The Addressing Adolescent Addiction Act passed the budget committee unanimously on Monday with a vote of 14-0.
This bill attempts to combat adolescent addiction and reduce drug and alcohol related deaths through education. As included in the bill, “According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Kids who learn a lot about the risks of alcohol and drugs from their parents and teachers are up to 50% less likely to use.” The Secretary of Education will collaborate with partners such as members of the CDC and National Institute on Drug Abuse to create a curriculum that will provide students with the necessary tools to resist drug and alcohol addiction. The bill establishes a grant-based program, meaning can submit an application with theSecretary of Education to receive the curriculum. Unlike similar existing programs, this program is not required.
Senator Joe Manchin, who wrote the bill, is from West Virginia, the state with the highest drug-related overdose death rate in the country. He believes that education will get to the root of this issue. Manchin explained that the curriculum is age-based and grade-based. While high schoolers will be taught in more detail about addiction, elementary and middle school students’ curriculum “will be focused more on relationships within familial structures,” to help students navigate relationships with any family members who may be facing addiction. Younger students’ curriculum will also “slowly introduce them to the harmful effects of drug and alcohol abuse,” says Manchin.
The bill “directs the Secretary of Education to create and disseminate an evidence-based curriculum for grades K-12 on a grade-based and age-based level regarding the effects of drug and alcohol addiction and substance abuse,”
says Senator Manchin.
Manchin explains that educators have a lot of freedom in how they use the curriculum. They’re able to “tweak the education to their needs, and really implement it in ways that they see best,” he says. Senator Warnock expressed concerns in committee about this portion of the bill. He worries that giving educators the freedom to implement the curriculum in whichever way they think is best will isolate some students.“Historically, our education system has been very racialized. So I’m worried that this education will be used against certain students,” says Warnock. He concludes with a more optimistic outlook, saying “At the end of the day, [teachers] are community members, they know the students.”
Senator Collins, who cosigned the bill, sees this bill as a step forward for the Senate. “Very few education bills have been passed in this session,” says Collins. She explains that energy and veterans’ affairs have primarily been commanding Senators’ attention in this session so far, while healthcare and education are “being left in the dust.”
“I’m hoping that we can diversify what Senators are interested in, and that’s why I think Senator Manchin’s bill was so critical,” says Senator Collins.
Addiction is a highly complex issue. Manchin explains that “education is a big part of it, but I think it’s just one section of the issue that needs to be addressed.” Other necessary steps include “being harder on drugs, making sure that our medical infrastructure and our doctors and teachers and police force have the tools needed to combat addiction,” says Manchin. Still, this bill is a necessary first step to combatting raising addiction and overdose rates.
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