About Parent Corps

2003-2007 — The Parent Corps is a new, national effort dedicated to helping parents prevent their children from using alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and other addictive drugs. Modeled on the same principles as the Peace Corps, it harnesses the power of parents working together to keep their children drug free. The Parent Corps recruits, trains, certifies, and pays part-time or full-time salaries to Parent Leaders for two years of service.

It institutionalizes the parent movement of the late 1970s into the early 1990s. That movement proved it could change social norms and get results, cutting past-month drug use by two-thirds among adolescents and young adults between 1979 and 1992. Unfortunately, the movement dissipated, and drug use among young people rose again to alarming levels today.