Illegal Drug Use and Abuse on City Level

There are a number of reasons to prepare a city profile report. Simply put, it’s the best way to access information in a timely manner, and you are able to present your case, the conditions in your region and area. It is an ideal manner of presenting your plan for fighting drug addiction.

Drugs and illegal usage of drugs have become one of the primary issues that confront our nation today. The method and the penalties for drug use is different in cities and regions across the land. Drug addiction affects nearly every community in the United States at some level.

Some states are draconian, others are more relaxed, much is done by what the state policies are. For example there are drug possession charges in Texas on the books that can carry a life sentence, while the same amount in Nebraska would result in a five year sentence. These are extremes, but this is the kind of differences that a person can run into when dealing with states and varying policies.

Legal drugs themselves can have a lot of differences too. State and Federal excise taxes can discourage alcohol use for example, and some states tax the use of cigarettes and tobacco very heavily. This is thought to cause many of the youth to be affected more because they have less disposable income to spend than older people. And often youth are more drug addicted that other groups of people.

What is important to remember is as much as some states and some cities can vary, they can also be very different. It is partly because of these differences that its important to use a City Profile report for your group or anti drug coalition.

There are some different steps for producing an effective City profile for tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drug usage. These steps are ones that will yield not only a reasonably effective City profile report, but one that will help you achieve your goals and the goals of your group or coalition. Many community members are simply in the dark about the level of Drug Addiction in their community.

The steps or phases involved in setting up a City profile report include:

Getting Started- This may seem like a over simple step, but its important even so. You will help define the problem, and some of your broad goals that you would like to express. Don’t worry about totally locking in what you are trying to do, you will be able to define the process more as you go through the other steps. This is important to gather information on Drug Addiction in your community.

Gathering Data- This is one of the main “meat and potatoes” stages. You will examine other programs, gather information and feedback, and interview sources for ideas of programs and issues to Investigate.

Examining Programs- You will interview, provide surveys, and overall give a number of different programs that you are wanting to emulate or imitate, as well as perhaps programs that you want to avoid the pitfalls they have endured. Using this method you will have a chance to look at different Drug Addiction issues and a number of different Drug Treatment programs.

Producing the Report- This is the best part for some people, its where you have a chance to take the information and put it in the format that will get your City Profile into your target audience hands. There are several sub steps to this part, each helping to produce the report.

Finally, Looking Ahead- This is after you have prepared and submitted your City Profile Report, and is a stage where you are able to evaluate and judge your results.