One of the major quagmires of the latter half of the 20th century was the question of how to warn adolescents of the dangers of drug experimentation; unfortunately, this is a problem which still plagues us well into the new millennium.  A significant amount of funding has been funneled in to preventative campaigning and curricula, but it appears that the best way to reach American youths is to utilize school drug abuse education.

Since teens spend roughly forty hours a week in school, school is an excellent place to communicate with them.  School has the additional bonus of being a source of instruction and guidance which makes it appropriate for the goal of school drug abuse education.  There is an increasing number of teens who believe that certain drugs, such as alcohol and marijuana, are generally harmless; it is important to use school drug abuse education to instruct them that these drugs can have an adverse effect upon their physical health and well being.

In the past, the most popular method of school drug abuse education were the mass school assemblies.  The study body would gather in the auditorium where the principal would use scare tactics or a dryly didactic approach to reach their large audience.  Recent studies show that this method of school drug abuse education isn’t particularly effective.  Like any other thinking feeling human being, teens don’t want to be preached to.  They would rather be involved in an informative and interactive discussion of the issue.

In sharp contrast to the scare tactics utilized in the days of yore, effective methods of school drug abuse education informs teenagers that drug use is not the norm, help them recognize adverse influences in advertising and role models, and teaches them the skills needed to resist those pressures. 

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