First Lady of Florida, Casey DeSantis is set to provide Florida schools with a free substance abuse curriculum through her campaign, “ The Facts. Your Future.”
Casey DeSantis, the wife of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, recently announced the initiative to implement a free substance abuse curriculum in schools across Florida; The curriculum will be taught in multiple school assemblies. During the launch , at Seminole high school, DeSantis expressed her thoughts on drug use in adolescence, “With the heartbreaking overdose death statistics we’re witnessing across the country, and as a mom of three, I want Florida’s youth to know they have the power to resist and overcome drug use and abuse,” DeSantis said,” “Our ‘The Facts. Your Future’. initiative is reinventing how substance abuse prevention is taught in our schools.”
School’s will be provided with a toolbox kit that will include fact sheets, conversation maps and an assembly template. The assembly template includes a curriculum, which is meant to provide students with tools to say no to substance abuse and drug use and educate them about its dangers.
With the rise in drug abuse, some teachers think this curriculum is a wonderful idea. For second grade teacher, at Bay Haven School of Basics Plus, Teidra Everett, this curriculum is long overdue. She stated,” I’m not too familiar with the actual curriculum, still, I think that it’s something that we should educate kids on,” Everett said. “Prescribed and non-prescribed, I think it’s definitely important to educate children on substance abuse and how it affects you and the people around you.”
According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, 60.2% of Americans aged 12 years currently abuse drugs. For people like Kapriesha Dessalines, a current student at Florida A&M University, problems with substance abuse hit home. “My biological mother was not active in my life due to drug use, causing her to miss many of my accomplishments during my primary school time period,” Dessalines said. “ I believe this is what motivated me to graduate with honors, pursue college and become successful.”
This curriculum seems to be beneficial to most people, but to others, this initiative may not have the positive outcome some are looking for. Some individuals feel as though this program will fall on deaf ears of students because it is rhetoric that they have heard before.
Fortunately, DeSantis has received plenty of support from people like State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who stated that, “Giving students the facts through interactive assemblies will help ensure students know that engaging in substance abuse at a young age can severely impact their development, health, and futures.”
Desantis’ efforts to provide a free substance abuse curriculum in schools across Florida could be perceived as a positive step towards better educating the youth. One can only hope that students are prepared to take this information and use it in their everyday lives.