Are drug and alcohol prevention programs effective in schools?

Many schools across the country adopt a drug and alcohol prevention program to educate our youth on their effects. Studies have shown that some of these programs, such as DARE, display little effectiveness on today’s youth. According to the article Why Static, One-Size-Fits-All School Drug Prevention Programs Don’t Work “the reason for this shortcoming could be that the program has changed little over time, even though empirical data show that drug use among youth is not static. The amounts and types of drugs used by children vary across decades, by geographic location and by school demographic factors, which can suggest a need to continually revise drug-prevention programs and adapt them to their locations while moving away from one-size fits all programs.” (Sample/Fuller, 2013) I think drug prevention programs should be present in elementary, middle, and high schools in order for students to fully grasp the harm they can place on their lives. In my elementary school, we had DARE for a few weeks in fifth grade. It was a very helpful program at the time but after fifth grade I didn’t have any other form of drug prevention programs present in my school.  Programs like DARE would be more effective if they were continue throughout the students academic career. This would present students with the needed knowledge of the particular drugs, mentors to turn to in case they were to become uncomfortable in a situation pertaining to drugs, and would also give them guidance on how to say “no”. Currently, prevention programs are not as effective as they could be because of the “one-size fits all" aspect.

References:

http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/col-school-based-drug-prevention-programs-variations-changes-evaluation.html

Sarah F M