Share:
House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | August 27, 2014 10:43 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Tim Mahoney |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Co-Sponsorship Mahoney: Drug and Alcohol Pilot Program |
| In the near future, I am planning to introduce legislation to create the Vocational Technical School Drug and Alcohol Counseling Pilot Program. The primary purpose of this program would be to reduce the use of heroin by youth, including preventing addiction and overdose leading to death. This heroin epidemic in Pennsylvania transcends all demographic and geographic boundaries and has led to the tragic loss of the lives of many young people. Specifically, this bill seeks to address the shortage of drug and alcohol counselors in this Commonwealth. Under this bill, a school district located in fourth class counties could apply to the Department of Education to have the vocational technical school with which it is affiliated be considered for participation in the pilot program. If accepted, the vocational school would then set up a separate and distinct curriculum track for students who choose to study toward earning a degree in Drug and Alcohol Counseling. This three-year pilot program will seek to identify and measure the effectiveness of various approaches taught to students in helping to prevent heroin use by youth, including addiction, overdose and resultant deaths. If this pilot program is found to be effective, similar curriculum tracks training additional drug and alcohol counselors could be established in other vocational technical schools around the state. PDE would consult with the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs in developing the pilot program, as well as with other groups having expertise in the field of illegal drug and alcohol abuse and addiction. PDE would also contract with a nationally recognized drug and alcohol counseling evaluation institution or organization to provide an evaluation of the program’s effectiveness and report on its findings. If you believe it is well past the time to take meaningful action to address the heroin epidemic in this Commonwealth, please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation. |
Introduced as HB2498