State launching effort to educate grade-schoolers about drug dangers

COLUMBUS

A new state panel, which includes two Mahoning Valley representatives, will take the next three months to determine ways to incorporate information about drug addiction and abuse into public-school classrooms.

The main goal of the newly formed Ohio Joint Study Committee on Drug Use Prevention Education is to make recommendations for implementing age-appropriate studies on drugs into science, health and other coursework.

“We are asking this committee to come up with a comprehensive plan to assure that each child in Ohio, from the time [they] enter kindergarten until graduation from high school, they are receiving evidence-based education in regard to drug prevention,” said Republican Attorney General Mike De-Wine. “It is the worst drug epidemic in my lifetime. It is pervasive, it is everywhere.”

Read more about the new program in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.