Substance Abuse Prevention Program

The Substance Abuse Prevention program at ACCESS has been designed to locate and attend to the specific needs of the community. This program has been mainly addressing a form of tobacco smoking called the ‘Arghile’, ‘Hookah’, or ‘Shisha’, a problem which is especially prevalent in the Arab American community among all age groups.

Different environmental change prevention strategies have been employed to target vendors, consumers, educators, parents, and children in Dearborn and Hamtramck. This program has increased the knowledge regarding the dangers of Arghile and has significantly aided in reducing the sale of Arghile products to minors in the Dearborn area by 20%.

Goals

Identifying the trends and patterns of drug use among the Arab community

Designing prevention and intervention strategies that would be culturally sensitive and efficient.

Services
Substance Abuse Prevention
Counseling
Education

All services are offered bilingually (Arabic/English)

Target Group / Client Base
Dearborn and Hamtramck minors and parents

Funding Source
South East Michigan Community Alliance (SEMCA)

Literature
Argileh Use Among College Students in the US: An Emerging Trend

Program Staff & Contact People
Dinah Ayna, MSc., Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist
dayna@accesscommunity.org
(313) 216 2232

Abdelwahab Nasser, M.A., Prevention Team Leader
anasser@accesscommunity.org
(313) 216 2233