Understanding Drug Education: Promoting Awareness and Prevention

Drug education equips students and young people with the knowledge that drugs or substances, whether legal or illegal, can have potential adverse impacts on life.

While drug education is not mandated in the US, certain drug education programs like Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) are implemented in educational institutions. These drug education programs are aimed at preventing the use of controlled substances, gang membership, and violent behavior.

At the NuView Treatment Center, our comprehensive programs are meant to provide drug education, counseling, and ongoing care and support to help clients reclaim control of their lives.

What is Drug Education?

Drug education is meant to provide students and young people with information regarding the potential factors that can lead to substance use and the use of controlled substances can give rise to potentially dangerous circumstances in life. They are aimed at reducing the dangers associated with substance use and preventing substance use (ideally).

As per the CDC report, only in the year 2021, 13% of Americans aged 12 years and older engaged in illicit drug use in the past month. This is a significant increase from 2019. While this indicates that many children and young people do not engage in illicit drug use, providing them with important information regarding substance use raises awareness and goes a long way in preventing substance use.

The onus of drug education for children and other young people is not completely on educational institutions alone. In fact, parents and other caregivers can also provide drug education to their children. Being sensitive yet open to listening implies that parents are ready to talk about things that may be difficult and also provide a safe environment for children to discuss these things. A small conversation can lead to bigger changes, not just in terms of substance use but also in other sensitive matters, like overall mental health.

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Importance of Drug Education

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) reports that the average age for alcohol use is 12 years and for marijuana, it is 14 years. This indicates that most substance use begins in school. Therefore, there is a need for drug education at educational institutions and even at home. Drug education enables children and young people to:

• Become aware of the potential dangers of substance use.
• Identify and avoid triggers and high-risk conditions.
• Develop strategies to prevent substance use.
• Make healthy and safe choices to lead sober lives.

Key Components of Drug Education Programs

All effective drug education programs need to have certain key components.

• Drug education programs must adopt a “whole of school approach,” which means that health and wellness are influenced by different factors, like having good relationships with parents, teachers, peers, counselors, and the community.
• Drug education programs must have clearly defined educational outcomes.
• Drug education programs need to ensure there is a positive climate in the educational institutions, which is characterized by safe and supportive environments, and collaborative relationships between students and teachers.
• Drug education programs must be age-appropriate and culturally-based.
• Drug education programs must provide knowledge regarding the potential dangers of substance use, and at the same time, they must recognize risk and protective factors.
• Drug education programs must be credible, timely, meaningful, and delivered by teachers.

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Types of Drug Education Programs

Drug education programs mainly fall into two categories – abstinence-based drug education and harm-reduction education.

• Abstinence-based drug education programs aim to prevent substance use by educating children and young people regarding illicit substance use, providing information regarding the dangers of illicit substance use, and putting an emphasis on abstinence above all.
• Harm-reduction drug education programs are different from abstinence-based drug education programs in that they accept that substance use is inevitable. Instead, they aim to reduce the dangers associated with substance use by educating children and young people about safe drug use, using sterile needles, not driving under the influence of any substance, the need for naloxone, and seeking professional help.

Abstinence-based drug education programs like D.A.R.E did not find great success. They did not lead to any significant reduction in substance use and, in fact, according to some studies had a counterproductive effect, from the 2020s onward, there was a shift toward harm-reduction drug education programs.

What Effective School Drug Education Looks Like

An effective school drug education program needs to:

• Be age and culture-appropriate, as it must be relevant to students’ unique and shared experiences in life.
• Increase students’ knowledge regarding substance use and the potential dangers of illicit drug use.
• Equip students with relevant skills, like life and social skills, and coping strategies, and deter them from an inclination to substance use.
• Be interactive, and provide students with a respectful and safe space for them to share experiences and feel free to talk about issues that can be difficult as well.
• Involve parents and family wherever appropriate and possible.
• Must not be isolated, as it needs to be provided in the context of health education that focuses on other mental health conditions and overall well-being.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1.) What is the goal of drug education?

The goal of drug education must be to equip students with the knowledge regarding illicit drug use, and the dangers of illicit drug use, and provide them with skills that deter them from engaging in drug use.

2.) At what age should drug education start?

Drug education must start typically before initial experimentation, so this needs to be from primary school onward.

3.) How can parents get involved in drug education?

Parents can get involved in drug education by encouraging open conversations at home, ensuring that drug education is being implemented at educational institutions, and getting involved in these drug education programs wherever possible