Drug Strategies, created in 1993 with support from major foundations, is a nonprofit research institute based in Washington, D.C. The organization’s mission is to identify and promote more effective approaches to substance abuse and to increase public awareness of current research on what works and what does not. Drug Strategies projects assess education, prevention and treatment initiatives across the country and reviews federal, state and local drug policies and programs. In addition, Drug Strategies has developed a unique, interactive website designed to provide young people accurate, anonymous information about drugs. A complete description of our many projects can be found on this website at “download reports”.
			Federal Drug Policy Report Card: Keeping Score
			For six years, Drug Strategies conducted an annual review of the Federal drug control budget, which now exceeds $20 billion. In addition to analyzing Federal drug control spending, Keeping Score also identifies promising prevention, education, treatment and law enforcement programs. This annual review served as a major national resource for improving public understanding of the impact of Federal drug policy. In 1997, Keeping Score focused on how Federal drug control spending affects children and youth; in 1998, the primary focus was on drug problems among women. Keeping Score, Millenium Hangover (2000) concentrated on Federal efforts to address alcohol abuse, particularly among young people. These reports can be downloaded in PDF format at the “download reports” section of this website.
			Prevention and Education
			Guided by a team of nationally recognized experts, Drug Strategies in 1996 conducted a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of the fifty most widely used school drug education programs—the first review of its kind. Making the Grade: A Guide to School Drug Prevention Programs (1996) was widely covered in the press and used by school officials across the country to make better informed choices about drug education. Revised and updated in 1999, Making the Grade continues to serve as a critically important frame of reference for teachers, school officials and parents concerned about how to spend limited prevention funds. In 1999, Drug Strategies conducted a companion study, Safe Schools/Safe Students: A Guide to Violence Prevention Strategies that assessed the most widely used school violence prevention programs in the country. This guide also provides practical assistance in developing strategies to prevent youth violence, which is often related to substance abuse, and reviews architectural and environmental changes that protect students. Community organizations are critically important in developing new approaches to local substance abuse problems. Working with the Department of Justice, Drug Strategies produced a comprehensive review of promising demand reduction initiatives for widespread distribution to community groups. Drug Strategies also conducted an independent nationwide assessment of community anti-drug coalitions to identify the key elements of success for these local efforts.
			Interactive Website for Teens
			Adolescents are often reluctant to talk with adults about drugs and alcohol and they may have difficulty finding counseling and treatment in their own communities. Drug Strategies has developed Bubblemonkey.com, a unique, interactive website in English and Spanish for teenagers that provides anonymous, accurate information on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. (Changobomba.com is the Spanish version.) The website provides a self-assessment quiz related to drinking and drug use, questions and answers, descriptions of drugs and their effects, true stories and referrals within the community where teens can find help. Bubblemonkey.com is now operating in San Diego, Los Angeles and Boston.
			Treatment
			Treatment can be difficult to find, especially for adolescents, and parents and other concerned adults often do not know what to look for when selecting a program. Drug Strategies developed Treating Teens: A Guide to Adolescent Drug Programs (2003) to help parents, teachers, judges, counselors and other concerned adults make better choices about teen treatment. Guided by leading treatment researchers and clinicians, Treating Teens identifies 9 key elements of effective adolescent drug treatment; provides current, reliable information on 144 adolescent treatment programs across the country and offers practical resources, such as hot-line help telephone numbers for each state and questions to ask when considering a program. Treatment can be even more difficult to find for young people under court jurisdiction. Working with a distinguished panel of nationally recognized juvenile justice and treatment experts, Drug Strategies developed a comprehensive guide to drug treatment in the juvenile justice system. Bridging the Gap: A Guide to Drug Treatment in the Juvenile Justice System (2005) helps juvenile court judges, counselors, parents and other concerned adults make more informed decisions about treatment for juvenile offenders. This guide provides an overview of treatment in the juvenile justice system; identifies 11 key elements of treatment effectiveness and describes programs and strategies that illustrate the key elements of effectiveness. Treatment for women addicts, particularly those with young children, is also hard to find. In Baltimore, Maryland, Drug Strategies developed a comprehensive acupuncture treatment program in 1994 for women heroin addicts which includes parent training, child care and intensive group counseling. After the initial pilot period, the University of Maryland took over operating responsibility for this innovative program.
			State and Local Initiatives
			Drug Strategies has produced in-depth studies of alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse in seven states (Arizona, California, rural Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Ohio and South Carolina) and in five cities (Baltimore, Denver, Detroit, Santa Barbara and Washington, D.C.). These widely publicized studies have stimulated greater public support for more effective strategies and programs. Drug Strategies has also created "how-to" guides to enable other cities and states to prepare their own profiles. In North Carolina, we developed a comprehensive action plan for the Governor to address youthful substance abuse. Building on this work at the state and local level, Drug Strategies created the Governors Leadership Council in 2000 as a forum for former governors to share their experience with current governors on critical drug policy choices. Working closely with the Western Governors Association, the Council promotes more effective demand reduction programs and identifies less costly alternatives to prisons.
			Innovative Law Enforcement
			Drug courts reduce recidivism and cut corrections costs by requiring nonviolent offenders to participate in treatment. Based on program evaluations and extensive interviews, Drug Strategies produced a major review of the impact of drug courts during the 1990s. Building on the Drug Strategies 1996 police chiefs poll conducted by Peter D. Hart Research, Drug Strategies identified promising police anti-drug initiatives in cities across the country. Forging New Links describes widely diverse local efforts to prevent drug use and to disrupt drug transactions. In 2004, working in collaboration with the Police Foundation, Drug Strategies commissioned Hart Research to conduct a follow-up poll of police chiefs nationwide. The poll confirmed the earlier findings that police chiefs believe that new strategies are needed to reduce drug abuse and drug crime.
			International Drug Policy
			Working with the Council on Foreign Relations, Drug Strategies conducted a comprehensive assessment of U.S. international drug control strategy in 1997. During the 1998 debate on drug certification, Drug Strategies and the USC Annenberg School for Communication sponsored a major media forum to explore the effects of certification and U.S. drug policy, particularly in Latin America. In 1999, Drug Strategies along with the Brookings Institution and the Inter-American Dialogue convened a Congressional conference on alternatives to certification. Drug Strategies has also organized regional discussions on U.S. anti-narcotics assistance for Colombia. View streaming video or read the transcript of Mathea Falco on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, August 30, 2000.
			Media Education
			During the 1994 and 1996 campaigns, Drug Strategies brought together pollsters, reporters and former elected officials to discuss how candidates can support effective policies and still get elected. These lively sessions were covered extensively, including broadcasts by C-SPAN and NPR. Drug Strategies briefings on drugs and crime for radio and television producers resulted in a summary report of key issues which the National Association of Broadcasters distributed to 6,000 stations.
			Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Journalism Award
			To honor the late Nancy Dickerson Whitehead, the first woman broadcast journalist and a member of Drug Strategies' Board, we created a new award in 1999 to encourage improved coverage of alcohol and other drug problems. Advised by a distinguished media committee and jury, the award is presented annually to winners from both print and broadcast journalism. Committee members include Joan Ganz Cooney, Walter Cronkite, Bill Moyers, Diane Sawyer, Lesley Stahl and Katharine Graham until her death in 2001.