drug Addiction Treatment: "Addiction – Not everyone who smokes marijuana will become dependent or addicted to the drug. But when someone feels they need to smoke it in order to feel better, to escape from their problems, to avoid tasks or responsibilities, they are said to be dependent on or addicted to it. In addition, frequent, heavy users of marijuana develop a tolerance to the drug. This means they require more of it and more often in order to achieve the same high or the same results they used to get from smoking smaller amounts. It is important to note that people can become emotionally and mentally addicted to marijuana. Getting the drug, so-called drug-seeking behavior, becomes all they think about. Their days are consumed by thoughts of, cravings for, and use of, the drug. This is classic addiction."

Teen Drug Addiction

Teen Drug Abuse Home Page - Teen Drug Abuse and Addiction - Find Help for Teen Drug Abuse: "There is a high likelihood that your teen will be exposed to drugs and alcohol, and according to drug statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse there is a good chance that your teen will try drugs. Teens as young as 13 have often already tried drugs as powerful as cocaine. Teens might tell themselves they will only try a drug once, but many teens find themselves under continual peer pressure to continue to experiment with drugs and “join the party.”

"If you are a parent who is concerned about your teen, the signs to look for are declining interest in activities your teen once enjoyed, changes in school performance, and unpredictable mood swings that seem to be about more than just teen hormones.

Abuse of drugs and alcohol can also change friendships, as teens begin to move away from old friends who don't approve of their drug use and begin to associate with fellow drug users who will encourage and support one other's drug use. Parents should be very concerned when teens dump one group of friends for another, especially if they are secretive about the new peer group.

Most teens who are addicted won't see a problem with their behavior or their drug use. Drugs make them feel good, and are a way to relieve the stress of school, problems at home, disagreements with friends, and other pressures of growing up.

The sooner you can recognize that your child or your friend is abusing alcohol or other drugs, the sooner you can seek help. If you notice changes in behavior, changes in friends, lying about after school or weekend activities, changes in mood, or depressionyour teen might have a problem with substance abuse.

If you or someone you care about has a drug problem, talk to them about it and encourage them to get help. Addiction treatment programs specializing in teens can help your child build a strong foundation for long-term recovery.

If you are a teen concerned about your own drug use, parents are probably the last people you want to ask for help, but they can but they can help you to find the treatment program that will support and guide you through recovery. If you are a parent or friend of a teen who has a substance abuse problem, talk to them about their problem and encourage them to get help. The sooner you or someone you love gets help, the more likely they are to achieve successful recovery."

Most teens don't start using drugs expecting to develop a substance abuse problem, and while most teens probably see their drug use as a casual way to have fun, there are negative effects that are a result of this use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs. The biggest consequence to casual drug use can be that it develops into a true addiction. Very few addicts recognize when they have crossed the line from casual use to addiction.

Most teens don't think that they will become addicted, and simply use drugs or alcohol to have a good time and be more like their friends. When teens become addicted they lose friends, develop health problems, start to fail in school, experience memory loss, lose motivation, and alienate their family and friends with their negative behaviors and often unpredictable emotional swings. "