In partnership with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Discovery Education has launched Operation Prevention, a powerful initiative that aims to educate America’s youth and ultimately extinguish substance misuse.

Designed for middle and high school students, educators and parents nationwide, Operation Prevention is an important effort to educate students about the science behind drug addiction and its impact, with resources that help initiate lifesaving conversations in the home and classroom. The no-cost initiative offers standards-aligned classroom resources including digital lesson plans, and a parent toolkit that offers information on the warning signs of substance misuse disorder and a guide to prevention and intervention.

Every day in America, 44 people die as a result of prescription opioid overdose, and heroin use has more than doubled among young adults ages 18-25 in the past decade (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). The epidemic cuts across lines of age, race, gender and wealth, afflicting cities as well as suburbs, rural towns as well as tribal communities. Now, Operation Prevention will provide students with the tools they need to make smart, informed choices when they are prescribed or presented with the opportunity to experiment with opioids.

More information on Operation Prevention and access to the program’s free resources are available at http://operationprevention.com/. For other Discovery Education initiatives, visit www.discoveryeducation.com.