Minnesota Teen Challenge Drug and Alcohol Prevention Program - Know the Truth

The OJJDP FY 09 Earmarks Programs further the Department's mission by providing grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, to organizations identified in the Explanatory Statement Regarding H.R. 1105 (Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009), 155 Cong. Rec. H1653 (daily ed. Feb. 23, 2009) (statement by Rep. Obey, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House).

In 2006, Minnesota Teen Challenge (MNTC) established a teenage drug and alcohol prevention education program called Know the Truth. Prevention education is offered to public, private, and alternative learning center high schools, junior high schools, and middle schools and is administered in classroom settings, using teenagers and young adults who have successfully overcome their drug and alcohol addictions to administer the program to their peers. This educational program focuses on educating teenagers (ages 11 to 17) on the dangers of substance abuse and training them in realistic refusal strategies, with the goal of preventing teenage drug and alcohol use and creating responsible youth who are committed to living chemical-free lives. This program supports and augments the drug prevention efforts of local schools in order to increase teenage awareness of the dangers of drug and alcohol use, and decrease teenage drug and alcohol use. It is the goal of MNTC through the implementation of this prevention program to impart education, awareness, and tools to local area teenagers in order to increase their drug and alcohol refusal skills, thus reducing juvenile delinquency. These presentations include self-assessment surveys to measure the teenagers past, current and future drug use, along with the gathering of statistical data of each participant. NCA/NCF