_An effective drug prevention curriculum covers a broad set of
education objectives. This section presents a model program for
consideration by State and local school authorities who have the
responsibility to design a curriculum that meets local needs and
priorities. The program consists of four objectives, plus sample
topics and learning activities._
OBJECTIVE 1: To value and maintain sound personal health; to
understand how drugs affect health.
An effective drug prevention education program instills respect for a
healthy body and mind and imparts knowledge of how the body functions,
how personal habits contribute to good health, and how drugs affect
the body.
At the early elementary level, children learn how to care for their
bodies. Knowledge about habits, medicine, and poisons lays the
foundation for learning about drugs. Older children begin to learn
about the drug problem and study those drugs to which they are most
likely to be exposed. The curriculum for secondary school students is
increasingly drug-specific as students learn about the effects of
certain drugs on their bodies and on adolescent maturation.
Sample topics for elementary school:
. The role of nutrition, medicine, and health care professionals
in preventing and treating disease.
. The difficulties of recognizing which substances are safe to eat
or touch; ways to learn whether a substance is safe: consulting
with an adult, reading labels.
. The effects of poisons on the body; the effects of medicine on
body chemistry: the wrong drug may make a person ill.
. The nature of habits: their conscious and unconscious
development.
Sample topics for secondary school:
. Stress: how the body responds to stress; how drugs increase
stress.
. The chemical properties of drugs.
. The effects of drugs on the circulatory, digestive, nervous,
reproductive, and respiratory systems. The effects of drugs on
adolescent development.
. Patterns of substance abuse: the progressive effects of drugs on
the body and mind.
. The drug problem at school, among teenagers, and in society.
Children tend to be present-oriented and are likely to feel
invulnerable to long-term effects of drugs. For this reason, they
should be taught about the short-term effects of drug use--such as
impact on appearance, alertness, and coordination--as well as
about the cumulative effects.
Sample learning activities for elementary school:
. Make a coloring book depicting various substances. Color only
those items that are safe to eat.
. Use puppets to dramatize what can happen when chemicals are
used.
. Write stories about what to do if a stranger offers candy,
pills, or a ride.
. Discuss options in class.
. Try, for a limited time, to break a bad habit. The teacher
emphasizes that it is easier not to start a bad habit than to
break one.
Sample learning activities for high school:
. Discuss the properties of drugs with community experts:
physicians, scientists, pharmacists, or law enforcement officers.
. Interview social workers in drug treatment centers. Visit an
open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.
These activities should be open only to mature students; careful
preparation and debriefing are essential.
. Research the drug problem at school, in the community, or in the
sports and entertainment fields.
. Design a true/false survey about drug myths and facts; conduct
the survey with classmates and analyze the results.
. Develop an accessible lending library on drugs, well stocked
with up-to-date and carefully chosen materials.
When an expert visits a class, both the class and the expert
should be prepared in advance. Students should learn about the
expert's profession and prepare questions to ask during the visit.
The expert should know what the objectives of the session are and
how the session fits into previous and subsequent learning. The
expert should participate in a discussion or classroom activity,
not simply appear as a speaker.
OBJECTIVE 2: To respect laws and rules prohibiting drugs.
The program teaches children to respect rules and laws as the
embodiment of social values and as tools for protecting individuals
and society. It provides specific instruction about laws concerning
drugs.
Students in the early grades learn to identify rules and to understand
their importance, while older students learn about the school drug
code and laws regulating drugs.
Sample topics for elementary school:
. What rules are and what would happen without them.
. What values are and why they should guide behavior.
. What responsible behavior is.
. Why it is wrong to take drugs.
Sample topics for secondary school:
. Student responsibilities in promoting a drug-free school.
. Local, State, and Federal laws on controlled substances; why
these laws exist and how they are enforced.
. Legal and social consequences of drug use. Penalties for driving
under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The relationship between
drugs and other crimes.
Sample learning activities for elementary school:
. Use stories and pictures to identify rules and laws in everyday
life (e.g., lining up for recess).
. Imagine how to get to school in the absence of traffic laws; try
to play a game that has no rules.
. Name things important to adults and then list rules they have
made about these things. (This activity helps explain values.)
. Solve a simple problem (e.g., my sister hits me; my math grades
are low). Discuss which solutions are best and why.
. Discuss school drug policies with the principal and other staff
members. Learn how students can help make the policy work better.
. Explain the connection between drug users, drug dealers, and
drug traffickers and law enforcement officers whose lives are
placed at risk or lost in their efforts to stop the drug trade.
Sample learning activities for secondary school:
. Resolve hypothetical school situations involving drug use.
Analyze the consequences for the school, other students, and the
individuals involved.
. Collect information about accidents, crimes, and other problems
related to drugs. Analyze how the problem might have been
prevented and how the incident affected the individuals involved.
. Conduct research projects. Interview members of the community
such as attorneys, judges, police officers, State highway patrol
officers, and insurance agents about the effects of drug use on
the daily lives of teenagers and their families.
. Draft a legislative petition proposing enactment of a State law
on drug use. Participate in a mock trial or legislative session
patterned after an actual trial or debate. Through these
activities, students learn to develop arguments on behalf of drug
laws and their enforcement.
OBJECTIVE 3: To recognize and resist pressures to use drugs.
Social influences play a key role in encouraging children to try
drugs. Pressures to use drugs come from internal sources, such as a
child's desire to feel included in a group or to demonstrate
independence, and external influences, such as the opinions and
example of friends, older children, and adults, and media messages.
Students must learn to identify these pressures. They must then learn
how to counteract messages to use drugs and gain practice in saying
no. The education program emphasizes influences on behavior,
responsible decision-making, and techniques for resisting pressures to
use drugs.
Sample topics for elementary through high school:
. The influence of popular culture on behavior.
. The influence of peers, parents, and other important individuals
on a student's behavior. How the need to feel accepted by others
influences behavior.
. Ways to make responsible decisions and deal constructively with
disagreeable moments and pressures.
. Reasons for not taking drugs.
. Situations in which students may be pressured into using drugs.
. Ways of resisting pressure to use drugs.
. Benefits of resisting pressure to use drugs.
Sample learning activities for elementary through high school:
. Describe recent personal decisions. In small groups, decide what
considerations influenced the decision (e.g., opinions of family
or friends, beliefs, desire to be popular) and analyze choices
and consequences.
. Examine ads for cigarettes, over-the-counter drugs, and alcohol,
deciding what images are being projected and whether the ads are
accurate.
. Read stories about famous people who stood up for their beliefs
in the face of opposition. Students can discuss how these people
withstood the pressure and what they accomplished.
. Give reasons for not taking drugs. Discuss with a health
educator or drug counselor the false arguments for using drugs.
Develop counter-arguments in response to typical messages or
pressures on behalf of drug use.
. Given a scenario depicting pressure to use drugs, act out ways
of resisting (simply refusing, giving a reason, leaving the scene,
etc.). Students then practice these techniques repeatedly.
Demonstrate ways of resisting pressures, using older students
specially trained as peer teachers.
. Present scenarios involving drug-related problems (e.g.,
learning that another student is selling drugs, a sibling using
drugs; or being offered a drive home by a friend under the
influence of drugs). Students practice what they would do and
discuss to whom they would turn for help. Teachers should
discuss and evaluate the appropriateness of student responses.
. Discuss how it feels to resist pressures to take drugs. Hold a
poster contest to depict the benefits derived both from not
using and from saying no (e.g., being in control, increased
respect from others, self-confidence).
OBJECTIVE 4: To promote activities that reinforce the positive,
drug-free elements of student life.
School activities that provide students opportunities to have fun
without drugs--and to contribute to the school community--build
momentum for peer pressure not to use drugs. These school activities
also nurture positive examples by giving older students opportunities
for leadership related to drug prevention.
Sample activities:
. Make participation in school activities dependent on an
agreement not to use drugs.
. Ensure that drugs will not be available at school-sponsored
activities or parties. Plan these events carefully to be certain
that students have attractive alternatives to drug use.
. Give students opportunities for leadership. They can be trained
to serve as peer leaders in drug prevention programs, write
plays, or design posters for younger students. Activities such
as these provide youthful role models who demonstrate the
importance of not using drugs. Youth training programs are
available that prepare students to assist in drug education and
provide information on how to form drug-free youth groups.
. Form action teams for school improvement with membership limited
to students who are drug free. These action teams campaign
against drug use, design special drug-free events, conduct and
follow up on surveys of school needs, help teachers with
paperwork, tutor other students, or improve the appearance of
the school. Through these activities, students develop a stake
in their school, have the opportunity to serve others, and have
positive reasons to reject drug use.