The foremost responsibility of any society is to nurture and protect
its children. In America today, the most serious threat to the health
and well-being of our children is drug use.
For the past year and a half, I have had the privilege of teaching our
children in the classrooms of this country. I have met some outstanding
teachers and administrators and many wonderful children. I have taken
time during these visits to discuss the problem of drug use with
educators and with police officers working in drug enforcement across
the country. Their experience confirms the information reported in
major national studies: drug use by children is at alarming levels. Use
of some of the most harmful drugs is increasing. Even more troubling is
the fact that children are using drugs at younger ages. Students today
identify drugs as a major problem among their schoolmates as early as
the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades.
Drug use impairs memory, alertness, and achievement. Drugs erode the
capacity of students to perform in school, to think and act
responsibly. The consequences of using drugs can last a lifetime. The
student who cannot read at age 8 can, with effort, be taught at 9. But
when a student clouds his mind with drugs, he may become a lifelong
casualty. Research tells us that students who use marijuana regularly
are twice as likely as their classmates to average D's and F's, and we
know that drop-outs are twice as likely to be frequent drug users as
graduates.
In addition, drug use disrupts the entire school. When drug use and
drug dealing are rampant--when many students often do not show up for
class and teachers cannot control them when they do--education
throughout the school suffers.
Drug use is found among students in the city and country, among the
rich, the poor, and the middle class. Many schools have yet to
implement effective drug enforcement measures. In some schools, drug
deals at lunch are common. In others, intruders regularly enter the
building to sell drugs to students. Even schools with strict drug
policies on paper do not always enforce them effectively.
_Schools Without Drugs_ provides a practical synthesis of the most
reliable and significant findings available on drug use by school-age
youth. It tells how extensive drug use is and how dangerous it is. It
tells how drug use starts, how it progresses, and how it can be
identified. _Most important, it tells how it can be stopped._ It
recommends strategies--and describes particular communities--that have
succeeded in beating drugs. It concludes with a list of resources and
organizations that parents, students, and educators can turn to for
help.
This book is designed to be used by parents, teachers, principals,
religious and community leaders, and all other adults--and students--who
want to know what works in drug use prevention. It emphasizes concrete
and practical information. An earlier book, a summary of research
findings on teaching and learning called _What Works_, has already
proved useful to parents, teachers, and administrators. I hope this
book will be as useful to the American people.
This book focuses on preventing drug use. It should be emphasized that
the term drug use, as contained in the recommendations in the book,
includes the use of alcohol by children. Alcohol is an illegal drug for
minors and should be treated as such. This book does not discuss
techniques for treating drug users. Treatment usually requires
professional help; treatment services are included in the resources
section at the end of the book. But the purpose of the book is to help
prevent drug use in the first place.
The information in this book is based on the research of drug
prevention experts, and on interviews with parent organizations and
school officials working in drug prevention in all 50 States and the
District of Columbia. Although this volume is a product of the U.S.
Department of Education, I am grateful for the assistance the
Department received from groups and individuals across the country. It
was not possible to include all the information we gathered, but I wish
to thank the many groups that offered their help.
No one can be a good citizen alone, as Plato tells us. No one is going
to solve our drug problem alone, either. But when parents, schools, and
communities pull together, drugs can be stopped. Drugs have been beaten
in schools like Northside High School in Atlanta, profiled in this
book. Preventing drug experimentation is the key. It requires drug
education starting in the first grades of elementary school. It
requires clear policies against drug use and consistent enforcement of
those policies. And it requires the cooperation of school boards,
principals, teachers, law enforcement personnel, parents, and students.
_Schools are uniquely situated to be part of the solution to student
drug use._ Children spend much of their time in school. Furthermore,
schools, along with families and religious institutions, are major
influences in transmitting ideals and standards of right and wrong.
Thus, although the problems of drug use extend far beyond the schools,
it is critical that our offensive on drugs center in the schools.
My purpose in releasing this handbook, therefore, is to help all of
us--parents and children, teachers and principals, legislators and
taxpayers--work more effectively in combating drug use. Knowing the
dangers of drugs is not enough. Each of us must also act to prevent the
sale and use of drugs. We must work to see that drug use is not
tolerated in our homes, in our schools, or in our communities. Because
of drugs, children are failing, suffering, and dying. We have to get
tough, and we have to do it now.