Scott sent in this question:
My son is home schooled and has to do the requirement for second class 9a. The drug awareness part. do you have any suggestions on what he can do to meet this requirement? Any help would be great. Thanks Scott
This is Second Class requirement 9a:
- Participate in a school, community, or troop program on the dangers of using drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, and other practices that could be harmful to your health. Discuss your participation in the program with your family, and explain the dangers of substance addictions.
I recommend you check out the BSA substance abuse program Drugs: A Deadly Game . You can order the materials online. They are often available at your local Scout shop as well. He could do this program with his patrol, troop, home school association, etc. While these types of programs are often completed in a group setting, your troop leadership might also consider letting him do it on his own. Check with them.
Some of our local schools no longer cover the items for this requirement in 6th grade, when many of them are working on 2nd class. We asked a neighbor, who is a local police officer, to come talk to the boys at the troop meeting. His presentation was brief and concluded with a short powerful video about the fatal affects of drug use.
I went to my local police station and they gave me a copy of the DARE book they used when going to the local schools.
While at the PD I spoke with the community officer and she was willing to come to any location and do a Substance Abuse Prevention Program for us. I put the word out to other troops and we had a class of over thirty scouts attend. The officer did a three and half hour presentation brought in props. reading materials and handouts for the scouts. She did a fantastic job and the adults in attendance were educated as well.
I’m a Scoutmaster in NE Wisconsin. During a meeting, I had our Scouts watch series of videos from http://www.drugfreeworld.org/download.html – I also purchased the age appropriate BSA phamplet that compliments http://www.scouting.org/Home/drugsadeadlygame.aspx – There is a pledge on the back of the phamplet. Once they watched the videos 90min and signed the pledge, I signed off the book. This was the first time we offered this training and the boys seemed to get a lot out of it .