Drug education programs backfire

Scientific American published an article in December entitled “Why ‘Just Say No’ Doesn’t Work.” The article’s authors, Scott O. Lilienfeld and Hal Arkowitz, summarize the need for concern about youth substance abuse, the history of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) programs, and some new findings that indicate these programs might actually be backfiring.

A survey conducted in 2012 at the University of Michigan revealed that 24 percent of high school seniors had recently engaged in binge drinking, while 42 percent had consumed at least some amount of alcohol in the past month. Although these numbers decrease in younger age groups, the study revealed that up to 11 percent of eighth graders had consumed alcohol as well. These numbers exist in spite of education programs, such as D.A.R.E., which warn teens of the perils of drug use. In fact, several studies showed an increase in alcohol and tobacco use among teens who had been exposed to D.A.R.E. programs. The authors suggest that “by emphasizing the hazards of severe drug abuse, D.A.R.E. may inadvertently convey the impression that alcohol and tobacco are innocuous by comparison.”

In an attempt to discover what methods help teens resist drug abuse, psychologist Pim Cuijpers (Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction) performed a review of 30 studies in 2002. She found that effective programs focused on social interactions and role-playing activities between students, allowing them to hone the skills they would need to refuse drugs from their peers over several years of practice. The most successful programs also emphasized that drug use is not especially common and that abstinence is the norm. Fortunately, the promoters of D.A.R.E. have acknowledged these findings and are currently working to revise their program and incorporate these social interactive-based techniques into the curriculum. Future studies will determine whether this new approach will have a substantial impact on the nation’s adolescent population.

Read the original article online at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-just-say-no-doesnt-work/?page=1