EAFB'S ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS LAUDED.Byline: Daily News EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. - The Drug Demand Reduction program received the 2002 Secretary of Defense Community Drug Awareness Award. The award goes annually to one base within each branch of the armed services The Constitution authorizes Congress to raise, support, and regulate armed services for the national defense. The President of the United States is commander in chief of all the branches of the services and has ultimate control over most military matters. . ``The award is given to the base that has the best programs established for drug and alcohol prevention and outreach Outreach is an effort by an organization or group to connect its ideas or practices to the efforts of other organizations, groups, specific audiences or the general public. ,'' said Wayne Johnson, Edwards' program manager. ``This is the third consecutive year we've won it.'' The program works to discourage drug use and alcohol abuse through education and awareness. One facet facet /fac·et/ (fas´it) a small plane surface on a hard body, as on a bone. fac·et n. 1. A small smooth area on a bone or other firm structure. 2. is the Commander's Club Drug Tool Kit, intended to raise commanders' awareness on increased usage of popular ``club'' drugs, like Ecstasy ecstasy, either of two drugs used for their euphoric effects. The original ecstasy, a so-called designer drug, also known as MDMA, is an analog of methamphetamine (see amphetamine). and Rohypnol, the ``date rape'' drug. The Leadership Substance Abuse Course provides midlevel mid·lev·el n. The middle stage or level, as in a series, course of action, or career. and upper-level supervisors with training to address substance-abuse problems among their subordinates. Edwards commander Maj. Gen. Doug Pearson's zero-tolerance campaign against drunk driving remains as one of the base's leading drug- and alcohol-prevention efforts, Johnson said. The base showed a 75 percent reduction of DUIs, underage drinking and alcohol-related events this past year, Johnson said. Additionally, all newcomers to Edwards are required to attend an outreach briefing that explains drug and alcohol prevention, identification and treatment referral procedures. Outreach partnerships between the program and base and community agencies have also played a major role in the program's success, Johnson said. Youth-related efforts in the past year included a student health fair and nonresidential camp. ``We are basically everywhere within the community, working to prevent and reduce drug use,'' Johnson said. Edwards' programs are being considered as models for use throughout the Air Force, said Carol Thompson, assistant deputy for health policy with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force. ``It's not just the drug testing; programs need prevention aspects and command support - that's the big thing,'' Thompson said. ``Commanders and supervisors also need to keep an eye out for problems and intervene intervene v. to obtain the court's permission to enter into a lawsuit which has already started between other parties and to file a complaint stating the basis for a claim in the existing lawsuit. before drugs and alcohol become a career-ending event.'' |
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