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We are trying to update our website so please use this link to go to our 2011 homepage until we can complete this transformation. Also, if you would like to share your stories, news or ideas about drug addiction issues then please email them to outofthedark.org@gmail.com.
Thank you. Out of the Dark Inc. |
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How does the Out of the Dark Movement work to solve local issues caused by chemical addiction in a community? Just click on the link below to see the community organizational model that we have developed.
Out of the Dark “Local Level Up” Model 
Autowash and Murphy Express/Murphy USA step up to help raise funds for the Out of the Dark Movement.
 Beginning Saturday, October 1, 2011, Autowash and Murphy Express/Murphy USA will donate to Out of the Dark Inc. a portion of its proceeds received from every ultimate carwash purchased at Autowash at its Stadium Blvd. location in Jonesboro, Arkansas. JUST ENTER SPECIAL CODE 2011*
Behind Murphy Express on Stadium Blvd All donations will be used to offset the increasing operating expenses of Out of the Dark Inc. in pursuing its mission to identify and influence factors contributing to chemical addiction among youth and their families in Northeast Arkansas. |
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Coming Up In November! November 8, 2011 – The Craighead OD Coalition will have its quarterly meeting at the Mid-South Health Systems (2707 Browns Lane) at 11:30 a.m. The meeting is to follow up on the local goals and community action plans that each of the community sector committees have established. We have the minutes from the last CODC meeting up on the OD Coalition page. Please RSVP to outofthedark.org@gmail.com. We need to know how many people will be eating lunch.
"Fighting chemical addiction one community at a time!"
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On May 13, 2011, high school students with the Valley View Out of the Dark Chapter presented an in school drug awareness program to several hundred 6th and 7th grade Valley View students. The VV OD Chapter is one of several proactive OD School Chapters in Craighead County, Arkansas, established as part of the Out of the Dark "Local Level Up" community model to fight the growing monster called chemical addiction.
For more local videos please visit our Media page. |
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Volunteer to help us make our community a better place to live!
Out of the Dark Memorial Park We are establishing a community committee to explore the possibilities of building an Out of the Dark Memorial Park in Jonesboro to honor the memory of those loved ones in our community that we have lost to drugs. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact us at outofthedark.org@gmail.com. _____ |
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According to a report released by the Global Commission of Drug Policy the “War on Drugs” is a complete failure.
The war ties up police and judicial resources, clogs our prisons with nonviolent offenders and offers a law enforcement solution to a medical problem. It also shows that, since the inception of the war in 1970, billions of dollars have been spent, but production and consumption of drugs has only increased. Story. |
Community Intervention
The ugly truth is that we have historically been treating our chemical addiction problems as a moral “will power” type problem rather than a medical problem, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Based upon the ASAM press release, we have established our public policies over the past 40 years by relying on a false premise. When we base our public policies on a false premise and couple that with the type money involved in our federal and state policy making process we create a cocktail for disaster. And that is what we have right now, one big public disaster. Until we get the premise right we will never stop the rapid growth of the collateral damage that chemical addiction is causing to every sector of every community in this country. However, if communities will get involved to discuss their own local drug problems they can make the correct policy changes from the local level up. There IS power in numbers. Hopefully the new ASAM definition will give us all a better understanding of what we are dealing with and help us formulate polices one community at a time that actually address the issues involved. Post your comments on The Forum
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 Johnny Terrell CEO Service Group 360 SERVICE Group 360 presented Out of the Dark Inc. with a $2,500.00 donation at the recent ODC meeting to challenge the Craighead County industry/business sector to provide financial support for the Out of the Dark Movement. “I was blown away to see that drug use and abuse had gone down in every category except 10th grade,” said Mr. Johnny Terrell, CEO. “The only difference is the Out of the Dark program. As a company, we’ve got to be part of this.” Read the complete ODC meeting report.
Arkansas Medical Society Honors The Out of the Dark Movement
Out of the Dark founder, Charles “Skip” Mooney, Jr., has been awarded the 2011 Shuffield Award from the Arkansas Medical Society. The Award is the highest honor given by the state medical community to a non-physician for their outstanding contributions to health care in the state. The Shuffield Award is presented each year by the AMS in memory of Drs. Joe and Elvin Shuffield, whose many years of faithful service to medicine and the people of Arkansas symbolizes that which is best in the medical community. The Arkansas Medical Society (AMS) represents over 4,000 physicians, residents and medical students who are dedicated to improving health care in Arkansas by protecting the interests of patients and enhancing the effectiveness of physicians across the state.   Joe H. Stalling, Jr. MD The Shuffield Family
”This is a great personal award”, said Skip Mooney, Jr., “however, I am accepting this award on behalf of all of the volunteers that have stepped forward to fight this monster that has been stealing our children away. This monster we call chemical addiction.” Mooney added, “The fact that the AMS has recognized our work in addressing this devastating illness at the local level tells me that a new benchmark has been set for the Out of the Dark Movement.” |
 Students demostrate for prescription drug laws Pause webpage player below before playing video Trouble with our video player? Here is a direct LINK to the video. Video news report from TodaysTHV reporter Ashley Blackstone
Read this story from KATV 7 - “Teens Rally Lawmakers for a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program”
Check out our new videos from the OD School Chapters "Local Level Up" town hall meeting!
Community Wasteland: Want to see if you are living by a toxic waste site caused by meth manufacturing in your community? You can check it out here: Arkansas Methamphetamine Contaminated Properties We have updated our NEED HELP page to include our new INTO THE LIGHT HOTLINE (800) 592-8460. |
Mexican Drug War comes to Jonesboro Arkansas – “Operation Ice Princess”.
According to federal authorities the Jasso-Arciniega drug trafficking organization was based in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and had been involved in the distribution of multiple pounds of methamphetamine ice, as well as multi-kilogram quantities of powder cocaine through established distributors based in central Arkansas communities including, Jonesboro; Searcy; Kensett; Batesville; Rose Bud; Little Rock; and Conway. Read more. Out of the Dark Students Speak Out. “I’d say about 75 percent of people in our school have done drugs at some point,” said Norman, president of the JHS Out of the Dark anti-drug campus organization. “I think about 50 percent of them are using drugs regularly. It’s a lot, and I’m concerned because my little sister is in second grade and will be coming up through the school in the next few years.” Read more.
The Truth About Our Community. "I would just about call this an epidemic," said Craighead County Sheriff, Jack McCann. McCann says the number of Arkansas' youth abusing prescription pills is rising. A trend experts say is happening county, state, and nationwide. (KAIT8.com) Contributing to the Teen Addiction: Bad State Policy “Substance Abuse Prevention Dollars and Cents in Arkansas: A Cost-Benefit Analysis” (Feb. 2010), released by the Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention tells us that investing in drug prevention is the most effective way to reduce the economic burden placed on our public systems. Here is the report (pdf). A Community's Denial is the Real Moral Failure. Our historical misunderstanding of chemical addiction and the denial of this as a chronic illness has created a dark hole that is growing in every sector of our communities. The only way to stop this growth is from the local level up. ~ The Out of the Dark Movement Be a Leader. Join the the ODC. 
Courtney Welsh crowned Miss Northeast Arkansas' Outstanding Teen 2011. We are very proud of Courtney. Her platform is prescription drug abuse and she has served as a student intern for the Out of the Dark Movement. Courtney will compete for the State title the summer of 2011. Here is some more info...
On October 14th and 15th the Out of the Dark Coalition and Jonesboro Public Schools hosted their first Out of the Dark Leadership Conference at ASU. Check out the Conference photos HERE. Our first Northeast Arkansas Medical Summit at ASU. The topic: “Prescription Drug Abuse: How Can We Change The Paradigm”. Check out the photos of the speakers that volunteered their time on October 16th to make a difference HERE. The American Advertising Federation of Northeast Arkansas designs the new Out of the Dark logo for 2011. Read about this great partnership.  JHS Out of the Dark. The Jonesboro High School Out of the Dark Chapter is now on Facebook. Support our students in making our community a better place to live. Sign up here. New PRESCRIPTION WARNING FORM to help local Medical Providers identify "Doctor Shoppers". Read more... 
Get an Out of the Dark Newsletter. Send us your mailing address HERE!
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 Out of the Dark Inc. has established new Out of the Dark School Chapters in each of our 8 school districts plus the Success Academy. Thank you to our School Representatives for getting involved. Shouldn't you get involved too! Read more... The 2010 Arkansas Prevention Needs Assessment Survey (APNA) results are in and a lot of 6th through12th graders are using prescription drugs for non medical reasons. The good news is that since the start of the Out of the Dark Movement the trends are declining. See the facts here.  
Teen Prescription Drug Abuse - Decoding Cough Medicine Abuse
Understanding METH Addiction  Don't understand? Why not? Read more... 
We like to share local stories about how drugs affect our community. Read the stories Here.
If you have a story you would like to share, please email us at www.outofthedark.org or post on The OD Forum Page. 
Tired of drug dealers in our community. Well you can help by reporting drug activity! Read more... |
Addiction Medicine Update. A new study reports that Australian and U.S. scientists have proved that the same area of the brain that is activated when the body craves salt ''lights up'' in response to cocaine or opium, suggesting addictive drugs have hijacked a pathway of the brain used for instinctive behavior. “Salt Appetite Linked to Drug Addiction” written by Mary Jane Gore, Duke Medicine News & Communications. ARKANSAS PRISION SYSTEM. The new state report published by The PEW Center is out and we are spending way too much money incarcerating people for non violent addiction related crimes. Not because it is unjust and inhumane to incarcerate people suffering from an illness but purely based on economic reasons. Here is the LINK to the new report. U.S. says "drugged driving" growing threat. "If you think about driving on an American road on a Friday or Saturday evening about 16 percent of the vehicles - one in six of the cars - (the driver) will be under the influence of an illicit or licit drug," Gil Kerlikowske, director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said. Read More... Afghan Police Recruits Abusing Drugs, US report finds. Drug abuse is rife in the Afghan police force with up to four out of 10 recruits testing positive for illegal drugs in some areas, a US report says. Read More… Shoveling Up II: The Impact of Substance Abuse on Federal, State, and Local Budgets a new study report released on May 27, 2009, found that the Federal, State and Local Governments spend almost half a trillion dollars a year on substance abuse and addiction and that out of every dollar spent only 1.9 cents goes to prevention and treatment even though research has established that every dollar spent on quality treatment can deliver a return of $12.00 or more in reduced substance abuse-related criminal justice and health care costs. Read more... Heroin Addiction Spreads Like Wildfire. Russia has called on the United Nations to link the foreign troop presence in Afghanistan to an obligation to destroy poppy plantations. Read more... "Nationwide Alert" issued by SAMHSA on Cocaine use. Substantial levels of cocaine may be adulterated with levamisole – a veterinary anti-parasitic drug. Read more... Drug-related Deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that because of the increase in abuse of prescription opiates such as the painkillers Methadone, Oxycontin and Vicodin drug-related deaths have overtaken the number of traffic fatalities in 16 states. Read more... Drug Overdose. Arkansas is included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2008 Report “Prescription Drug Overdose: State Health Agencies Respond”. Read more… |
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If you would like for your community join the Out of the Dark Movement then all you have to do is contact us at outofthedark.org@gmail.com and we will help you get started.
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We need your ideas to help address the drug problems in Northeast Arkansas because we can not do this alone! VOLUNTEER TODAY on our STEP UP PAGE.
Want to find out more about the Out of the Dark Movement. Contact us for a speaking engagement at outofthedark.org@gmail.com  Create Your Badge |
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