The Drug Demand Reduction Program’s mission is to use the National Guard’s resources to help create the best opportunity for America’s youth to make the decision to be drug-free. The Idaho National Guard Drug Demand Reduction Program will leverage unique military skills in addition to the myriad of skills our personnel bring from their life experiences and training, to provide the youth of Idaho with information and life skills to make the commitment to live a drug-free life.

The Drug Demand Reduction Program works closely with local law enforcement, education and community-based organizations to reduce the chances of exposure of illegal drugs to our nation's children. They also contribute to drug prevention by providing National Guard led education based, leadership and motivational programs.

The Demand Reduction Support mission has two distinctive sub-mission categories:
DDR Support, and DDR Education and Programs.

The National Guard DDR Support:
Efforts led by community based organizations that are designed to provide rewards and incentives, alternative activities (countering) and environmental strategies to help our nation’s youth make the commitment to be drug-free. These comprehensive support strategies include, but not limited to:

(1) Facilitating collaboration and increasing the capacity, sustainability, and synergy of coalitions and partnerships.

(2) Supporting reward and reinforcement events/activities that focus on the implementation of effective incentives, use of motivational methods, and measurement of positive changes toward drug-free behavior.

(3) Supporting drug prevention activities that focus on the implementation of alternative activities proven to provide positive modeling and motivation which create the opportunity for drug-free experiences leading to a drug free life.

(4) Supporting community-led efforts to develop environmental strategies that assist in changing written and unwritten community standards, codes, and attitudes, thereby reducing the demand, incidence and prevalence of illegal drug use and the illegal use of prescribed drugs in the general population.

This mission implements standardized, measurable and evidenced based educational programs. DDR education and programs will use standard methods to measure the desired outcomes and ensure mission fidelity. The role of DDR personnel in this mission is to increase awareness, provide guidance, and facilitate collaboration to motivate our nation’s youth to be drug-free.

DDR Education and Programs:

(1) Programs designed to increase awareness and motivation towards positive changes in knowledge, attitude and intent. These desired outcomes must be measured to determine mission effectiveness.

(2) Programs designed to provide guidance and facilitate constructive changes in DDR prevention policy, procedures and practices.

(3) Programs that motivate our nation’s youth and facilitate positive changes in self esteem, increasing their abilities to make drug-free choices