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For 33 years, National Families in Action (NFIA) has opposed the legalization of marijuana. We still do. We do not want to see a third commercial industry market an addictive drug to children, like the tobacco and alcohol industries do today. Unfortunately, California nearly legalized marijuana in November 2010. Several states are preparing to follow in 2012. A federal legalization bill has also been introduced. This Campaign mobilizes citizens to demand that any policymaker who legalizes marijuana include in the law provisions that ensure the drug will not be marketed or sold to children.

 

The Addiction Studies Program provides those who shape public opinion (journalists) and public policy (state leaders) with an understanding of the science that underlies drug use, abuse, and addiction. Founded in 1999 by Wake Forest University School of Medicine and National Families in Action, the journalists’ program seeks to help reporters attain the highest standards of scientific accuracy in writing their drug stories. In 2005, the program added the Treatment Research Institute and the National Conference of State Legislatures as partners to help state governments improve their drug policies based on science. The program is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

 

In 2003, National Families in Action obtained a $4.2 million grant from Congress to create and conduct a pilot program of the Parent Corps at 19 schools in 9 states. From each school, NFIA recruited, trained, and employed a Parent Leader whose job was to educate and mobilize the school’s parents into drug prevention. Principals report these results: communications with parents doubled and student attendance and grades increased, while discipline problems and drop-out rates decreased. The pilot program ended in 2007 but continued in Georgia with private funding for three more years. Congressman John Lewis introduced The National Parents Corps Act (HR 3075) in the 111th Congress and again (HR 3055) in the 112th Congress to make the Parent Corps permanent.