What is "daytop"

Daytop, or Daytop Village, is a drug addiction treatment organization with facilities in New York City and New Jersey. It was founded in 1963 by Dr. Daniel Casriel M.D along with Monsignor William B. O'Brien, a Roman Catholic priest and founder and president of the World Federation of Therapeutic Communities. According to Dr. Casriel its name was originally an acronym for 'Drug Addicts Yield to Probation' as Daytop was originally a kind of " halfway house" for convicted addicts. Another account gives the name to be an acronym for "Drug Addicts Yield to Persuasion". A third account gives the name to be an acronym for "Drug Addicts Yield to Others Persuasion."

The Daytop program, one of the oldest drug-treatment programs in the United States, is based on the therapeutic community model and emphasizes the role of peer interaction in their modes of treatment. Considered one of the most successful programs of its kind, it is described as "a supportive emotional community in which people feel secure but at the same time are held strictly accountable for their behavior". It is estimated that 85 percent of those treated stay clean.

It was during a 1980 visit to Dayton village that then first lady Nancy Reagan initially became aware of the drug epidemic in the United States and the toll it was taking on the nation's youth. This event is widely acknowledged at the genesis of her " Just Say No" program.