The National Jewish Welfare Board urged the Federal Government today to take a series of steps to control the abuse of drugs which, it said, has become “increasingly prevalent among middle-class youth and adults.” The appeal, in the form of a resolution and a position paper on drug abuse, was based on responses the JWB received to a questionnaire it sent to its affiliated Jewish Community Centers and YM-YWHAs all over the country last year. Staff members at those agencies reported “a progressive rise in the incidence of drug involvement by teen-agers known to them.”
The resolution and position paper were adopted by the JWB’s board of directors in a vote by mail. The position paper said: “The National Jewish Welfare Board’s concern with the misuse of drugs derives from the Jewish tradition that any abuse of the human body is an immoral act.” It noted that since “dependence on drugs can be psychologically and physiologically damaging, the problem is of added significance to Jewish Community Centers serving as agencies of personality development, as well as instruments for the attainment of the physical and mental well-being of American Jews.”
The recommendations for government action included: making available information to schools, community centers and other local public and private agencies on the various types of drugs and the effects of their use on body and mind; additional Federal training programs for enforcement of anti-narcotics laws; an increased number of local treatment centers; closer cooperation with other nations to control the use of dangerous drugs; and more uniform state and Federal regulations governing the sale of dangerous drugs.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
