Drug Prevention Requires Multi-Faceted Approach

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced last month that substance abuse among youth has dropped decreased by 11 percent over the last two years.  There were many activities in schools that may have contributed to this decline.

Drug testing in American schools is a relatively new and somewhat controversial procedure. Fought by the ACLU on the grounds of being intrusive to students' rights, the Supreme Court of the United States first allowed student athletes to be tested in 1995 and in 2002 permitted testing for all extracurricular activities.

The American School Health Association's Journal of School Health published a study showing significant deficiencies in the application of testing alone. The study of 76,000 students across the nation concluded that there was little change between the percentage of drug use in schools that did use drug testing procedures and those that did not.

The New York Times also reported on the study, saying that only 18 percent of schools use any kind of drug screening. The study and the article suggest that drug education and prevention programs are needed, however traditional methods of such curriculums produced the same result as the schools that did the testing.

Surveys conducted by the Narconon® Drug Rehabilitation and Education Program of several hundred thousand students across the country show that it is the type of information and the manner in which it's presented that determines the best results.

Many prevention programs in schools dryly talk about consequences of drug use, use scare tactics such as mock alcohol related fatality skits, or show samples of drugs that only peak students' interest in 'learning more' about them. While these approaches may work for some, the majority of students don't feel that they are very real to them.

The Narconon prevention program uses effective two-way communication with a lot of energy and interest between the presenter and the students. Combined with information that isn't normally taught and the fact that many of the presenters are former drug addicts that have been able to successfully get their lives back, students are able to get the toughest questions answered in a way that satisfies their curiosity without having to try drugs for themselves.

J.T. Daily is a Prevention Specialist for Narconon Arrowhead, one of the nation's largest and most successful private rehabilitation and education facilities. Daily recently spoke to 800 students at an inner-city high school. The students started off cheering when the words "alcohol" and "weed" were mentioned at the start of the presentation and J.T. then knew that it wasn't going to be an easy talk. But, by the time it was over, the students had not only paid attention but gave him a standing ovation as well.

"After the presentation the principal was shocked," recounted Daily of that afternoon, "because the last speaker about drugs was booed out of the auditorium. It was really cool because a lot of the kids were coming up to me and thanking me as well, but all I did was my normal presentation. I guess it was the first time someone really communicated with these kids on their own level."

J.T. and other Narconon Prevention Specialists around the world follow simple presentation styles and have fun. Again, it's the type of information talked about and the manner in which it is delivered that really counts. According to Daily, "I wish I had this information when I was in school so I wouldn't have done some of the things I did growing up, like start taking drugs."

Call Narconon Arrowhead today at 1-800-468-6933 or log on to www.stopaddiction.com to book a drug education presentation in your area or to get help for a loved one in need.

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