Needs Assessment

The "Addicted to the Lifestyle®" model was initially designed to address the inappropriate treatment of youth who were being adjudicated on drug offenses and sentenced to substance abuse programs. We realized many of these youth were not addicted to drugs. They were addicted to the lifestyle that selling drugs offered them. Either out of necessity or cultural conditioning. We eventually modified the curriculum to provide prevention, as well as, intervention with adolescents who are at risk of becoming involved with selling and eventually using drugs.

According to a March 2000 report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy on Drug Related Crime (www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov), drug related offenses and drug-using lifestyles are major contributors to the crime problem in the United States. Drugs are related to crime in multiple ways. Drugs are also related to crime through the effects they have on the user's behavior and by generating violence and other illegal activity in connection with drug trafficking. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 11.2% of 12-17 year -olds reported current use of illicit drugs in 2003 (Juveniles&Drugs, 2005). According to the latest release in the Juvenile Court Statistics series. Which describes the delinquency and status offense cases that were handled between 1990 and 1999 in the U.S. courts with juvenile jurisdiction. "the number of drug law violation cases increased 169% between 1990 and 1999".In Orleans Parish drug-related homicides increased from 50% in 2001 to 80% in 2002. (Juvenile Court Statistics 1999. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 2003). In a recent Times Picayune article, the New Orleans Police Department indicated that 74% of the homicides in New Orleans are drug related(2/10/04, page A7). Our experience in the community indicates that younger and younger children are being recruited into the drug culture. This program is designed to provide these youth the information they need to resist the lure of the fast money and perceived power of the thug/drug lifestyle.

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