Arkansas Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention
Main office is located on 305 South Palm Street near UAMS and War Memorial Stadium. Was established in 1977 and is the only state service responsible for handing out federal money from the Substance Abuse and Prevention Grant.
Services provided by the Arkansas Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention (OADAP) include detoxification programs, problem gambling programs, drug and alcohol safety education, services for alcohol and drug abusers and the Juvenile Drug Court. The Juvenile Drug Court offers incentives to participants to comply with court guidelines instead of jail time and was created by a partnership between court officials, OADAP and treatment services.
The OADAP also conducts yearly statistical surveys every year called the Arkansas Prevention Needs Assessment which ask 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students about their use, attitudes, and risk factors for drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. The survey from 2009 included 369 questions and included questions such as (answers are in parenthesis and for Pulaski County in 2009):
- How many of your four best friends have tried hard liquor without their parents knowing about it in the past year (53% said 0, the second most popular answer was all 4 at 16.4%)
- What are the chances you'd be seen as cool if you began drinking alcoholic beverages regularly (74.7% say little to no chance)
- How often do your parents tell you they're proud of you for something you've done? (all the time most popular answer at 36.1%. A clear trend can be seen as kids grow older of being told less.)
- How much do each of the following statements describe your neighborhood? crime and/or drug selling, graffiti, abandoned buildings
- The final question on the survey, #369: How honest were you in filling out this survey? (80.6% said very honest).
In the 2009 survey there was no follow-up question to determine respondents honesty on question #369.
The reports are available to the public for the state and county data but individual school districts data are password protected. The surveys from 2002-2009 can be viewed here.
