Schools-based Education for Drug Abuse Prevention

For decades, behavior-oriented education about drugs has been pursued in schools with the belief that it will prevent drug use by students. However, the efficacy of this approach has been questioned. Quoting Wilson (1998):

School is not about repairing all social evils. It is about repairing one: the evil of ignorance. We all have responsibilities as adults for these evils. But as teachers, we don’t need to be ashamed if we can’t fix homelessness or stamp out violence or prevent AIDS, or end drug abuse.

Individual teachers will care as human beings when students use drugs, or contract sexually transmitted diseases, or adopt poor nutritional practices…The fact is that schools do not have it in their power to stop smoking, drinking, sex or poor eating patterns. They do have it in their power to improve student knowledge and skills and to encourage the development of defensible values.

Hence, this document is not an educational programme plan for the prevention of drug use, but rather a conceptual framework to be used by teachers, school officials, and policy-makers, to inform programme planning to achieve greater success in drug prevention in educational facilities.