This is the third in a series of blogs here at onlinesdrugclass.com which addresses the role of government in that battle against drug use and abuse. In the previous blogs we looked at how Congress has dropped one of its most vital research programs (I encourage you to go back and read these).
The program was called The Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring survey (ADAM). As reported in www.thedailybeast.com.
This survey promised (and delivered) confidentiality and anonymity, arrestees had nothing to lose and a lot to offer. An optional urine test was given at the end as a final step. This objective test would, for the first time, reveal the truth about the enormity of the drug problem in America.
How important were these numbers? Instead of filling a hole in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)—which doesn’t account for the homeless or prisoners—ADAM’s numbers blew it out of the water. The only large-scale measuring system to rely on an objective measure of recent drug use, it provided more accurate information than any survey in history. Anyone who disagreed, could easily look at the numbers.
I have long espoused that programs like ADAM and drug classes help in reducing America's problem with drugs.