Drug Salvage

About the Program

Real-life Drug Education

What young people and adults don't know about drugs can kill them.

Youth today are exposed earlier than ever to drugs. By survey, 47 percent of the students in schools know someone who uses drugs.

Abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs costs society internationally an estimated $276 billion annually. Substance abusers incur 300 percent higher medical costs than non abusers. They are one-third less productive on the job and are two to five times more likely to be absent from work eight or more days a year.

The most disturbing aspect of this problem is how drug abuse damages youth and the threat this poses for the future. Young users suffer more illnesses, miss more days of school and are more prone to engage in criminal conduct. We are not just talking about illegal substances - we are also talking about alcohol abuse and bing drinking, which is a major problem in Australia and results in death, injury, violence and unwanted sexual encounters to name but a few of the adverse effects. We are also talking about an abuse of prescription drugs, stimulants like dexamphetamine and Ritalin which are being sold in our school yard.

It is therefore vital to reach young people before they start on drugs. Studies suggest that if a young person can reach the age of 21 without using illicit drugs, they are unlikely ever to do so.

Most people want to talk to their children, friends, students and employees about drug use but do not know how. We can help by providing you with straight forward facts that tell the full information about drugs. When you know the facts it is easy to talk about it. Be honest and open and keep communication open. Youth forget that their parents were teenagers once too and experienced everything too. Armed with facts, you can go over the information straight from the booklets and discuss it. Younger people are usually not aware of consequences and what education does is make them knowledgeable about consequences . They want to have fun and enjoy themselves. We all do. But what feels great and makes you have a fun night out, has a harmful consequence - short and long term. With this known, many make the choice to have a fun time without drugs. Would a teenage girl smoke dope continuously if she knew that it would affect her future ability to have children? What a young adult take ecstasy if they knew it increased their risk of cancer later on? What about a young sportsman - if they knew that drugs would slow their reaction time and possibly mean no place on the team? We are all concerned about artificial fflavours and colours harming our health. They make food taste and look better, but they are chemicals and their use has a consequence - allergic reactions, hyperactivity and more. So effects need to be known and examined and then a choice can be made as to whether the momentary 'feel good' is worth the penalties.

Real help is available and practical tools exist to easily learn current and factual information about the most used drugs.